GL Beginning Balances
GL Beginning Balances holds opening balances by fiscal year. At implementation you enter current-year openings here (and prior-year openings if you will use comparative history). After go-live, GL Beginning Balance Update refreshes next year’s openings when you run it (as often as needed before the year is closed in GL Month End Close).
Hard recommendation: prefer loading history with a GL journal entry (prior year and monthly activity for the go-live year) rather than typing openings only into GL Beginning Balances. Openings-only entry plus Update, without transaction history, can reset balances and create discrepancies you cannot reconcile.
Hard rule: retained earnings must be account type P (Profit/Loss) on GL Chart of Accounts before Beginning Balance Update. Type P holds prior-year retained earnings; Update calculates net income/expense (types E and I) and adds the difference to that account as next year’s beginning balance. Do not post routine activity to type P.
Before you start
- Fiscal year exists in GL Fiscal Years (set up before posting to any month in that year; years cannot overlap; max 12 months).
- Chart of accounts includes a type P retained earnings account.
- For year-end Update: all activity you want reflected for the year is posted (you can still rerun Update while the old year stays open).
Go-live / opening balances
- Prefer posting opening history via GL journal entry for the prior year and monthly net activity through go-live, rather than typing only into this form.
- If you enter openings on GL Beginning Balances: open the form, select Fiscal Year Ending (calendar month of the fiscal year end you are entering).
- In the grid, move with Down arrow between accounts. GL Account and Acct Type are display-only. Enter Beginning Balance and Dr/Cr (defaults from Normal Balance on the chart; override with Debit = D, +, or 1; Credit = C, –, or 2).
- Recommended: enter current-year beginning balances before subledger activity. When finished, print a summary Trial Balance and confirm a balanced total of zero.
- Prior years for comparative statements: also enter prior-year beginning balances here for any year you will maintain in GL Prior Years Activity. Those prior-year openings update automatically when the year is closed in GL Month End Close. Run the same Trial Balance check after entry.
Go-live timing (company parameters): set last month closed in subledgers (AP, AR, and others) to two months before go-live, and set GL last month closed to the last month of the prior fiscal year-end, so you can establish current-year GL openings, enter net activity through the month before live, then go live. After go-live, last-month-closed updates when you close a month.
Year-end Beginning Balance Update
- Confirm retained earnings is type P before you start.
- Open GL Beginning Balance Update.
- Enter Fiscal Year Ending for the year whose beginning balances should be refreshed for the next year. Prior Fiscal Year is display-only.
- Run the update. Balance-sheet ending balances become next year’s beginning balances; income, expense, heading, and memo beginning balances become zero; type P receives net profit/loss from income and expense totals.
- Rerun trial balances and financial statements after adjustments. Rerun Update as often as needed before you close the year in GL Month End Close (many companies keep the old year open for months after fiscal year-end).
Prior-year history (optional)
GL Prior Years Activity is optional and only for comparative financials. Monthly amounts must be net activity for that period (not period ending balance) for a prior fiscal year. Net Adjustments are year-end CPA adjustments not tied to a month (Period 12 Adjustment batches), not normal monthly journals. Ending Balance = beginning balance + net adjustments + monthly net activity. File > Initialize Range on that form zeros beginning balances, net adjustments, and monthly balances for a selected account range and year — it does not import history.