Your accounting start date is the date you start keeping your books in Books. Your opening balances are your financial position as at the day before this date. For example, if your start date is 1 July 2026, your opening balances are as at 30 June 2026.
You only need opening balances if your business was operating before your accounting start date. A brand-new business can skip this: all your accounts start at zero.
Go to "Books" > "Books settings" > "Opening Balances".
You'll see your accounts, with Debit and Credit columns in your base currency.
Enter each balance in one column only, either Debit or Credit, not both:
Assets (for example cash, receivables, equipment): Debit column
Liabilities (for example payables, loans): Credit column
Equity (for example share capital, retained earnings): Credit column
Save.
Your Aspire bank account rows are filled in for you. Books fetch each account's closing balance as at your opening balance date, so these rows are read-only. You only need to enter balances for everything else, such as non-Aspire bank accounts, receivables, payables, fixed assets, loans and equity.
To correct an opening balance later, come back to this page and update it here. Don't use the Journal entries page to correct opening balances.
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