@Ariiqi
The Intuit People try to help, but as one of your Peer users that supports QB and has many NFP clients, I am glad to help, too.
"How do I enter Opening Balances for current assets and liabilities into the new QB company file without using journal entries (JE)?"
You can use JE, but the issue here is Class Tracking. The Class on any JE has to be In Balance. Do not Mix Classes.
"For example, I have Opening balances for Cash"
Make Deposit; the From Account is the specific Restricted or Unrestricted or Temp Restricted or Committed Equity account, or it is the Liability Balance offset, because this is part of your Fund Balance or Net Assets.
"Prepaid Expenses" <== JE is fine, the offset is Equity
"employee advances" <== You want this Per Name, as Other Current Asset
"accrued payroll liabilities"
If you finished 2018 payroll in you old accounting system, the carryover Payroll Liability is generic Liability. Do not mix this with QB Payroll which starts with 2019. There is no YTD for 2018 carryover.
"Credit Card liability"
Banking menu > Enter Credit Card Charge; it is an offset of Equity. Being in debt reduces your Equity.
"and Deferred/Unearned Revenue (also a liability) etc"
It matters if this is from Customer Names or not. Example: Sales Receipt for a Landlord to "load security deposits into liability as part of Trial Balance" and then they "Make deposit" selecting All of them, for Jan 1, 2019; they use the line at the bottom left of the Deposit screen for "cash goes back to: and put the Entire Total to Equity = money we already had; the deposit Net = $0. But instead of generic Make Deposit, I need Tenant Named Activities = individual Sales Receipts.
"I tried the "make Deposit" form but it does not seem to work for me as I do not even know what should go into the "From Account" field of the make deposit form."
From Account = The Right Offset.
"My opening cash balances is restricted to funding sources and I would to have details such as donor (customer:job) and classes when I enter this balance."
Yes, you need these details. You also can use the Sales Receipt Method, if that helps. Remember that the Make Deposit has the offset at the bottom, so you don't need a JE for anything to do with the Banking amounts.
"Could this be the only exception to use the JE or are there better ways of entering these opening balances without using the JE? Obviously, I would want to stay away from the JE."
You Avoid JE for anything with Names; not for AR or AP or inventory or QB Payroll or sales or sales taxes. Never Mix Classes on a JE, either. That creates out of balance Balance Sheet by Class.
@Charies_M
@Anonymous
You cannot give guidance to a person with Fund Balance Tracking requirements, using Class, by recommending Opening Balance entries. The OBE function is almost always best avoided by all people since that is the Programmer's Trick. It doesn't meet Accounting Regulations for nearly all people, and especially it doesn't meet the Reporting requirements of the people that need to follow GAAP, GASB or FASB.
Please avoid answering the topics on Fund Balances, Restricted Fund accounting, and simply NFP needs until you Thoroughly get some training or at least an overview of the same things I explained here for @Ariiqi or you will be helping people in the wrong direction.
The Intuit people that don't really understand Accounting requirements of this nature should never tell anyone how to use the Shortcut tools in QB, because you are all overlooking the most significant Tools and how to use them properly. I am sorry, but you are not Helping when you get this so wrong.
It really helps to get and Use the book: Running QB for Not For Profits, by Kathy Ivens.
Please see my attachment for What Goes Wrong.
