Import your opening balances

This article explains how to import your opening balances when you set up your FreeAgent account.

If your business has been trading for a while, you'll have some opening balances to enter when you first begin using FreeAgent. These are your figures as of your FreeAgent start date. FreeAgent needs to include this brought-forward information for your accounting reports.

Before you get started

You can download our opening balances template and then fill in the required columns for each opening balance that you'd like to import into FreeAgent. Alternatively, you can create your own .CSV file to import into your FreeAgent account.

Your accountant should be able to supply you with a trial balance (a list of all the balances in your accounts) as of your FreeAgent start date and will be able to advise which entries you need to record in your FreeAgent account. Please note that our support team can’t help you with this as we’re not authorised to provide accounting advice.

You can download a chart of accounts to view a list of all the available categories in FreeAgent and create custom categories if you need to.

Please note that importing a set of opening balances will overwrite any existing opening balances in your account. You’ll need to have full (level 8) access to your FreeAgent account to be able to import opening balances.

How to import your opening balances

Navigate to the ‘Accounting’ tab at top of the screen and select ‘Journal Entries’ from the drop-down menu.

From the 'Journal Entries' screen, choose 'Opening Balances' from the drop-down menu.

Select ‘Import Opening Balances’.

Choose 'Select a file' and select the file you wish to upload from your computer.

Once you’ve selected the relevant file, select ‘Upload and review’.

FreeAgent will attempt to match the imported categories on the .CSV file with the relevant categories in FreeAgent. Please note that the names of the imported categories will need to match the names of the available categories in FreeAgent for them to be guessed. You can download a chart of accounts to view a list of all the available categories in FreeAgent.

You can change the ‘FreeAgent Category’ for each imported category by selecting the arrow next to the entry and choosing the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.

To add additional opening balances, select ‘Add Another’ and enter the relevant information.

To remove any of the opening balances, select the cross to the right of the relevant imported code(s).

The debit and credit balances of the opening balances should be equal if you’re entering them fully. If these balances don’t match, there may be an opening balance(s) missing and the value of the difference will be displayed in red below the balances. If you’re not sure which entries are required, please ask your accountant.

Once the debit and credit balances are equal and you’re happy with the opening balances, select ‘Import Opening Balances’ to complete the process. Alternatively, you can select ‘Cancel without importing’ to abandon the process without importing the opening balances.

Please note that if you import your opening balances with a difference between the debit and credit balances, FreeAgent will create a ‘Suspense Account’ as a balancing entry for the amount of the difference.

To correct this, edit your opening balances and enter the missing opening balance(s). Once the debit and credit balances are equal, FreeAgent will remove the suspense account.