4.2.5 STEP 5 - Set the Opening Balances

4.2.5 STEP 5 - Set the Opening Balances

Access via the menu option: finance -> setup -> opening balances
To watch a video on how to carry out this process, please click on this video:  STEP 5 - Opening Balances
This screen contains a few sections. Each one is important to get the bock setup up properly. It is a starting point of all financial transaction, so please be sure to enter it accurately to the opening balance date. 


1. Opening Balance
NOTE: This step is IMPORTANT. Once the first two dates have been set they cannot be changed if you have recorded demands and agreed budgets.

  1. Date of opening balances – This is the start date for all financial processing. It is IMPORTANT to note that no financial transactions with a date prior to this date can be entered into the system (only supplier balances can be entered which are prior to the opening balance date on here - see below for more information). If you are taking over a new block then the Opening Balance date would normally be the date a new client starts with you, which would also be the date of the unit balance figures provided by a previous managing agent. If you are loading a block that you have been managing outside of Blocks Online then the Opening Balance date can be a date of your choosing. But again it is IMPORTANT to note that no financial information that pre-dates the Opening Balance date can be loaded into the system. If you are unsure, it is better to enter a historic date rather than a future date.
  2. Service charge year-end – This is the end date of the service charge year, either the accounting /maintenance year end date given in the lease or the year-end used to manage the block. 
The only way you can amend these dates again after raising demands/fee collections or agreed and loaded a budget is if you delete the fee collections and unlock the budgets. 
Please see these articles for more info on deleting fee collections and unlocking the budget: 3.1.2 Block Management

2. Fund Balances
This section allows you to enter the balances as of the opening balance date for the funds that you have added into this block. They can be virtual funds as well such as the Lift Funds below in the screenshot. You can edit and specify whether the fund is 'In credit' or 'Overdrawn' and the respective figure is altered to have a negative or positive value. 


If the fund has been reconciled then you will not be able to edit the balance. You would have to un-reconcile the batches within the Workbench -> Finance -> Bank Reconciliation before you can amend the fund opening balances.

3. Unit Balances
This section allows you to enter the balances as of the opening balance date for the units that you have in this block.
You can specify the outstanding amounts or whether a unit is in credit (using a negative value) across the 3 different types (SC,RF,GR). This can then be brought forward when you produce demands as a brought forward balance and added onto the demanded amount. The units balances that are in credit are show in green so you are aware they are in credit. 
If you wanted to search for a unit in particular, you can use the Search function and also change the display entries to 100 from 10. 


If the unit balance has been matched then you will not be able to edit the balance.
You would have to unmatch the opening balance invoice from the receipt to amend the unit opening balances. 

The total of all the balances is also displayed below each type. 
If you wish to update these in bulk to save time from entering manually, you can click on edit and it opens up a table that can be used in line with Excel. 

Often agents will receive unit balances on a spreadsheet from previous agents and you can simply copy and paste from the excel file into this table and then save.
You can also copy the values in the table, paste it into an excel spreadsheet and amend that and copy back in to save. 
If you only discover that the balance figures are incorrect after raising demands (e.g. a leaseholder informs you that they had actually paid their service charge to the previous agent) then you can either raise an ad-hoc credit for that unit or you can delete the demands, correct the opening balance figures and then re-issue the demands.

4. Supplier Balances
This screen contains the balances of supplier invoices outstanding/going to be refunded prior to the opening balance date. For example, Craven Accounting have an invoice that needs to still be paid for £200 as of the 1st Jan 2022. 














You can have multiple accounts for suppliers and when you add these in like EDF above, you can create different supplier balance invoices for those. 
Any refunds due from suppliers can be flagged by changing the status using the Edit button. 
There is also a total of outstanding amounts for the supplier at the bottom right of this section. 
NOTE: If there are payments associated to a supplier balance, the system will display a red warning next to it and if you hover over, you are able to see if the balance is partially paid or fully paid. 

There are certain conditions which prevent you from editing a supplier balance: 
  1. If the invoice has multiple line items, the system is not able to determine how to adjust each individual line item if the total is adjusted
  2. If the invoice has payments which are partially reconciled (payment is ticked in the bank reconciliation screen) - you will have to untick the payment to adjust it
  3. If the invoice has payments which are fully reconciled (payment is ticked in the bank reconciliation screen and then confirmed) - you will have to un-reconcile the batch to adjust it
If these conditions are not applied, then you are able to alter the balance and it will be reflected in the invoice. If you remove the balance then the invoice is also removed off the system.=
To pay Supplier Balances go to the Supplier Invoices area of the system: Suppliers -> Supplier invoice:
In the Filter Area change the From 'Invoice Date' to 01/01/2000 (Default date set by system to be prior to opening balance date).
All Supplier Balance invoices will then be visible and the payment details can be entered in the usual fashion.


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