Setting up opening balance for projects

The Opening Balance option in BQE CORE allows you to specify an opening balance for an existing or older project. It is an alternative to creating historical manual invoices for projects migrated to CORE from another system. CORE sends all your income to the default income account. However, if you want to specify details and accounts for different items, you can create manual invoices or General Journal entries.

Before you begin

The Include billable expenses in the contract amount rule (Settings > Assignments > Add Rule) determines whether billed expenses count against a project's contract amount.

• If you bill expenses on top of the contract amount, keep this rule disabled on the project.
• If you want expenses to count against the contract amount, enable this rule before you add the opening balance. Enabling it after you add the opening balance does not apply retroactively.

You need the following information before entering the opening balance in CORE:

• Start date and other values from the trial balance, balance sheet and income statement
• Most recent bank statement
• Checks and deposits outstanding on or before your start date (net cleared)
• Unpaid bills (vendor bills), open invoices and value of inventory

To enter or edit the opening balance for a project:

1. Open the Projects screen from the side menu.
2. In the list view, click on a project row and select View Details.
3. In the detail view, click ... and select Opening Balance.
4. On the Opening Balance dialog, enter the required information:
   • Balance as of date: This is the 'up to' date of the historical data you are entering here. It represents the date of the opening balance.
   • Services Billed
   • Expenses Billed: This amount reduces the contract's Remaining balance only if you enable Include billable expenses in the contract amount on the project before you click Create. See the Before you begin section above.
   • Payments, Discounts, and Retainers
5. Click Create to add the opening balance to the project accounts. If the project already has an opening balance, reopening this dialog shows Update instead of Create. Note that you cannot update an opening balance that has a payment attached.

Adding an opening balance creates a manual invoice for the project. Entering an amount in Payments or Retainers also creates a corresponding payment record linked to that invoice.

Correcting an opening balance if expenses must count against the contract amount

If you added an opening balance before enabling the project rule to include expenses in the contract, and you have since decided that the Expenses Billed amount should count against the contract amount, enabling the rule alone does not update an opening balance that already exists. To correct it:

• If you did not record a payment or retainer on the opening balance, enable the rule, reopen the Opening Balance dialog for that project, and click Update to recalculate the Expenses Billed amount against the contract.
• If you recorded a payment or retainer on the opening balance, CORE blocks any update to it. Delete the payment or retainer payment, enable the rule, then reenter the amount in the Opening Balance dialog and click Update to recreate it.
  • If you already deposited that payment, delete the deposit as well, then recreate it after updating the opening balance.
  • If you already reconciled the deposit and the reconciliation period is still open, you can adjust the reconciliation. If you reconciled the deposit in a previous, closed period, contact CORE Support for assistance.

Check CORE Help Center for more details on setting up the opening balance.