How to Manually or Automatically Set Opening Balances in Accounting
When starting a new fiscal year in Eemel.com, you must enter accurate opening balances to ensure consistent and correct accounting. There are two ways to do this:
🔹 Option 1: Manual Entry of Opening Balances
Which accounts need balances?
Only balance sheet accounts need opening balances. Profit and loss accounts reset automatically with each new fiscal year.
Common balance sheet accounts:
Assets (Debit):
1000 Bank Accounts
1200 Accounts Receivable
1600 VAT Receivables
Liabilities & Equity (Credit):
2000 Accounts Payable
2700 VAT Liabilities
3000 Share Capital
3100 Retained Earnings
How to enter balances:
Go to Accounting → Fiscal Years
Choose the desired fiscal year or create a new one
Click Edit fiscal year
Open Enter fiscal year details
Input balances into relevant accounts
Use positive numbers for debits (e.g., assets)
Use negative numbers for credits (e.g., liabilities)
📌 Note: Debits and credits must balance for valid bookkeeping.
🔹 Option 2: Automatically Transfer Balances from Previous Year
This is the fastest and safest method:
Go to Accounting → Fiscal Years
Select the closing fiscal year
Tick “Add year-end balances to next fiscal year's opening balances”
Click Close Fiscal Year
💡 The system will automatically copy final balance sheet values into the next year as opening balances.
💬 Which method should you use?
Automatic: Ideal if you continue accounting in Eemel for the next year.
Manual: Recommended if switching from another system or starting mid-year.