When starting on Farmplan Business Cloud, you will probably not have the full list of opening balances to enter. However, this doesn't mean that you should ignore this section all together as there is important information required to enter for when you begin data entry.
A comprehensive opening balance article can be found here.
What are the essentials?
The key information that might need to be entered includes:
Bank balance(s)
VAT balance - money owed to you or you owe to from HMRC following a VAT return.
*Outstanding invoices (if invoices have been entered on a previous account package but the invoice has not been paid at the point of starting on Farmplan Business Cloud).
*Only required if you are planning on entering invoices to keep accurate debtor and creditor balances of what you owe and what is owed to you. If you are only allocating transactions when they go through the bank then you do not need to enter outstanding invoices on the system.
Steps to enter these details into Farmplan Business Cloud
From the main home screen click on the plus sign in the top right > new category.
Create a category called 'Opening Balance suspense' as per the screenshot below and save.
Go to Accounting | Opening Balances
Step 1 - enter the date prior to your first day of data entry on Farmplan Business Cloud e.g. if you're beginning data entry on 01/04/2024 then your opening balance date will need to be 31/03/2024.
Opening Balances tab - scroll down to find your bank account(s) which will have a category code of around 7800.
Enter a debit figure for a positive balance or a credit figure if the balance is a negative.
VAT - If you are owed money from HMRC (debit)or due to pay money to HMRC (credit) following a VAT return (submitted from your previous system), this figure can be entered against 8302 VAT - HMRC.
A debit figure can be entered if you are due to receive money from HMRC, or a credit figure if you are due to pay HMRC.
*If you are needing to enter opening balance invoices, these can be entered within the 'Outstanding invoices' tab.
Within Opening Balances tab, scroll to the bottom and check the total debits and credits. These will need to balance before the details can be 'finished'. You will need to calculate the balancing figure and enter this against the 'Opening Balance suspense' category created in step 2.
Once both sides are balanced, scroll to the bottom and 'Finish' your opening balances.
What to do when you obtain the full opening balances
Once your accountant has provided you with your full list of opening balances, go to Accounting | Opening Balances, click to 'delete' the opening balances which will put them back into draft (keeping the balances previously entered), and allow you to complete your true opening balances.
Remember to remove the balance entered against the 'Opening Balance suspense' category.