Enter the opening balance sheet
The balance sheet from your old books is recorded in Finday as one opening journal at the cutover date.
Before you start
- A final chart of accounts, with a detail account for every balance.
- The trial balance at the cutover date from your old books or your accountant.
- The detail of receivables, payables, stock and assets, if any. They are imported in the Opening Inventory, Opening Receivables & Payables and Assets tutorials.
- Access to manage opening balances, adjust inventory and post journals, to be able to publish.
Steps
Step 1: Open Opening Balances
On the Chart of Accounts page, click the Opening balances button. The Opening Balances page opens with the account grid and the import cards.
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The Opening Balances page in Finday with the cutover date, the debit and credit account grid and the import cards.
Step 2: Set the cutover date
Under Cutover date, click Date settings and pick the date of the last balance sheet in your old books, for example 31 December. Transactions in Finday start after this date.
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The cutover date settings with the Opening balances as at date picker.
Step 3: Enter the debit or credit per account
Copy the balances from the trial balance: fill in Debit or Credit, one side per account. Parent accounts cannot take amounts. For many accounts, use the Chart card, then Import.
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The opening balance grid with the Account, Debit and Credit columns and balanced totals.
Step 4: Click Save as draft
You can continue a draft later; it does not affect reports yet. Reset to last saved throws away unsaved changes.
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The Opening Balances page after saving as a draft.
Step 5: Click Publish
The button is enabled once total debits equal total credits. Finday posts the opening journal and shows Opening balances published.
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The enabled Publish button with equal debit and credit totals.
When you are done
- Finday posts one opening journal on the cutover date, one line per account.
- The opening balance of each linked Cash & Bank account is updated too.
- If you publish the opening balances again, the previous journal is reversed automatically, so nothing is counted twice.
Common problems
The Publish button is disabled
Total debits and credits are not equal yet. The page shows the difference; check the amounts per account until they balance.
Receivables, payables, stock or assets are imported but not in the balance sheet
The detail imports fill the customer, vendor, stock and asset records only, without a journal. The receivable, payable, inventory, asset and accumulated depreciation totals still go in the opening balance grid, and must equal the detail.
The spreadsheet does not balance
When you import the opening balance grid, the difference is posted to account 3-30999 Opening Balance Equity. Check that account after the import and trace where the difference comes from.
Something still unclear?
Ask us on WhatsApp. The Finday team replies during office hours and can walk you through it in your own account.