Customer beginning balances consist of outstanding invoices as of the time you started using Sage 50. To enter beginning balances for customer records, select the Beginning Balances button on the History tab of the Maintain Customers/Prospects window.
Notes: If you have set up your company on an accrual basis, you must enter an A/R general ledger account. If your company is set up on a cash basis, the words <Cash Basis> will appear in the A/R account field, and it will be disabled.
Beginning balances must not include any transactions (such as sales invoices) that you have already entered in the task window, such as the Sales/Invoicing window, of Sage 50.
The beginning-balance amounts are not transferred to your A/R account in the general ledger. Hence, they will not affect your financial statements in any way.
The total amount of your customer beginning balances must equal the amount you entered as a beginning balance in your chart of accounts for your A/R accounts.
If a payment has been made against a beginning balance invoice, the beginning balance invoice will appear as gray and be disabled.
Enter beginning balance information for a customer using the Invoices for tab.
The Invoices for tab includes the following fields:
- Invoice Number: Enter the number of the outstanding invoice. This is required and can be the same number as you used for that invoice in the old accounting system.
- Date: Enter the date the invoice was created.
- Purchase Order Number: Enter the purchase order number, if any.
- Amount: Enter the outstanding amount of the invoice as of the time you began to use Sage 50. That is, if the original invoice amount was $100 and the customer paid $50 before you started to use Sage 50, enter the Amount as $50.
- A/R Account: Enter the A/R account for this customer's beginning balances. This is the category or "bucket" in the chart of accounts that will be updated when the customer pays the beginning balance invoice.
When you're through entering invoices, click Save.