3.16 Inputting an opening balance

Before continuing to Octopus, we'll first have to make the opening balance in Vera. Here we will create the opening balance on a waiting account, for example '580000: Interne overboekingen'. This is because we cannot book directly onto a bank account. After assiging the amount to the waiting account, we will then direct it to the correct financial journals in Octopus. To see the Octopus side of creating an opening balance, check out this article: 3.17 Finalise opening/starting balance in Octopus.

!!! Important steps to follow before creating an opening balance:

1. Make sure your GLA's (accounts) are linked to your financial journals.

2. Do not use any central GLA's in your balance, for example: 400000 - Clients and 440000 - Suppliers. The division between the clients and suppliers has to be always made by selecting a type. 

3. Make sure every supplier/company has a valid IBAN and BIC linked.

4. Before creating an opening balance, always first click on the 'Synchronise with Octopus' button to sync the GLA's.

Now, to set your opening balance, go to the tab 'Finance' in your HOA and scroll down to the card 'Bookings'. Click on the '+' button to open the model.

The journal will automatically be filled in with 'Opening balance' and the bookyear with the period of the current year. Please complete and fill in the following fields:

• Date
• Description
• Type(choose between)
  • Account
  • Supplier
  • Client
• GLA/supplier/client
• Line description
• Debet or credit

Now add a line for each owner, supplier and account in your openingbalance. 

The amount on the savings and checking account have to be added up and put on the 580000: Interne overboekingen account. This is important because we cannot book directly onto a financial journal. We will later split this up again in Octopus, to see how this is done, follow the steps in this article: 3.17 Finalise opening/starting balance in Octopus

Once all the fields have been filled in, your opening balance should look something like this:

Vera also makes it possible to apply a division key here, to do this, simply click on the blue button. This will prompt a new model to open.

Choose the division key you want to use, the amount of debet or credit and click on 'Apply'.

The division will now be made for all the co-owners in the division key. 

Once you have filled in the complete openingbalance and the credit/debet is in balance, you can now click 'Save'.

For good measure, synchronise with Octopus one more time.

Your opening balance should now be saved under the tab 'Bookings'. To see it, you'll have to filter by journal type 'Opening balance'. See screenshot below for clarification.

Click the pencil button to edit.

Now, to finalise your openingbalance in Octopus, follow the steps in this article: 3.17 Finalise opening/starting balance for each bank account in Octopus