Hi Mark

I am fairly new to Solar Accounts and have a new business to enter. I have the opening balances on and managed to enter the income and expenses also for year on year comparative purposes. So far so good.

All is correct when I go to the new financial year but the problems then start...

1. The deposit bank balance is out by pence - how do I correct that without upsetting previous years figures?

2. I have no information re the prepayments, accruals, or outstanding bank items as they are with my client's ex-accountant. Is it possible to continue without that information?

3. I have a few invoices from the previous year that have now been paid. How do I go about entering these without increasing the accounts payable total? It seems everything I try upsets the balancing figure.

Would really appreciate some help with this.

Regards

Heather

Hi Heather,

Here's how I would deal with those transactions:

1. Create a General Transaction between the Cheque Account and the Uncategorised Income account, dated on the first day of the new year.

2. Yes, you can always amend the opening balance for these accounts later.

3. Create the invoices dated in the previous year, with the Account set to 'Retained Earnings'. Once you have created all the invoices, go to the Accounts list and change the Opening Balance figures for Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Retained Earnings to match the Balance Sheet report from the previous year.

Let me know if that makes sense.

Cheers,

Hi Mark

Thank you for your help.
I have done as you suggested and it works well!

Another question - if I did have the details of the missing bank payments and income how would I go about entering those as they are from the previous year. I am sure it is an easy process but just want to make sure I am clear about how to do it.

Thanks again.

Regards

Heather

Hi Heather,

Normally you would not record bank payments and income from the previous financial year - just enter the opening balances for the current financial year, and start entering transactions from the beginning of the current year. (Unpaid invoices are an exception)

Cheers,