It is worth repeating that there can be two components to opening balance figures in the Sales Ledger: the final Customer balances from the previous fiscal year and, if you will be starting to use FirstOffice in the middle of a fiscal year, Customer balances for the current year to date.

In considering Customer balances from the previous year, it is only necessary to take account of those that are open (i.e. unpaid). These can be entered in one of two ways:

as a single outstanding balance for each Customer; or
as separate Invoices per Customer.

In considering Customer balances for the current year to date, the following options are available:

the minimum is to enter a balance for each Customer as a single figure (in fact, you will need to enter an Invoice total and a Receipt total, representing totals for the current fiscal year to date, enabling you to reconcile your bank account and to keep your Aged Debtor report accurate);
the opposite extreme is to enter all Invoices raised so far in the current fiscal year, and all Receipts;
a compromise route to reduce the amount of work required is to enter monthly Invoice and Receipt balances for each Customer;
a final option, available if you are changing to FirstOffice from an older computerised system, is to import the current year's Invoices and Receipts from a text file. Please refer to your local FirstOffice representative if you would like to consider this option.

In deciding which procedure to use, one factor to consider is credit control. If you need to produce statements that show details of previous Invoices, it will not be enough to simply enter a total balance for each Customer. Instead, you will need to enter individual Invoices and Receipts. If, however, you do not issue statements or it is acceptable for a single opening balance figure to appear on your statements, entering a single opening balance figure per Customer will be sufficient. If you do not issue Invoices or you do not give credit, it may not be necessary to enter any opening balances at all in the Sales Ledger.

If you need to enter opening balances in the Sales Ledger, you should first ensure that all Customers have been entered using the process described on the Entering the First Customer page. If you are entering individual Invoices, you should also ensure that all Items have been entered. Depending on your old system, you may be able to import this information from text files. Finally, if you are entering Receipts in any form (i.e. individual Receipts, or monthly or year-to-date Receipts) make sure all relevant Payment Modes have been entered, so that the Receipt amounts can be posted to the correct Bank or Cash Account.

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