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braxted
April 14, 2020
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Starting Quickbooks online with expenses from the previous year

  • April 14, 2020
  • 1 reply
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Hi

 

I am far from a book keeper/accountant, I run a small technical video post production company so please be gentle.

 

Until the end of 2018 I ran all my accounts on Excel but with the new MTD regs coming in I decided to switch to Quickbooks online on the 1st Jan 2018 which is the start of my new tax year.

 

I made sure that when I started on the 1st Jan 2018, all invoice in and out were all fully paid but I was personally owed a couple of thousand in expenses. The question is how do I record that the company owes me this money. I have started an account for my expenses within Quickbooks and set an opening balance of this account to the figure of which is what I was owed from the year before and then added any new expenses that I have to this account as I have gone along and then paid off these expenses as transfer from the main business account as and when. The problem is the open balance of this expense account has knocked the balance I have in Quickbooks against the business bank account.

How do I rectify this? Do I need to add an entry somewhere to say the what the outstanding balance for the expense account is for?

Best answer by AileneA

Hi there, @braxted. 

 

Thank you for reaching out to the Community. It's my priority to help you sort this out. When you create a new account in QuickBooks Online, you choose a day to start tracking your business transactions. You enter the balance of your real-life bank account for that day so everything matches from the start.  

 

If you forgot to enter an opening balance when you created the account, don't worry. You can go back and create a journal entry to record it and then get back to business as usual.  

 

Step 1: Make sure you don't already have an opening balance 

 

  1. Click Accounting menu. Then tap Chart of Accounts.
  2. Look the account and choose Account history from the Action column.
  3. Search your register for an opening balance. It should have Opening Balance Equity in the Payee/Account column and Opening Balance in the Memo column.

 

If you see an opening balance entry, don't create a journal entry. Take note of the date and amount. Use your bank records and make sure the opening balance is correct.  

 

Step 2: Create a journal entry 

 

If didn't see an opening balance entry. Create a journal entry:  

 

  1. Click + New.
  2. Choose Journal Entry.
  3. Fill out the fields to create your journal entry.
  4. Select Save and new or Save and close. 

Then you can mark the journal entry as reconciled. Though, i suggest reaching out to your accountant to prevent any discrepancy in your book.   

 

You can take a look on this article for more guidance about setting up an account:  What to do if you didn't enter an opening balance in QuickBooks Online. 

 

Also, to learn more about QuickBooks, you can check out this article: Your First 15 Minutes with QuickBooks Online. 

 

Please know that the Community is always here to help you sort this out, so please don't hesitate to visit us again. Have a great day!

1 reply

A
AileneAAnswer
April 14, 2020

Hi there, @braxted. 

 

Thank you for reaching out to the Community. It's my priority to help you sort this out. When you create a new account in QuickBooks Online, you choose a day to start tracking your business transactions. You enter the balance of your real-life bank account for that day so everything matches from the start.  

 

If you forgot to enter an opening balance when you created the account, don't worry. You can go back and create a journal entry to record it and then get back to business as usual.  

 

Step 1: Make sure you don't already have an opening balance 

 

  1. Click Accounting menu. Then tap Chart of Accounts.
  2. Look the account and choose Account history from the Action column.
  3. Search your register for an opening balance. It should have Opening Balance Equity in the Payee/Account column and Opening Balance in the Memo column.

 

If you see an opening balance entry, don't create a journal entry. Take note of the date and amount. Use your bank records and make sure the opening balance is correct.  

 

Step 2: Create a journal entry 

 

If didn't see an opening balance entry. Create a journal entry:  

 

  1. Click + New.
  2. Choose Journal Entry.
  3. Fill out the fields to create your journal entry.
  4. Select Save and new or Save and close. 

Then you can mark the journal entry as reconciled. Though, i suggest reaching out to your accountant to prevent any discrepancy in your book.   

 

You can take a look on this article for more guidance about setting up an account:  What to do if you didn't enter an opening balance in QuickBooks Online. 

 

Also, to learn more about QuickBooks, you can check out this article: Your First 15 Minutes with QuickBooks Online. 

 

Please know that the Community is always here to help you sort this out, so please don't hesitate to visit us again. Have a great day!

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