Opening Balance : Debtors and Creditors

An Opening Balance for a Debtor or Creditor defines a Customer or Supplier Balance from the day you wish to begin recording data within your KashFlow account.

This can be done either collectively or on an individual basis, though both will require you have a Suspense Account Nominal Code set-up.

Setting up the Suspense Account

The Suspense Account is the Nominal Code to balance the value you are defining for your Debtor and Creditor Control Account Opening Balance

1. Navigate to:
   Bank > Bank Codes
2. Beneath the table of your Bank Codes will be two editable fields, one containing a predetermined number and the other with “Bank Code Name”. Overwrite with your preferred Nominal Code Number, typically “9999” is used, as well as a Bank Code Name of “Suspense Account”– though these can be anything you want to best fit in line with your financial records.
3. Once done “+ Add Bank Code”
4. When created, you will need to permit the use of this code beyond stand alone Transactions and Journals. To do this, navigate to:
   Settings > Chart of Accounts
5. Therein, scroll to the bottom and click on “Show advanced configuration options”
6. Within the now provided options enable “Allow me to access all codes in all areas – not just Sales Codes in the Sales area and so on.”
7. Finally select “Update”

Opening Balance : Collectively

This will define an Opening Balance for the Creditors Control or Debtors Control Account without using an existing Supplier or Customer Record. This is useful if you simply want to have a record in your Trial Balance set against those Nominal Codes.

1. Create a new Supplier record entitled “Creditor Opening Balance” or anything you require; you do not need to specify any other particulars, though you can do so if you feel it will best reflect your financial records
2. Create a Purchase for this new “Creditor Opening Balance” Supplier
3. Specify the “Issue Date” to be the date from which you wish to begin recording data within KashFlow
4. Add a Line Item and select the Suspense Account Nominal Code you had created previously
5. If you do not need to declare tax on this brought in value, then you can specify a “VAT Rate” of “N/A”. If you are unsure of the VAT liability you should be recording against this then you should refer to your accountant for better information
6. In the “Total” field, specify the amount you wish to allocate to the Creditor Control Account as an Opening Balance
7. Then, “Save”

This would be the same process for creating an Opening Balance for the Debtor Control Code, raising an Invoice for a new “Debtor Opening Balance” Customer and following Step 2 onwards.

Opening Balance : Individually

This will define an Opening Balance for a specific Supplier or Customer and the Creditor or Debtor Control Code with the individual amounts. This is useful if you want a record of specifically who you owe money to, and who owes you money. Before doing this you will want to ensure the appropriate Suppliers and Customers have been created within your account, information pertaining to this can be found here for Suppliers and here for Customers.

1. Create an Invoice for the specific Customer you wish to record an Opening Balance for
2. Specify the “Issue Date” to be the date from which you wish to begin recording data within KashFlow
3. Add a Line Item and select the Suspense Account Nominal Code you had created previously
4. If you do not need to declare tax on this brought in value, then you can specify a “VAT Rate” of “N/A”. If you are unsure of the VAT liability you should be recording against this then you should refer to your accountant for better information
5. In the “Total” field, specify the amount you wish to allocate to the Creditor Control Account as an Opening Balance
6. Then, “Save”

This would be the same process for creating an Opening Balance for a Supplier, raising a Purchase for them and following Step 2 onwards.

Notes

• Typically a Suspense Account Code is only used for Accounts that cannot be directly manipulated such as the Creditor and Debtor Control Account Codes, or those that do not exist within your KashFlow records. As such, this code would be further Credited/ Debited against the Opening Balance of your other Nominals and thus removed from your reports; further information of doing this can be found in our “Opening Balances : Full” article here. If you are unsure of how you should be recording your data, please refer to your accountant or bookkeeper.