I am sitting here trying that, but in the setup, when you edit the accounts, it only allows posting of the entire account to "opening balances." I can't see a way to split it and put the appropriate amount in Retained Earnings. In the 3.8 version I was able to somehow correct the balances, I believe with a transfer, but I cannot remember for ssure.
On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 3:52 PM Rogier F. van Vlissingen <[email protected]> wrote: > It happens to be a loss. > > I seem to be missing something. For all the other accounts, I simply post > to the account with the balancing transaction going to Opening Balances. > But because of what I described, I get Opening Balances $x and Retained > Earnings $0. Nothing I can think of gets the money from Opening Balances > into Retained Earnings. > > Or is it that when I set it up, I have to do some split transactions to > make sure the appropriate amount ends up in Retained Earnings and the > remainder is Retained Earnings? > > Not sure how, but I could give that a try, I will just have to set that up > all over again. > > > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 3:33 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Rogier >> >> What is the form of the transaction being used to record the opening >> balance of the Retained Earnings account. Assuming your business has been >> profitable and it is not a loss, then the transaction to record its opening >> balances it should be something like >> Dr >> Cr >> Equity:Opening Balances xxx >> Equity: Retained Earnings xxx >> >> This should reduce the balance of the Retained earnings account while >> keeping the overall Equity account balance constant. >> >> David Cousens >> >> On Thu, 2021-12-30 at 15:18 -0500, Rogier F. van Vlissingen wrote: >> >> >> >> Thanks, I do not get it. I can set up all the opening balances, except >> one retained earnings. To me retained earnings on 1/1/2020 is the >> accumulated position from prior years, I do not see how I can finagle that >> via what sub accounts. Evidently, when I set up the opening transaction, >> which is fairly simple, the retained earnings is left at zero, because I >> cannot access it, and so that difference pops up as part of the opening >> balance accumulator account, which is therefore too high by the exact >> amount of the retained earnings. >> >> Am I missing something? >> >> On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 2:52 PM <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Rogier >> >> >> When you transfer account to a new set of books, you would record the >> opening >> balances of the Asset and Liability accounts against the Opening balances >> entries in Equity. >> >> Asset entries will be a debit to the asset account and a credit to the >> opening >> balances account and Liabilities a credit to the liability account and >> debit to >> the opening balances account in Equity. >> >> With this all you previous equity balances have been transferred to the >> Opening >> Balances account and the books are balanced. The Opening Account Balance >> should >> equal the total Equity balance in your previous set of books. >> >> If you wish to restore the Equity sub-account balances (assuming the >> accounts >> have a credit balance in your previous books), you would need to credit >> the >> aappropriate Equity sub-account in your new book for the amount of its >> balance >> in the previous set of books and debit the Opening Balances account for >> the same >> amount. This will keep the books balanced. >> >> If you restore all the previous books equity sub-account balances, then >> if your >> previous set of books was balanced, the Opening Balances account should >> end up >> with a 0 balance. >> >> As John pointed out, the initial account setup daemon only allows you to >> set the >> opening balances for asset and liability accounts. To restore the Equity >> balances you would need to enter the transactions manually from the >> Opening >> Balances register after creating the equity subaccounts initially with >> zero >> balances. >> >> David Cousens >> >> >> On Thu, 2021-12-30 at 06:33 -0500, Rogier F. van Vlissingen wrote: >> > Yeah, thanks. I am on mint, and it has version 3.8. I was able to do >> > something like that in version 3.8. However, I had some problems with >> it, >> > and moved to 4.9 now because of some other problems, but now I can't do >> > this, and that sort of kills the fun. >> > >> > Let's see if someone comes up with a better suggestion... hope springs >> > eternal... and if not, I am moving to another platform. >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 12:34 AM William Prescott < >> [email protected]> >> > wrote: >> > >> > > Please disregard. >> > > >> > > About a year ago, I set up a new Gnucash data file and chart of >> accounts. >> > > I remember making some mistakes setting up the opening balances. I >> > > recollect having problems changing the Opening Balance entries and >> having >> > > to edit the Opening Balances account (from the Accounts tab->Opening >> > > Balances->Edit) and changing something to make the entries editable. >> > > >> > > But I cannot reproduce it now. >> > > >> > > Will >> > > >> > > On 2021 Dec 29, at 12-29 20:41:13, Rogier F. van Vlissingen < >> > > [email protected]> wrote: >> > > >> > > Hi, thanks for that, but I cannot find any mechanism to "unlock" a >> read >> > > only account, nor does there seem to be anything in the manual about >> > > "unlocking?" Please clarify. >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > On Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 9:29 PM William Prescott < >> [email protected] >> > > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> > > I'm not sure if this is relevant … >> > > >> > > By default, the Opening Balance account is locked and transactions are >> > > only created there when you create a new account and give it an >> opening >> > > balance. But you can unlock the Opening Balance account and then >> adjust the >> > > transactions or add or delete them like in any other account. >> > > >> > > Will >> > > >> > > On 2021 Dec 29, at 12-29 18:52:16, John Ralls <[email protected] >> <mailto: >> > > [email protected]>> wrote: >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > > On Dec 29, 2021, at 4:08 PM, Rogier F. van Vlissingen < >> > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> > > > I had previously moved to GnuCash3.8 starting 1/1/2020, >> unfortunately, >> > > > there appears to be some sort of corruption in my file. >> > > > >> > > > I am now doing it over in 4.9. >> > > > >> > > > However, I am having a problem with the Opening Balances for 2020, >> as I >> > > > seem to be unable to set up an opening balance for retained >> earnings. >> > > > >> > > > The numbers check out, but everything goes in Opening balances, >> which is >> > > > therefore too high by the amount of the retained earnings. >> > > > >> > > > You can't even do a transfer. >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > What is to be done? >> > > >> > > A business book wouldn't normally have an opening balances account. >> OTOH >> > > money is fungible and it doesn't really make sense to divide every >> asset's >> > > start-of-year balance between liabilities, paid-in capital, and >> retained >> > > earnings, so it's in my mind quite defensible to use Opening Balances >> to >> > > accumulate everything. Liabilities are handled by creating normal >> opening >> > > balance entries. The New File Hierarchy Assistant doesn't let you make >> > > opening balance entries in Equity accounts, but you can add >> transactions to >> > > RE and whatever you're calling paid-in capital to zero out Opening >> Balances >> > > when you've finished with the assistant. >> > > >> > > Regards, >> > > John Ralls >> > > _______________________________________________ >> > > gnucash-user mailing list >> > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >> > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user < >> > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user> >> > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see >> > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists < >> > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists> for more information. >> > > ----- >> > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >> > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >> > > >> > > _______________________________________________ >> > > gnucash-user mailing list >> > > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >> > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user < >> > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user> >> > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see >> > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists < >> > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists> for more information. >> > > ----- >> > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >> > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >> > > >> > > _______________________________________________ >> > > gnucash-user mailing list >> > > [email protected] >> > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >> > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >> > > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see >> > > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. >> > > ----- >> > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >> > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >> > > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > gnucash-user mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >> > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >> > If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see >> > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. >> > ----- >> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> gnucash-user mailing list >> [email protected] >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see >> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. >> ----- >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >> >> _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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