Customer Opening Balances

Customer Opening Balances are entered typically when you are setting up a new company data file and need to enter existing customer balances.

Two (2) different ways you can enter a Customer Opening Balance:

Grand Total the amount the customer owes you

Create individual opening balances for each outstanding invoice that the customer owes you

Note that:

You must make sure all your Customers have already been entered into the Customer form before you can make any opening balances for them.

If you are setting up opening balances for your Customers in Customer Opening Balances form, you should NOT enter an Accounts Receivable chart of accounts opening balance, otherwise your numbers will double because it builds that number for you.

The following steps will explain in detail how to add a new Customer Opening Balance.

From the Main Menu, click on System Manager, then Opening Balances.  You will now be brought to the Opening Balances form.  Here, click the Customer Opening Balance button. This will open the Find Customer Opening Balances form.  Click the New button at the upper left corner of the form to open the Find the Customer for this Customer Opening Balance form where you can select the customer you are to create an opening balance.

General Tab

1.The Invoice Number field will be automatically filled in with a unique number based on the starting number that is assigned in the Starting Numbers form.  This number is used as a reference for you and VisionCore to help find this transaction later if necessary.

2.In the Customer ID field you still have the choice of either selecting an existing Customer ID from the combo box.

3.After you have selected Customer ID you will notice many of the fields on the form will fill in with data based on that customer.  When you have finished entering data for each field, press the TAB or ENTER key to move your cursor to the next field.

Note:   To help speed up data entry you should make sure you have all available information on the customer completely filled out in the customer form.  This will auto fill in fields like: Terms and Currency and Sales Person throughout VisionCore.

4.The Date field will automatically be filled in with today's date.  This can be changed to whatever date you want.

5.The Currency field is used to assign a default currency for each customer opening balance.  Normally, this will automatically fill in with your default Currency ID setup for the selected customer in the Customer form.  You can override the Currency after it fills in if you need to.  If the currency you want to use is not in the list you will have to add it to the Currency Exchange Rate form.  You will notice that if you use a different currency other than the default currency set in the Company Preferences form, that the Total fields will display a different background color as to what is setup in Company Preferences form.

6.The Information area will display all the details of the selected customer.  You can click the Ellipse button next to this section to open the Customer form where you can edit the customer data.

7.The Payment Info field is where you can enter the check number or payment information the customer sent you for this opening balance.

8.The Notes field can be used to enter any notes or comments about the opening balance.

9.The Terms field will fill in with the default terms setup for the selected customer.  This field is used to enter the payment terms for the customer opening balance, which details the form of payment that customer sent to you.  If the Terms you want to use is not in the list you will have to add it to the Terms form. Terms are directly connected to the receivables and will determine what discounts or interest that customer may receive.

10.The Due Date field will be filled in with today's date.  You may click the drop down button to open the Calendar form where you can graphically enter the date or you can manually type one.

11.The Salesperson field will fill in with the default contact name entered for the selected customer.  You can change this field to any name you want.

12.The PO Number field is where you can enter the Purchase Order number you want to use for this opening balance.  This can be used as a reference for the opening balance.

13.The Description field can be used to enter a description of the opening balance.

14.The Job ID field can be used to assign a Job ID to track the opening balance for a job.

15.The A/R Account will be filled in automatically with the Accounts Receivable ID setup in the Security form > Default Accounts tab.  This is the Account Receivable account that will be affected when you Post this transaction.  You can change it by selecting a different account from the combo box if you need to.

16.The Bank Account will be filled in automatically with the  Historical Balance ID setup in the Security form > Default Accounts tab.  This is the account that will be affected when you Post this transaction.  You can change it by selecting a different account from the combo box if you need to.

17.The Amount field will automatically fill in with zero.  This is the field you use to enter the amount of the opening balance.

History Tab

You can get to the History page of information by clicking on the History tab.  The History page will display all the customer opening balances ever made for the selected customer, that is if you choose to 'Create individual opening balances for each outstanding invoice that the customer owes you'.   All the fields are read only and cannot be changed.  Click the Ellipse button next to any of the customer history line items to have VisionCore display that customer opening balance in the General tab page.