Opening Balances in Multi-Currency Accounting

Opening balances when starting with Banana Accounting

When using Banana Accounting for the first time, the opening balances must be entered manually to generate the Balance Sheet.

Before proceeding to enter the opening balances, it is important to make some fundamental settings:

Exchange rates table

• In the Exchange rates table, set the foreign currencies and the corresponding opening exchange rate, referred to the basic currency.
  The opening exchange rate is only inserted if Banana Accounting is used for the first time, and is automatically updated in the subsequent years, when creating the new year via the Actions → Create new year menu, based on the final exchange rate of the the previous year's file.
• The opening exchange rate must always be indicated in an undated row and must never be modified, except for errors or in case of special situations.
• The opening exchange rates must be identical to those of the previous year. See Differences in opening balances.

Accounts table

• Make sure that there is an account to record the exchange differences in the Chart of Accounts (Income Statement) and that this has been indicated in the File → File Properties (Basic Data) → Foreign currency menu.
• The opening balances must be entered in the Base view of the Accounts table, Opening currency column, for both the basic currency and the foreign currency.
• The Opening column (basic currency) is protected. The program automatically calculates the exchange value for the basic currency according to the opening rate indicated in the exchange rate table.
• Liabilities balances must be entered with a minus sign in front of the amount.
• After entering the opening balances of the financial statements, check that the total Assets are equal to the Liabilities, so that the accounting is balanced. If there are any differences in the opening balances, they must be checked and corrected.

1. Go to the Accounts table, Base view, Opening column.
2. Manually report the opening balances of the Assets and Liabilities accounts. Liabilities balances must be entered with a minus sign in front of the amount.
3. Check that the total Assets is equal to the total Liabilities to have a balanced accounting. If there are any differences in the opening balances, they need to be checked and corrected.

Opening balances of Cost Centers and Segments

In the Accounts table, the Opening column can also be used to enter the opening balances of the Cost Centers.

To enter the opening balances of the segments, opening transactions must instead be made. More details are available on the Segments page.

Start with Banana Accounting during the year

If you start a new accounting, taking over work already done with other programs, there are two possibilities:

1. Start accounting from the beginning of the year, by entering the opening balances at the beginning of the year (Accounts table, Opening column) and the transactions (Transactions table) that have already been previously recorded with other programs (also see Transferring data from other software). Thus you will have all the accounting details in one file.
2. Starting from the date when the accounting is taken over:
   • Enter the opening balances (Accounts table, Opening column), taking over the values of the other accounting.
     In addition to entering the opening balances of the Assets and Liabilities accounts, it is also necessary to enter those of the Expenses (positive amounts) and Revenues (negative amounts).
   • The operating result up to that point must be disclosed in the Profit / Loss carried forward account.
     If it is a profit, the opening balance must be entered in negative, if it is a loss, in positive .
   • Check that the sums of the opening balances are zero, so that the program does not signal any differences.
   • Enter the new entries in the Transactions table.

 Opening balances as opening transactions

Opening balances can also be entered as opening transactions in the Transactions table, both for all balance sheet accounts and for some categories of accounts, such as those of the segments, which must be manually posted in the Transactions table.

For each opening transaction, proceed as follows:

• Indicate the accounting start date as the transaction date.
• In the Doc Type column, enter the code "01".
• Indicate the debit or credit account and the amount.
• The total of the opening debit balances must match those in credit.

Opening balances entered as transactions are used when preparing reports. When there are opening balances in the Opening column of the Accounts table and the opening balances of some accounts are also manually entered in the Transactions table (e.g. opening segments balances), these are automatically added to those present in the Opening column of the Accounts table.

Entry via transactions can be useful if different opening rates than those of the exchange rate table are required. If you use this procedure, you need to be clear about the accounting and legal implications.

Balances of the previous year

If you start a new accounting by taking over an existing accounting and you want the previous year's values to appear on the printouts, it is necessary to enter the previous year's balances in the Previous view, Previous Year column of the Accounts table:
The previous amounts are displayed in the printouts of the Enhanced balance sheet in the Previous Year column.

• Enter the closing balances of the previous year of the Assets accounts.
• Enter the closing balances of the previous year of the Liabilities accounts (insert the minus sign in front of the amount).
• Enter the last year's closing balances of the Expenses.
• Enter the final balances of the previous year of Revenues (insert the minus sign in front of the amount).
• 

Create new year

When you start the new year, the program automatically carries over the opening balances to the following year.
Consult the Create New Year lesson.

Print opening balances

To print the opening balances:

• To print the contents of the table, use the Print / Preview command, by selecting the rows of the Balance Sheet.
• You can also use the Accounting printouts and set the printout only for the Balance Sheet part and the opening column.