Enter opening balances

If you have added a new environment, you need to record the opening balances. This is a once-only activity. This also applies if you switch to Profit from another accountancy package.

In the opening balance sheet, you record the opening balance per balance account in the lowest (first) financial year in Profit. These could be for fixed assets, bank balances, cash, stocks and loans. You also record the outstanding items for debtors and creditors. The balance of the outstanding items is entered collectively on the ledger accounts Debiteuren / Crediteuren.

Each year, Profit copies the closing balance as the opening balance for the following financial year.

Note:

We recommend you at least record the outstanding items and the bank and cash balances at the start of your administration. You can use these to check the closing balances and to write off outstanding items during the entry of the bank and cash entries and the processing of electronic bank statements. You can also import the opening balance entries.

Example: opening balance

The opening balance entries for this example are as follows:

To add opening balance entries:

1. Go to: Financial / Enter / Opening balance.
2. Check Financial year and Period. You enter the opening balance entries in period 0.
3. Click on: Finish.

   Profit shows the entry layout for the journal. You can enter the first entry line. You can add a mix of the various types of entries.

4. Complete the entry date for the opening balance entry. If you enter an invoice for a debtor or creditor, you enter the invoice date in this field.

   Note:

   For the opening balance of a ledger account, you use the entry date of 1 January. For an outstanding item for a debtor or creditor, you use the actual invoice date as the entry date. This is required for determining the age of the outstanding items.

5. In the Account field, select the desired ledger account, debtor or creditor, depending on the type of entry you are posting.
6. Enter the voucher number.

   For a purchase invoice, you enter the original invoice number from the supplier that is specified on the invoice. For a sales invoice, you can leave this field empty.

7. Enter your own (internal) invoice number.

   For a sales invoice, you enter the invoice number issued.

   Note:

   Enter outstanding items for debtors and creditors on separate lines because this allows you to retain an overview of these entries.

8. Enter the entry description.
9. Enter the Amount debit if the ledger account must display a positive balance. When entering a sales invoice (invoice for a debtor), the amount must be entered in this column.
10. Enter the Amount credit if the ledger account must display a negative balance. When entering a purchase invoice (invoice from a creditor), the amount must be entered in this column.

    Note:

    The entry of credit notes (negative invoices) is made the other way round: the amount of a credit note for a debtor is entered as Creditbedrag while the amount of a credit note for a creditor is entered as Debit amount:.

11. Go to: the next entry line by pressing Enter or Tab.
12. Click on: Finish. if you have entered the entire opening balance.

See also

• Voucher number, invoice number, entry date and voucher date
• View entries
• Delete entries