While calculating account balances into the QB accounting software, the offsetting entry used is known as the opening balance equity. The necessity to set up this account arises when previous account balances are being set up in QuickBooks. It serves the purpose of an offset to the other accounts, ensuring that the books are always balanced.

If the amount of the journal accounting entry does not support the amount on your bank statement and you close it out, the software will rearrange the opening balance equity account balance. The Opening Balance Equity account is a clearing account created automatically by QuickBooks for use during data file setup. As you enter each beginning balance into QuickBooks the entry is offset to Opening Balance Equity. If the amount of the journal accounting entry does not match the amount on your bank statement, and you close it out, the program will change the QuickBooks opening balance equity account balance.

Managing Opening Balance Equity for Presentable Balance Sheets

Ideally, we would want to start a new QuickBooks company with a complete balance sheet or trial balance, showing all the account balances as of our QuickBooks start date. Transferring opening balance equity accounts to retained profits or owner’s equity accounts is preferable. Be careful not to make a double accounting entry while entering a starting balance for equity, fixed assets, other assets, current bookkeeping for startups assets, and other current liabilities. Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable are viewed differently in QuickBooks. Balances are added to Opening Balance Equity when opening balances are entered in QuickBooks. Examples include entering opening balances when setting up a new account in the chart of accounts, entering inventory starting quantities, and deleting a balance sheet account with a balance.

• Opening this period causes all later periods to be reopened as necessary.
• Well, I believe that everyone should have access to affordable, efficient, and flexible accounting and bookkeeping services.
• With the report categorized by the kind of transaction, analyzing whether the issues in entries were done is the next move.
• To start filling in this chart of account, begin by setting the starting balances for the accounts.
• In reality, we usually don’t have all those account balances when we want to setup our QuickBooks file and start invoicing customers and paying bills.

The opening balance is the amount of money you have in an account during the initial setup, or at the start of your Fiscal Year. This amount should be replaced with the actual income, expense and equity transactions. All unpaid customer invoices, unpaid vendor bills, and uncleared bank transactions need to be entered. You should not manually enter an opening balance when setting up a new asset, equity or liability account.

Your QuickBooks Help Awaits

Your deadline will depend both on when you commence business activities and how large your company is. You should base this decision on the size and complexity of your company and situation. Before submission to the tax office, remember to have your opening balance sheet notarised and signed by all managing directors. If the company is a sole proprietorship Opening Balance Equity will be closed to the Owner’s Equity account.

Also, it enables you to add balances to an asset, equity, or liability accounts. You can set your customers, vendor, and supplier with opening balance equity. The above screenshot shows one of the QuickBooks setup windows for a new company file. The checking account is being entered as having a balance of $5000. In reality, we usually don’t have all those account balances when we want to setup our QuickBooks file and start invoicing customers and paying bills. The Opening Balance Equity account gives us a method to deal with that.

QuickBooks Opening Balance Equity

QuickBooks allows you to access almost all types of accounts, including but not limited to savings account, checking account, credit card accounts, and money market accounts. If you are unable to see the option to terminate an employee on your list of active employees on the company payroll, this mostly implies that they have some history. Thus, if you change the employee status instead of deleting it on QuickBooks, the profile and pay records remain in your accounting database without any data loss in your tax payments. You need to click “Start” to Export data From QuickBooks Desktop using Dancing Numbers, and In the export process, you need to select the type you want to export, like lists, transactions, etc. Understanding the balance sheet is essential for comprehending the equity accounts. It will really help if you ever need to go back and look at the original setup.

This Debits the Inventory Asset account for Pirates Mehardy Supply, and Credits Opening Balance Equity. When your setup of all Balance Sheet balances is complete, the balance in Opening Balance Equity should equal Retained Earnings. When you clear the balance in Opening Balance Equity and offset it to Retained Earnings, the data file setup is complete; the problem is that many QuickBooks users fail to take this step. Opening balance equity should be employed only for a limited period of time. The appearance of a balance on your initial balance equity account seems unprofessional on your balance sheet.

Perform these steps After Entering your Opening Balances

Opening Balance Equity is a very useful account, when used properly. Although you may be tempted to delete this account, it’s much better if you use it as it was intended. We’ve ditched the traditional hourly rate system and adopted a flat fee pricing.

It is used to provide an offset to the other accounts so that the books are always balanced. Once the account entry process is completed for all accounts, compare the total opening balance equity to the sum of all beginning equity accounts listed in the prior account balances. If the balances match, then the initial entry of accounts was accurate. If not, then review the initial account balances entry to see if there was a data entry error. Bank reconciliation adjustments that were not completed properly, leaving an initial balance, are a typical cause of a lingering balance on your opening balance equity account. When doing bank reconciliation, be certain that the bank statement balance transaction accounts for unpaid bank checks and other issues.

How to Open a Balance Sheet When Purchasing a Business

Even though QuickBooks makes accounting a whole lot easier for small and medium businesses, there are still some things, like opening balance equity, that you need to enter into your system manually. The opening balance equity account in QuickBooks is a single-use account. You should only ever use it when you are setting up your company, and then it should be locked. You or your bookkeeper can close this account in a variety of ways by making journal entries. A negative balance typically occurs when checks are given out for a sum of money that is significantly greater than the balance in the checking account.