Opening balances and imports
Demo School moves to Schoolbooks at the start of a financial year. Its bank balance, supplier balances and unpaid family invoices must agree with the old books. Importing only one grand receivable total would lose the information needed to collect from each family.
On this page
Prepare the migrationChoose the right importPrepare ledger opening balancesKeep customer balances collectibleReconcile after importContinue withPrepare the migration
- Reconcile the old trial balance and retain the signed migration workbook. Agree the cutover date and avoid overlapping live entries.
- Create the required chart, currencies, customers and suppliers first.
- Separate unpaid customer invoices from the ledger opening-balance file. Keep supplier codes with payable rows.
Choose the right import
| Record | Where to start |
|---|---|
| Bank, cash, assets, equity and supplier payable balances | Accounting > Import data > Ledger opening balances |
| Unpaid customer invoices | Accounting > Import data > Customer opening invoices |
| Bank transaction rows to reconcile | Accounting > Import data > Bank statements |
Prepare ledger opening balances
- Open General ledger > Opening balances and choose Prepare opening balance.
- Download the template or enter lines in the editor. Supply the account, currency, exchange rate and debit or credit for each balance; link the supplier for payable lines.
- Enter the source and reconciliation note. Review the fiscal-year start and the complete balance, including the temporary opening account where the workflow uses it.
- Save a draft for review. Submit opening balances only after reconciling the worksheet and the proposed records.
Keep customer balances collectible
Use the opening-invoice workflow for each customer’s unpaid amount. Retain invoice references, dates, due dates and currency so aging and later receipt allocations have a real source. Customer receivables are deliberately excluded from the ledger opening editor.
Reconcile after import
- Compare the trial balance to the approved cutover workbook.
- Compare customer and supplier aging totals by currency to their control accounts.
- Resolve any temporary opening balance before signing off. A successful upload is not evidence that the old and new books agree.
- If a row is rejected, correct the identified row and verify what was already created before retrying.