Opening Balances

Opening balances are the balances of your accounts on the day you start using Fynance: cash in the bank, credit cards, loans, equipment and the owners' equity. They are the starting point of your books.

Why they matter

Fynance builds your Balance Sheet from the opening balances plus every transaction after them. If the opening balances are missing or wrong, your Balance Sheet will not match reality, and your accountant will have to fix it at year end.

• New company with no history: your opening balances are usually zero, or just the first money the owners put in. You can skip most of this article.
• Coming from QuickBooks, Xero or another system: enter your opening balances as soon as you create your Fynance account, before you start reviewing transactions.

Step 1: Choose your start date

Pick the date from which Fynance will hold your books. The simplest choice is January 1 of the current year, so the whole year lives in Fynance. The first day of a month also works.

Step 2: Export your balances from the old system

Export the Balance Sheet (or the Trial Balance) as of the day before your start date. For a January 1 start, export it as of December 31.

• QuickBooks: open Reports, choose Balance Sheet (or Trial Balance), set the date and export to PDF or Excel.
• Xero: open Accounting > Reports, choose Balance Sheet (or Trial Balance), set the date and export.

If the report lets you choose the accounting method, choose Cash. Ask your accountant to confirm that this report is final for that date.

Step 3: Enter the opening balances in Fynance

When you create your Fynance account, the first screen asks for your opening balances. Enter the balance of each account from the report you exported:

• Assets: bank accounts, equipment, loans you gave.
• Liabilities: credit cards, loans you owe.
• Equity: owners' contributions and retained earnings.

Fynance uses the cash basis, so do not enter Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable or inventory (see Cash Basis Accounting). If your old system used accrual, ask your accountant for a cash-basis Balance Sheet for your start date.

If an account from your old system does not exist in Fynance, add it in Chart of Accounts first (see Chart of Accounts, Users and Settings).

Step 4: Connect your banks from the start date

Connect your banks (see First Steps) and, in the History step, import transactions from your start date. The opening balance of each bank account must match the bank statement on that date. For older months, see Importing Earlier History.

Step 5: Check the result

1. In Reports, open the Balance Sheet for your start date.
2. Compare it with the report from your old system. The totals should be the same.
3. Opening Balance Equity should end at zero. If it shows an amount, some opening balance is missing or different. Review it with your accountant.

Missed this step when you created your account? Contact support and we will help you add your opening balances.