Entering conversion balances in Xero

Overview of conversion balances -

• Your reports in Xero won't be accurate until you've entered your account balances. However, you can start using Xero without entering any.
• You only need to enter balances for accounts that have them. If your business has just started trading, your conversion balances are likely to all be zero and you won't need to enter any. Or, you may have just a bank balance and owners' equity balance to enter.
• When you set up Xero, you may want to enter balances for just some accounts - many people start by entering just their bank account balance.
• You or your accountant can go back and finish entering account balances at any time.

Follow these instructions if you're manually entering or adjusting conversion balances. 

You will need a copy of your previous accounting system's trial balance for the day before your conversion date. For example, if your conversion date is January, use your trial balance that is dated 31 December.

1. In the Accounting menu, select Advanced, then click Conversion balances.
2. Click Show all accounts. To add a new account, click Add a new line, then click Add new account.

3. Enter balances from your previous accounting system's trial balance into the debit and credit fields.

   

4. Click Save.

5. Enter any unpaid invoices and bills.
6. Enter any outstanding overpayments and prepayments that relate to payments made or received prior to conversion. Use spend or receive money transactions by selecting the overpayment or prepayment option. These transactions should be dated with a pre-conversion date. Once entered, they can be reconciled using the mark as reconciled option. The total values for overpayments and prepayments should be included with our conversion balances.
7. Enter any unpaid expense claims dated prior to conversion. You'll need to include the total of these claims in the conversion balance screen under the account code for unpaid expense claims.
8. (Optional) To change conversion balances, click on the incorrect balances to replace with the correct balances and click Save.

Warning - The unpaid bills and invoices that make up the accounts payable and accounts receivable opening balances need to be entered before you can save your conversion balances. You can run a Trial Balance report after saving your conversion balances as a check that they are correct.

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