Entering General Ledger Beginning Balances

How to enter and verify beginning G/L balances

Complete the following steps to verify the beginning balances within EBMS. These values are necessary for the EBMS Financials module to generate financial statements.

1. Establish a General Ledger month-end period that will be used to verify General Ledger beginning balances within EBMS. It is advantageous to target the beginning of a quarter or year, but this period may be the beginning of any calendar month. For example, the EBMS beginning period date may be April 1st, 20xx.

2. The ending account balances from the former bookkeeping system as of the EBMS beginning period date are required to establish beginning balances within EBMS. These balances are available on a current balance sheet.

3. All outstanding expense invoices must be entered into EBMS before reconciling General Ledger balances. Print the Accounts Payable Schedule report found here: File > Reports > Expenses > Vendors > Schedule of Accounts Payable. Enter any missing outstanding vendor invoices using the original invoice date. Use any date prior to the EBMS Beginning Period Date if the original invoice date is not within an open period.

4. All outstanding sales invoices must be entered into EBMS in a similar way as expense invoices. Print the Account Receivable Schedule report found here: File > Reports > Sales > Customers > Schedule of Accounts Receivable. Enter any missing outstanding sales invoices using the original invoice date. Use any date prior to the EBMS Beginning Period Date if the original invoice date is not within an open period.

5. Enter inventory counts and values if inventory is being recorded in a perpetual manner. Review Inventory Counts Overview section of the Inventory documentation for more details on perpetual vs. periodic inventory tracking methods. Review Reconciling Inventory Value section of the Inventory documentation for instructions on entering inventory counts and values.

6. Verify balances using the Financials > Utilities > Verify Balances utility. Review Verifying General Ledger Balances for instruction details.

7. Print a balance sheet by selecting the File > Reports > Financials > Balance Statements > Balance Sheet report from the main EBMS menu. Print the File > Reports > Financials > Profit & Loss > Detailed Profit & Loss Statement report if the EBMS beginning period date is not the beginning of the company's fiscal year.

8. View the printed EBMS statements and compare the values on the balance sheet and income statement from the original system. Enter and post a journal entry to make adjustments to the existing EBMS balances to match the correct balances. Review the Creating Journal Entries section for more journal entry instructions.

Repeat steps 7 and 8 until all account balances match.

If further assistance is needed in performing this task, contact your accountant or EBMS consultant.

Review the Account Reconciliation section for details on how to maintain General Ledger account balances.