How Can I add my opening balance of accounts payable from different vendors. Do I have to enter each invoices with last year date or with opening balance date?

Hi there sh2295,

It's great to hear from you again. It looks like you're still getting set up with using QuickBooks Online, and I'd be happy to help you along with this process. I can absolutely show you how to add opening balances for your vendors.

At QuickBooks Online, we know that users might be starting in with the program mid-year or after coming over from another software, which is why the program has been designed to keep tasks like entering opening balances easy. When you're setting up your vendors, there's a field specifically for entering opening balances, which then acts as an open transaction that you can apply payments against when you need to. All it takes to do that is using the Pay bills feature, but first, here's a screenshot of the field you'll be looking for when creating a new supplier with an opening balance.

If you'd like to review the steps for creating a supplier, check out this article: Add a supplier. Note that this option is available to QuickBooks Online Essentials and Plus users since those are the versions of the software that handle entering and paying bills. QuickBooks Online EasyStart uses expenses and cheques for vendors exclusively, which are one-time payments that don't result in open balances. If you're using EasyStart and will need to handle bills, I recommend considering an upgrade of your QuickBooks Online subscription.

Here's a handy article that goes over the different kinds of transactions for suppliers: What is the difference between bills, cheques, and expenses?

Let me know if you'd like more clarification about that.

This is helpful. But when my home currency is CAD and my vendor's USD. when I change vendor into USD this option that you showed is not available . Can You please explain me how can I add my USD vendors opening balance.

Thank you. 

I add my opening balance just like you said but it showing me as supplier credit and it goes into miscellaneous account but I don't have any miscellaneous account in my last year closing balance. So, what can I do to fix that.

These are great follow up questions! I'll start with the opening balance going to a miscellaneous account in the chart of accounts.

The opening balance isn't attributed to a specific expense account in the chart of accounts because the balance could come from a number of bills. The program defaults it to the Miscellaneous expense account, but if you need it to be elsewhere, there's a fairly simple way to change it or even add more expense accounts if you'd like. All you need to do is open the transaction and then change the account in the Category drop-down or add other line items with the appropriate amounts on each one, then save.

I see from your screenshot that your transaction did somehow get added as a Supplier credit. Using the Opening balance field should, however, create a Bill that you can make payments toward. A credit would mean the supplier owes you money but gave you a credit to apply to future bills rather than you owing them money. I recommend deleting that transaction by clicking More at the bottom of the Supplier credit window, then clicking Delete. Then follow these steps on the supplier profile to try entering the opening balance again.

1. Click Edit on the supplier profile.
2. Fill in the Opening balance field.
3. Select the As of date.
4. Click Save.

Note that this field will be greyed out if you've go open bills for the supplier. Deleting or paying those bills will activate the Opening balance field again.

For your USD or other foreign currency suppliers, you're right, the Opening balance field isn't available. For these balances, you may want to consider something like a journal entry or entering a bill against the supplier manually to act as the opening balance. All the Opening balance field does is create a bill transaction on your account, so creating one manually for the USD supplier should work for you.

To find out if this is the best solution for you or if you'd like to consider a journal entry, I highly recommend working with an accountant. They'll have the know-how for managing books like this and can give you informed advice on how to move forward.

The My Accountant tab in QuickBooks Online is a tool we designed to make connecting with an accountant even easier. Using that tab, you can invite an accountant you're already working with as a user to your account at no extra cost, or you can use the Find a pro to help button to find someone near you. The Find a pro to help button takes you to our list of QuickBooks-certified accountants, and when you enter your city or postal code, you can narrow down your search to professionals near you.

Have a wonderful week. :)

Thank you for your response. As you told me I add my opening balance of USD by journal entry but now how can I add my opening balance payment(which actually record in my last accounting software) to current Invoice. 

Thank you.

Hi sh2295,

I'm glad to hear you were able to enter your USD vendor's opening balance. It's important to me that you can accurately record your payment transaction in your books. Could you please clarify for me if you mean recording an invoice payment as your opening balance payment or adding the payment towards the journal entry you just did?

Just move to QB online. I Create a journal entry for my last year payment that I made to my vendors as of 1st august 2020. While, my invoice date is 21st August 2020. How can I attach my journal entry payment to my invoice ?

Thanks for clarifying this, sh2295. If by invoice you mean Bill, then here's how to connect your journal entry payment to it. Go to the +New icon and select Cheque. After that, choose your vendor through the Payee dropdown. You'll automatically see your Bill and your Journal entry on your right. Add both and make sure the total is zero to save and close the Bill. 

In case you meant customer invoice, select instead Receive Payment when you go on the +New icon. Once you choose your customer, you'll be able to link the invoice and journal entry and save.

I hope this helps! Feel free to reach back if you need anything else.

Thank yo so much for your help. It is really appreciated. One last thing which filed I select in my bank transaction. If I select my bank account or credit card it gone affect my bank balance so Can please help me with this?

Good morning, sh2295. I'm glad you were able to attach the journal entry to an invoice. I'd like to make sure we're on the same page, could you elaborate on what you mean by "which filed I select in my bank transaction"? Feel free to send screenshots for visual reference. 

Good morning. Please find attached picture for your reference this filed I was taking about. This cheque include my opening balance accounts payable journal entry. So which field I select in option

Did you attach the screenshot recently? The screenshot I'm seeing on this thread is about the supplier credit screen. Is that the one you're referring to?

Can you able to see it now ?

Perfect, I see it now. When it comes to categorizing transactions, I'd recommend reaching out to an accounting professional. This ensures the correct accounts are being affected and that you don't run into discrepancies in the future.  If you're not in contact with one, I encourage you to search for one on our website using this link here. Let me know if you have other questions, I'm here to assist.