How do I add an opening balance to accounts in the chart of accounts that came with the software

You’re in the right direction for assistance concerning entering an opening balance in QuickBooks Online (QBO), Marianne.

To maintain precise financial records, it is imperative to possess a well-structured and precise chart of accounts. A significant aspect of this is to ensure that all accounts that impact your Balance Sheet possess an opening balance. 

To begin, are you referring to default accounts? If so, please know that we can only add an opening balance to a Bank or Credit Card Account Type. 

Also, when connecting your online banking account, this will automatically upload your historical entries up to a certain date. During the process, you will be asked to enter an opening balance for you. However, if you opt to not connect your bank account, we can manually enter an opening balance to your account in the Chart of Accounts (COA). Here’s how:

1. Please ensure to know the exact amount you’ll be entering for the opening balance.
2. Go to the Gear icon, and select Chart of Accounts.
3. Select New, then set up your account.
4. In the open balances section, pick the date you want to start tracking your finances from. 
5. Then, enter the account balance for that date. Then, select Save.

However, if you have already an existing account that you want to enter a correct opening balance, you can follow the steps below:

1. Go back to the COA, and look for the account you want to add to the opening balance. Then, press View register.
2. Find the Opening Balance Entry. It should have an Opening Balance in the memo column.
3. Tap this to expand the details. Then, click the Edit button to make changes.
4. Edit the amount and click Save.

Furthermore, you can start categorizing your transactions to add them to the correct category and reconcile them to avoid discrepancies. With that, I’ll leave you with these resources for complete guidelines:

• Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online
• Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online
• Fix issues at the end of a reconciliation in QuickBooks Online

It brings me great pleasure to assist you with any managing accounts or any QuickBooks-related matters. If you require further guidance in navigating through the application, feel free to post them in this forum. Take care!