Opening balances: accounts, bills, stock and cheques
You will be able to: Prepare the trial balance, ageing and stock listings for loading; Post opening balances in Accounting, Openings; Explain the Opening Balance ledger and how to correct postings.
- Read not done yet
- Self-check: not taken not done yet
- Lesson complete not done yet
Opening balances bring the client's books into Zeyto as at the cut-over date. The Opening Balances screen has three tabs: Accounts, Customer / Supplier bills and Stock. Nothing reaches the books until you press the post button.
What you need from the client
- A trial balance at the cut-over date, signed by the accountant.
- An ageing listing by invoice for customers and suppliers, with invoice numbers, dates and due dates.
- A stock valuation by item and warehouse with quantity and unit cost.
- A list of post-dated cheques, received and issued, and VAT account balances.
How each part posts
| Tab | What is entered | How it posts |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts | Debit or credit for each ledger: cash, bank, fixed assets, loans, capital | One opening journal per currency |
| Customer / Supplier bills | One row per open invoice: party, invoice number, dates, amount, Dr/Cr | One opening bill per invoice, so receipts can be matched later |
| Stock | Warehouse, item, quantity, unit, cost rate, plus batch, expiry and serials | One Opening Stock document per warehouse |
Every opening document is made to balance by one line on the Opening Balance ledger, 3900 in the standard chart. When your opening trial balance is complete, 3900 nets to exactly zero. Any other figure is the missing capital or ledger. The screen shows a tile Difference parked on Opening Balance (3900) and a downloadable reconciliation.
Rules to remember
- The Opening Date must be inside an open fiscal year. Each part posts once per fiscal year.
- Opening VAT balances are plain account lines; they do not enter the VAT return.
- An old invoice dated before the first fiscal year is posted dated at the cut-over and ages by its due date.
- Posting needs a user with access to all branches.
- Use Validate (in More) to check lines without writing, and Resume if posting stops half way.
Cheques and corrections
The Openings screen has no cheque section. Post-dated cheques are registered through receipt and payment vouchers with the PDC cheque mode and tracked in PDC Management. Agree with the accountant how cheques in hand at the cut-over will be recorded, and rehearse it. To correct posted openings press Edit openings, change rows, press Preview changes and then Save changes. Blockers such as a bill already settled are shown in red. Cancel all openings reverses a year's openings.
Practise in the demo
- Open Accounting, then Openings in the demo. Read the header, the three tabs and the reconciliation card without posting.
- Find the Validate and Import Template actions in More.
- Open https://demo.zeyto.app/demo-app/ and sign in with the demo login. This is a public demo with sample data, so nothing you do there affects a real business.
Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.
- Opening balances come from a signed trial balance, an invoice-level ageing and a stock valuation.
- 3900 nets to zero when the opening trial balance is complete.
- Edit with preview, or cancel all, and plan how cheques are handled.
Check yourself
5 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.