What this screen is for
When you start keeping books in the system part way through a company's life, the balances carried in from before have to be recorded. This screen shows the opening trial balance already posted — party balances, ledger balances and the equity contra — with running debit and credit totals and whether the two sides agree. Below that you search for balance sheet accounts such as cash, bank, capital or a loan, choose the side and enter the amount. Posting writes the ledger openings as one journal entry.
Why it matters
Opening balances feed every report that follows, so an account left out here shows a wrong figure everywhere afterwards. The screen needs an Opening Balance Equity account to post against and warns you when one is missing.
What you see on this screen
Three cards sit at the top: Total Debit and Total Credit for everything already posted as openings, and a third reading Balanced when they agree or Difference with the amount when they do not.
Current Opening Trial Balance is read-only and lists what has been posted so far, grouped into sections, with columns Particulars, Reference, Category, Debit and Credit, totalled at the foot.
Set Ledger Opening Balances is where you enter figures. It lists only accounts that already carry an opening, plus anything your search matches, with Account (name and code), Side — the debit or credit side the account naturally takes — and Opening Amount. The footer shows the debit and credit you have entered and the Opening Balance Equity (auto) figure that will balance them.
Customer and Vendor Opening Balances takes a party at a time, with Party, Direction — Receivable (Dr) for what they owe you, Payable (Cr) for what you owe them — and Opening Amount. Each party posts its own opening entry against Opening Balance Equity.
Filters and actions
The ledger search box adds accounts to the list; the party search box adds a customer or vendor. Post Opening Balances is disabled until an Opening Balance Equity account exists, and opens a confirmation listing every non-zero ledger and party line with its side and amount before anything is written. Re-posting replaces the previous opening journal rather than stacking on it, and setting a party's amount to zero clears that party's opening.
Related
- Trial Balance — confirms debits and credits still agree afterwards
- Chart of Accounts — where a missing ledger account is created first