Opening balances
Bring the balances of your previous books into Verasol on the day your books start, each on the screen that owns it, against Opening Balance Equity.
When you move to Verasol, your books continue from the balances of your previous books. Verasol keeps every opening balance on one date: the opening date, the day before your books start in Verasol. Each balance is entered on the screen that owns it (a bank balance on the bank account, what a customer owed on the customer's invoices, stock on the item) and booked against Opening Balance Equity. Nothing else can be dated on or before the opening date (except a journal entry on Opening Balance Equity, see below), so your first month in Verasol starts from exactly these balances.
Set the date your books start#
Open Settings › Financial year & currency and fill in Books start date (go-live), for example 1 January 2025. Your opening date is then the day before, 31 December 2024. Click Save Changes. Only the company owner can change the date.
1 Books start date (go-live): the first day Verasol keeps the books.
Set it before you enter the opening balances. If you have not set it, Verasol takes it from the first thing you book: an opening balance makes the next day the start of your books, any other entry the first day of its month. The date can only be changed while every opening balance is dated the day before it and nothing else is dated earlier.
Where each opening balance goes#
| Balance | Where you enter it | What Verasol books |
|---|---|---|
| Money in each bank, cash or card account | Banking › Bank Accounts: Opening Balance and Balance Date when you add the account | Dr the bank account, Cr Opening Balance Equity (a card or loan balance owed: the other way round) |
| What each customer owed | Invoices › All Invoices › Opening balance, one per open invoice | Dr Accounts Receivable, Cr Opening Balance Equity |
| What you owed each supplier | Invoices › Purchase Invoices, a new bill with Bill Type Opening balance (migration) | Dr Opening Balance Equity, Cr Accounts Payable |
| Stock on hand | Inventory › Items: Opening Stock, Warehouse and Opening unit cost (AED) on a new item (on an existing item, Correct the opening stock) | Dr Inventory, Cr Opening Balance Equity |
| Fixed assets | Fixed Assets › Add Asset, with How was it acquired? set to Opening balance (existing asset) | Dr asset cost, Cr accumulated depreciation, Cr Opening Balance Equity |
| End-of-service and leave provisions | Payroll & HR › Opening balances | Dr Opening Balance Equity, Cr the provision |
| Staff loans still owed | Payroll & HR › Loans: a new loan, ticked as an opening balance | Dr Employee Loans & Advances, Cr Opening Balance Equity |
| VAT owed to or refundable by the FTA | VAT › Filed VAT Returns › Opening balance | Dr Opening Balance Equity, Cr VAT Payable to FTA (refundable: the other way round) |
| Corporate tax still payable for a year before | Corporate Tax › CT Returns › Opening balance | Dr Opening Balance Equity, Cr Corporate Tax Payable |
| Everything else: prepayments, accruals, loans, share capital, retained earnings | Chart of Accounts: the Opening Balance of the account | Dr or Cr the account, against Opening Balance Equity |
Verasol refuses a chart of accounts opening balance on the accounts of the first nine rows: they take their opening balance from these screens, so each account starts equal to the open items, the stock or the register behind it.
Customers and suppliers#
Enter one opening balance per open invoice, so that the aging, the statements and the receipts work invoice by invoice. Customer and supplier opening balances need the permission Accounting: chart of accounts, as they post to Opening Balance Equity.
For a customer, open Invoices › All Invoices and click Opening balance:
- Choose the Customer and enter the Amount owed. A negative amount is a credit the customer had with you, such as an advance.
- Leave Opening date empty to use your opening date.
- Enter the Original due date (for the aging) and the Original invoice no. from your previous books.
- For a balance in another currency, enter the Currency. Leave the Rate to AED at the opening date empty to use the published rate of that date.
- Click Book opening balance. It is booked at once.
1 Customer, 2 Amount owed, 3 Opening date, 4 Original due date, 5 Book opening balance.
For a supplier, open Invoices › Purchase Invoices, create a bill, choose Opening balance (migration) as the Bill Type and enter the amount. Tick This is an advance the supplier held for you (a credit, applied later to one of its bills) for money the supplier held for you. Save Bill saves it as a draft; it is booked when you approve it, like any bill.
An opening balance has no revenue, no expense, no VAT and no stock: the sale or purchase was already reported in your previous books. It appears in the aging and is settled by payments like any invoice or bill. Once booked it cannot be edited: to correct one, cancel it (while nothing has been received or paid on it) and enter it again. A customer's opening balance cannot be credited either. A debit note on a supplier's opening balance must name the account each of its lines credits, because the opening balance booked no cost account.
What Verasol books#
For example, Qasr Dunes Logistics LLC owed AED 86,450.00 on invoice INV-2024-0412 when the documentation company started on 1 January 2025:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 1100 Accounts Receivable | 86,450.00 | |
| 3900 Opening Balance Equity | 86,450.00 |
And the company owed Gulfline IT Distribution FZE AED 168,420.00 (opening balance OPB-2024-12-0001):
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 3900 Opening Balance Equity | 168,420.00 | |
| 2100 Accounts Payable | 168,420.00 |
Accounts without documents#
For accounts that have no documents behind them, such as prepaid expenses, accrued expenses, a bank loan, share capital and retained earnings, enter the Opening Balance of the account in the chart of accounts: when you add the account, or later with Edit for an account that is already in your chart. Verasol keeps all these balances in one entry, "Opening balances", dated the opening date. When you change one of them, it reverses that entry and posts it again with the new amounts.
You can also post a manual journal entry dated the opening date against Opening Balance Equity. That is the only kind of transaction Verasol accepts on the opening date.
Check the opening balances#
Every opening balance is a posted journal entry dated the opening date. In Journal Entries, set From Date and To Date to the opening date to see them all, each with the screen it came from.
1 From Date and 2 To Date set to the opening date. 3 The entry of the chart of accounts' opening balances.
The trial balance at the opening date should match the closing trial balance of your previous books. Books health also checks every night that each opening balance is dated the opening date, that nothing else is, and that Opening Balance Equity holds only opening balances.