QuickBooks Opening Balance: How to Enter and Fix It

The opening balance in QuickBooks is the amount of money in a bank or credit card account on the day you start tracking it. In QuickBooks Online you set it when you create the account: go to Settings, then Chart of accounts, select New, pick the account type, and fill in the Balance and As of date fields. The offsetting entry lands in the Opening Balance Equity account. Get the figure and the date right and your first reconciliation will balance.

An opening balance that does not match the bank is the single most common reason a first reconciliation will not reach a zero difference, because the beginning balance QuickBooks shows during reconciliation comes straight from that entry. The fix is to compare it to a real statement and correct it. If the historical statements you need are still locked in PDFs, convert them to a .qbo file with the tool above and import the actual transactions, so the opening balance and every line after it match what the bank shows. Here is how to enter, find, correct, and reconcile an opening balance in QuickBooks Online and Desktop.

What is the opening balance in QuickBooks?

The opening balance is the amount in an account on the date you begin tracking it in QuickBooks. For a brand-new bank account it is usually zero. For an existing account it equals the bank's balance on your QuickBooks start date, taken straight from a statement so your books start from a number you can prove.

What is Opening Balance Equity in QuickBooks?

Opening Balance Equity is a temporary equity account QuickBooks uses to hold the other side of every opening balance you enter, which keeps the books in balance. Once you have entered all opening balances and moved the total to retained earnings or owner's equity, this account should net to zero. A leftover balance signals an error; the full guide to Opening Balance Equity in QuickBooks walks through clearing it.

How do I enter an opening balance in QuickBooks Online?

Go to Settings, then Chart of accounts, and select New. Choose the account type, Bank or Credit card, name the account, then enter the figure in the Balance field and pick the As of date. Save. QuickBooks posts the matching entry to Opening Balance Equity automatically, so you do not record both sides yourself.

How do I enter an opening bank balance for an account I already created?

Open the account register from Chart of accounts, then add a deposit (or a charge, for a credit card) dated on your start date and choose Opening Balance Equity as the account. Match the amount to your bank statement for that exact day. A connected account can also pull a starting balance when you first link the feed.

What date should I use for an opening balance?

For a brand-new account, use the day you opened it at the bank. For an existing account, use the day before your first QuickBooks transaction, or the beginning date on your next bank statement. Then enter the bank's balance on that exact date so nothing is double-counted or left out.

How do I find the opening balance entry in QuickBooks?

Open Chart of accounts, find the account, and select View register. Scroll to the oldest transaction; the opening balance entry shows Opening Balance Equity as the payee or account. Click it to see the amount and date. This is the entry you edit when you need to correct a wrong starting figure.

How do I correct an incorrect opening balance in QuickBooks Online?

If the account has not been reconciled yet, open the register, click the opening balance entry, edit the date or amount to match your bank statement, and Save. If it has already been reconciled, do not just edit it. Enter an adjusting transaction to Opening Balance Equity for the difference so you do not break the reconciliation.

How do I change a bank opening balance that was already reconciled?

Editing a reconciled opening balance throws off every reconciliation after it. Instead, leave the original and record an adjusting deposit or expense dated on the opening date, posted to Opening Balance Equity, for the amount of the error. Then mark that entry reconciled by clicking the status box until an R appears, so the books stay clean.

Why is my opening balance wrong in QuickBooks?

The usual causes are picking the wrong As of date, entering the available balance instead of the statement balance, letting the bank feed import transactions that overlap the opening date, or typing the figure from memory. Always pull the number from a dated bank statement, never from the live balance on the bank's website.

How do I fix Opening Balance Equity that won't go to zero?

Run a Balance Sheet, click the Opening Balance Equity total to see what is sitting there, then move it with a journal entry to the correct account: retained earnings, owner's equity, or a partner capital account. A leftover balance almost always means an opening balance was entered twice or coded to the wrong account.

Why won't my first reconciliation balance in QuickBooks?

A first reconciliation that will not reach a zero difference is almost always an opening balance problem, because the beginning balance QuickBooks shows comes from that entry. Confirm it matches the bank's ending balance on the statement right before your start date. Once the opening figure is correct, the difference usually drops to zero.

Does the bank feed create an opening balance automatically?

When you connect a bank account, QuickBooks can pull a starting balance plus about 90 days of transactions. That convenience often creates a duplicate or mismatched opening balance if you also typed one in. Check the register after connecting and remove any extra Opening Balance Equity entry so the account is not double-counted.

How far back should my opening balance go?

Set the opening balance on the date you want your QuickBooks history to start, then enter every transaction from that day forward. The bank feed only reaches back about 90 days, so for older periods convert the PDF statements to .qbo and import them. That gives you a clean opening balance and a complete general ledger to reconcile against.

Once your opening balance matches the bank, keep the account clean with our guides to reconciling bank statements in QuickBooks, fixing it when your bank balance doesn't match QuickBooks, and clearing outstanding checks. To build history before your start date, see how to import old bank statements and exactly how far back QuickBooks can import transactions. If your books also live in a spreadsheet, you can convert bank statements to Excel, turn a CSV bank file into a .qbo, or pull receipts into your ledger with receipt data extraction.