Entering, or Editing An Opening Balance In QuickBooks

In financial terms, any credit or debit of funds in ledger accounts brought forward in the new accounting period is known as opening balance. In other words, the starting point of the account is an opening balance. It entails all the past transactions that were in the account before it.

Opening balances are considered to be important as these are the base of any accounting book. On the basis of this, the calculation of assets, liabilities, and expenses can be done with accuracy.

In order to match the records from your bank to your QuickBooks account, you may wish to sync both of your accounts together for better maintenance. In this article, it will be explained how you can match the bank records from QuickBooks from the start.

First Phase: Entering an opening balance:

You need to refer to the following steps for the account type, the opening balance is for:

Bank or Credit Card Accounts

Before you can jump ahead and create a new account on your QuickBooks platform. You should ensure that you know what has to be entered for your opening balance.

For this, you can enter an opening balance in QuickBooks for a real or personal bank account that you just have created, or one you’ve had for a while.

• You need to get your bank statements for accurate entries or you can also log in to the website of your bank.
• In QuickBooks, you can click on the Company menu and then choose the Chart of Accounts.
• The next step is to right-click anywhere on your Chart of Accounts and choose New.
• Select the Bank or Credit Card as the account type and then click on Continue.
• Rename the account. If you happen to have multiple accounts of the same type or same bank then giving unique names will make it easier to tell apart.
• You have to fill out the rest of the data fields which are required.
• Click on Enter/Change Opening Balance.

On the basis of your opening balance, your handling of past transactions depends. For example, if you don’t wish to enter any older transactions and want a fresh start, then:

• You need to enter the ending balance with the ending date of your most recent bank statement.
• Then, click on OK.

It entirely summarizes all of your past transactions. From there, you will start tracking new transactions in your QuickBooks Charts of accounts.

If you choose to enter your past transactions in detail to keep things streamlined:

• You need to choose a date on how far back you wish to go.
• You need to pick a date that’s the oldest transaction in QuickBooks.
• Your opening balance will summarize everything before the chosen date.
• Enter the date you chose in the Ending date field and enter the balance of your personal account for that date.
• Hit the OK button. This way past transactions will not be counted twice.
• When you’re done with these steps, just select Save & Close to start recording the opening balance.

Editing An Opening Balance

At times, we all make some mistakes. record entries can be wrong as well. So what happens if you enter a wrong opening balance in the QuickBooks. All your record entries will not match your bank transaction records. However, a simple solution to this is to edit an incorrect opening balance in QuickBooks:

1. First of all, sign in to your QuickBooks account.
2. Choose the Gear icon at the top corner, then click on Chart of Accounts.
3. Locate the specific account, then click on the Action column
4. Choose the View register tab (or the Account history).
5. Search for the opening balance entry and Edit the amount.
6. Select Save.

Tip: If you cannot edit the amount directly on this QuickBooks screen, you may get an option to edit by clicking the Edit button.

Note that the changes done on the record entries will not be saved if the save button is not clicked.

Being backed by numerous years of experience, we are well renowned for the amazon tech support when it comes to QuickBooks. Whenever you need assistance with your QuickBooks account or bookkeeping or editing the records, you can simply reach out to us by filling a web form. With just a few details, our experts will reach out to you to understand your specific business requirements and provide you with the best-suited solution based on this.

Reference: https://www.articlering.com/quick-and-easy-methods-of-adding-entering-or-editing-an-opening-balance-in-quickbooks/