RECORDING BANK & CREDIT CARD OPENING BALANCES INTO RECKON ACCOUNTS

These are entered very simply with a journal entry as described below.

1:Go to Banking/Make Journal Entry

2:Record the date as the last day before the period you are about to enter. Ie. If you are about to start entering transactions as of the 1 July 2007 then record the Journal date as the 30th June 2007.

3:In the Entry number enter adj - then your initials ie. Adj - hk

4:In the “Accounts” column record the opening balance of the Bank account as per the Bank Statement (or internet bank statement) in the DEBIT COLUMN (if it has a positive balance) or the Credit Column (if it has a negative balance ie. an Overdraft account.

5:Do this for each and every Bank Account.

6:In the “Accounts” column record the opening balance of any Credit Card as per the Credit Card Statement (or internet bank statement) in the CREDIT COLUMN.

7:Do this for each and every Credit Card.

8:Once you have finished recording all Bank Accounts and Credit Card Balances - on the next line choose the account “Opening Balance Equity”. The Tax code should be blank. Enter the amount that balances the Journal.

9:Save and Close the Journal.

Please Note:

  • For each line of the journal there should be NO Tax Code (blank).
  • For each line you can record the memo “Opening Balance”
  • For each line the “Class” is irrelevant as is the “Name”.

RECONCILING

You now need to Reconcile each of the Bank and Credit Cards to their Reconciled balance as of the day before the year/period you are about to start entering transactions for. Ie. 30th June. This is so that when the client goes to do their first Reconciliation (ie. for the month of July) that the Opening Balance will be correct and won’t confuse them.

  1. Go into Banking/Reconcile.
  1. Enter the Statement date as the same date that you recorded the Journal Entry ie. the 30th June.
  1. Enter the Closing Balance as the Reconciled Balance of that date (the same amount that you would have recorded in the journal) for the Bank Account or Credit Card you are reconciling.
  1. Continue
  1. Tick the one entry that will be there (your journal entry) and you should reconcile.
  1. Choose reconcile.
  1. Repeat this for all Bank Accounts and Credit Cards.

© Heather Kennedy – K.I.S. Accounting Systems - 2008