Checking account opening balance is missing

[David T.]

Mike--

Welcome aboard. I'm not sure I can help, but when you say the opening balance is $0, does this mean that your account balance is off, or is it that your chart of accounts shows the "opening balance" at $0? The first suggests a problem with the data; the second is (probably) a problem of your understanding. 

If your balances are off, it is possible you are encountering a Windows-based bug that occurred in some versions of Gnucash, where the startup assistant failed to set up the opening balance transactions correctly. If this is the case, there are others who can guide you with this problem.

If it's that your CoA shows a $0 opening balance (but everything else is right), there is nothing wrong, really. Gnucash is showing you the value of the account at the start of the current accounting period, which is usually the calendar year. Your accounts, having been set up in the middle of the year, will still show a $0 opening balance for the start of the year..

Furthermore, the opening balance transaction is simply another transaction that establishes your account's worth at the time you set up Gnucash. This transaction draws its funds from the Equity tree in Gnucash, but other than that, there's nothing special about it. You can change it at any point down the line.

HTH,
David


________________________________
 From: Mike Morris <twriterext at gmail.com>
To: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org 
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 1:09 PM
Subject: Checking account opening balance is missing
 
I installed GnuCash v. 2.4.11 on a Dell Latitude E6520 with Win 7/Pro SP1
64 bit, 8 GB RAM, i5 processor.

I followed the instructions for setting up a checking account, including
entering an opening balance.  However, the the opening balance is $0.  I
made sure the "Balance" column is displayed, as well as the "Total" column.

Did I miss something simple?  How do I fix this?  Can it be fixed even
after I enter transactions?
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