Opening balance equity is an account created by accounting software to offset opening balance transactions. Opening balance equity is the offsetting entry used when entering account balances into the Quickbooks accounting software. It is used to provide an offset to the other accounts so that the books are always balanced.

• Once all initial account balances have been entered, the balance in the opening balance equity account is moved to the normal equity accounts, such as common stock and retained earnings.
• Using accounting software can help you figure out what is missing, or you can fill out an accounting template and see the numbers in front of you.
• QuickBooks debits the Inventory Asset account and credits the Opening Balance Equity account.
• Even though QuickBooks makes accounting a whole lot easier for small and medium businesses, there are still some things, like opening balance equity, that you need to enter into your system manually.
• Opening balance equity is the offsetting entry used when entering account balances into the Quickbooks accounting software.
• An opening balance equity QuickBooks’s account is often created automatically rather than manually.

The opening balance is essentially a snapshot of your balance sheet just before your plan begins. Next, set up the mapping of the file column related to the QuickBooks field. It will really help if you ever need to go back and look at the original setup. These are the profits that have not been distributed among the company’s owners. QuickBooks also computes your profit or loss at the end of your fiscal year.

What kind of Account is the Opening Balance Equity?

This could be an expense account for tracking business costs, an income account for recording sales revenue, or even an asset or liability account if applicable. Remember that fixing https://www.bookstime.com/articles/opening-balance-equity-what-is-it-and-how-to-fix-it QuickBooks requires attention to detail and accuracy. Taking the time now will save you headaches down the road and ensure that your financial reports reflect accurate information. It ensures that everything balances out when you enter those initial amounts for each account during setup. Once you’ve entered all the opening balances correctly, ideally this account should be zero. She must enter a ‘specific’ Inventory Adjustment to reduce the “quantity on hand”.

Using accounting software can help you figure out what is missing, or you can fill out an accounting template and see the numbers in front of you. When you set up QuickBooks initially, a wizard guides you through a list of your company’s assets and liabilities. If you have any remaining funds from previous accounts, this money is deposited into the Open Balance Equity account. You can view your total equity by going to your Chart of Accounts and selecting the Owner’s Equity account. To record an equity deposit from another investment or account, you use the Opening Balance Equity account.

Off QuickBooks

In the next section, we will discuss the process steps of deleting the opening balance equity into QuickBooks Online so that balance for deletion gets adjusted. The Opening Balance Equity account is a clearing account created automatically by QuickBooks for use during data file setup. As you enter each beginning balance into QuickBooks the entry is offset to Opening Balance Equity. Opening balance equity is necessary to make sure that the accounting equation is balanced and that a company’s financial records are accurate, as was already indicated.

From that point, all you need to do is ensure that your accounts stay balanced. If you were to create a company that had a large positive or negative balance on day one, it would be impossible to balance the books later on. So, quite simply, the answer to the question of opening balance equity in QuickBooks is that it is an accounting tool that lets you start your accounting software on day one with everything balanced. Keep in mind that closing the balance equity to retained earnings or owner’s equity is essentially the same concept. So if you post a new asset account with a balance, you’d need to offset it by the same amount on the other side of the equation when you first bring balances into accounting software.

Perform these steps After Entering your Opening Balances

If the amount of the journal accounting entry does not match the amount on your bank statement, and you close it out, the program will change the QuickBooks opening balance equity account balance. You need to enter open balance equity as a credit card or bank account. To input an opening balance for accounts you create in QuickBooks, follow these steps. It’s most appropriate to transfer the working capital and equity account balances to other accounts when it’s time to update the balance sheet. For instance, the user types in the information related to the bank account into QuickBooks Online.