# Opening balances

> Enter what customers owed, what you owed suppliers, and your bank, asset and capital balances as of your start date, the right way.

Canonical: https://docs.getonebooks.com/accounting/opening-balances/
Language: en
Documentation index: https://docs.getonebooks.com/llms.txt

Opening balances describe your position on the day before you started in OneBooks. Enter them once, dated correctly, and every report from day one is right. There are three kinds, each entered in a different place.

## Customer and supplier balances

Enter these **per customer and per supplier**, never as one lump sum: each becomes a real unpaid document, so future payments settle it and the aging reports are correct.

1. Open the customer (or supplier) page and select **Opening Balance**.
2. Enter the **amount** owed and a **reference** (for example "Migrated from spreadsheet"). The date defaults to the day before your fiscal year started.
3. Select **Save**.

![The Opening Balance dialog on a customer page](https://docs.getonebooks.com/screenshots/en/accounting-opening-balance-customer.webp)

To load many at once, use the **Opening balances** import with the customer or supplier code on each row — see [Import and export](https://docs.getonebooks.com/data/import-export/).

> **Accounting effect**
> Customer: Debit **1100 Accounts Receivable** · Credit **3050 Opening Balance Equity**. Supplier: Debit **3050** · Credit **2000 Accounts Payable**.

## Bank, cash, assets, loans and capital

Enter these on the account in the chart of accounts.

1. Open **Accounting → Chart of Accounts** and select **Set opening balance** on the account (or enter it when creating the account).
2. Enter the balance and save.

![The opening balance dialog on a chart-of-accounts row](https://docs.getonebooks.com/screenshots/en/accounting-opening-balance-account.webp)

Only **balance-sheet** accounts (assets, liabilities, equity) accept opening balances. Income and expenses of the current year up to your start date are not opening balances — enter them as a dated [manual journal entry](https://docs.getonebooks.com/accounting/journal-entries/) instead, so they appear on the profit and loss.

## Checking the result

**Reports → Opening balance equity** shows every opening-balance posting and the balancing figure in **3050 Opening Balance Equity**. Once all balances are in, that figure equals your opening equity (net assets); transfer it to **3000 Owner's Capital** with a manual entry if your accountant prefers.

![The Opening Balance Equity report listing opening postings](https://docs.getonebooks.com/screenshots/en/reports-opening-balance-equity.webp)

## Dating rules

- The default date is the day **before** the current fiscal year starts, so opening balances sit in the opening position of every report rather than in the period's activity.
- Opening balances may be dated before the business was created in OneBooks — this is the one kind of backdating that is allowed.
- Re-entering an opening balance on the same customer, supplier or account **replaces** the previous one (the old posting is reversed).

## Related

  - [Migrating to OneBooks](https://docs.getonebooks.com/getting-started/migrating/)
  - [Trial balance](https://docs.getonebooks.com/reports/trial-balance/) — Compare with your old system as of the start date.