Hello. We have started to use QuickFile but we are unsure of how to bring across the bank balance from our previous system.
We have added the balance to the Bank Account but what tag should we apply to the entry?
At the moment the entry is untagged which makes it appear in the Suspense Account and inflates the Profit Before Tax figure in the Profit and Loss report.
If you’re moving from another accounting software that is able to export a trial balance then you’d be better off using that rather than entering manual opening balances on just your bank accounts. The trial balance from your old system becomes a journal in QuickFile that should set up all your nominal account opening balances (not just the bank ones) in a way that is properly balanced.
The bank balances require a slightly different method of creating an “Opening Balance Entry”, you need to go to the “Setting” button for each account within “Banking” and enter your opening balance there (delete the entry made in the bank account), you will then see the correct opening balance without the need for “Tagging”.
If you have more than a single bank account with an opening balance these will also need entering. Each bank account with a balance will create a seperate journal. For a tidier start and to be able to reconcile to your Trial Balance from your old system to QF it is more practical to keep only one of these “Opening Balance Entry Jourmals” and transfer the details from the others to the one for keeping.
If you rename this single starting journal as your “Trial Balance” and then add your other nominals that have balances you will get an overall opening of your account in the one place.
An additional area that may need a little additional work for your opening balances maybe (1100) Debtors Control Account and (2100) Creditors Control Account, as these would need to be allocated to the relevant Client or Supplier to get these opening balances to match your trial balance, sort of similar to the way an opening balance is set for a bank account but for the clients and suppliers.
Alan, Many thanks for your reply, that’s exactly what I needed. I hadn’t created the Open Balance in Settings.
I think I missed it because you need to click the check box “Does the account have an opening balance?” to get the field to input the opening figure. In my opinion this should show by default as “Opening Balance - 0.00” to be a bit clearer for users who are still on the learning curve of starting to use QuickFile.
@ElaineM as you have said the start on a new accounts system is daunting. My own background is starting with ledgers written in pen and ink! That seems like centuries ago, but is only around 30 years I transferred our business of selling Lift & Escalator Spare Parts from long ledgers to a computerised system. That involved two books, but basically it is still the same process but with more power to be able to answer customer queries quicker.
I have found to differentiate between the two books i.e. the customer or the supplier that they require different rules for the setup of the top-line description (Client Name for Clients (Customers) or the Company Name for Suppliers although QF put a small emoticon for us to recognise between clients and suppliers a more recognisable method that I use for example is :-
Client; MR CLINT EASTWOOD
Supplier: mrclinteastwood
Makes life easier when looking at a screen, so keep the clients a similar way that Companies House (CH) record their clients (but also QuickFile (QF) provide a facility to create a new client from CH records, you probably have not found that “button” as yet).
And then; by recording your suppliers in small characters - I use these as a method of going to their websites (another bookmark), so for instances Mr Clint Eastwood maybe recorded as:
mrclinteastwood.wales
(not a registered website at this time)
A daunting task to begin with but once you have your records up and running within QF you will be happy with your efforts at the start.
Perhaps, there should be a flowchart for setting a new system with some boxes that can be ticked so all is correct at the start so we go forward with the power of this new computer age with confidence and understanding.
@ElaineM setting an opening balance in the bank account settings won’t help you as it still puts the contra entry into the suspense account.
What was your previous accounts system, and does it have a way to export a full trial balance or year end balance sheet? If it can then that will be a better way to go than just setting opening balances as it is properly balanced to start with.
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