Enter opening balances

Record what each bank, asset, liability and equity account was worth on the day you started keeping books in Nova.

In the sidebar, open Bookkeeping, then Accounting, then Chart of Accounts. The page address is /bookkeeping/chart-of-accounts. The opening balances window opens at /bookkeeping/chart-of-accounts/opening-balances.

Before you start

• Pick your start date, usually the first day of a fiscal year or month, and gather the balance of each bank account, credit card, loan and other asset or liability on that date. Your previous books or bank statements have them.
• Only balance-sheet accounts take an opening balance. Income and expenses start at zero.
• Your role needs permission to manage opening balances to see the Opening balances button.

Steps

1. Press Opening balances at the top of the chart of accounts. The Opening balances window opens and lists every active asset, liability and equity account by code and name. If you saved balances before, they are filled in.
2. Set As of to your start date. If you leave it blank, Nova uses today.
3. Type each account's balance in the Balance column, in your organization's currency. Enter each figure the way the account normally carries it: money in the bank as a positive number, and what you owe on a credit card or loan also as a positive number. A negative figure flips it to the other side. Leave accounts that were zero blank.
4. Press Save opening balances. Nova closes the window.

What you see

• Nova posts the other side of the entry to Opening Balance Equity automatically, so the books stay balanced. That account does not appear in the window.
• Each account's register now shows an entry on the As of date for the balance you entered; open an account from the list to check it.
• Come back to this window any time to correct a balance. It shows what is saved, and saving replaces the whole earlier entry with the new set. Clearing a figure removes that account's opening balance.

If something looks different

• Opening balances is missing: your role cannot manage opening balances. Ask your admin.
• Opening balances is greyed out: your organization's currency settings are incomplete. Hover over it to read why.
• Save opening balances is greyed out with a message about historical accounts in another currency: an account in the list is in a currency that is no longer your organization's currency. Deactivate that account (see Add an account to your chart of accounts) or ask an admin to correct it before saving.
• Nova says the accounting period covering your date is closed: the As of date falls in a closed period. Pick a date after it, or reopen the period first (see Close the books for a period).
• The list reads that there are no active balance-sheet accounts: bookkeeping has not been set up, or every balance-sheet account has been deactivated.
• Closing the window after changing a value asks whether to leave without saving.

Enter opening balances