Enter and manage opening balances in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to enter and manage an opening balance for bank, credit card, and other types of accounts.

To keep accurate financial records, you need to have an organized and accurate chart of accounts. An important part of this is to make sure any accounts that affect your Balance Sheet have an opening balance. This gives you a record of where the account started from.

We’ll help you understand the reason accounts have opening balances and show you how to enter and manage them.

Learn why opening balances are important

Your accounts in QuickBooks need to match the real-life bank and credit card accounts you're tracking. When you create a new account in QuickBooks, you pick a day to start tracking transactions. Then, you enter the balance of your real-life bank account for whatever day you choose. This amount and start date set the account's opening balance.

Pick an easy date to start your opening balance. If you just opened a new account at your bank, use the day you opened the account. If you've had the account for a while, start your opening balance on the same day as the beginning of your next bank statement. Whatever date you choose, use your bank statement to get the account's balance for that day.

Tip: QuickBooks tracks all of your opening balances for all of your accounts in an Opening Balance Equity account. This makes it easy to go back and look at what you entered later on.

Find flexible solutions for your growing business with QuickBooks Advanced. With unlimited chart of accounts and up to 25 users, you have room to grow. Learn more about QuickBooks Advanced today.

To watch more how-to videos, visit our video section.

To learn how to enter or edit an opening balance, launch step-by-step instructions in QuickBooks Online.