How do I enter stock held when setting up my opening balances?

If your charity or church creates accounts on an accruals basis, and at year-end accounts (prior to your ExpensePlus system start date) you hold a value of stock then you will need to set this up within your Opening Balances when setting up ExpensePlus for the first time, by following these simple steps:

1. As 'stock' is a current asset, not a fixed asset, it is best shown as a prepayment within any financial year. i.e., you have paid for the items within the stock already, but you may not account for the value of the sale until a future financial year- hence prepayment. Therefore, when setting up your opening balances, you will need to record any stock shown on your balance sheet for your prior financial year in the 'prepayments' box on the opening balances screen (not the fixed asset box).

2. Then, at the end of each financial year, you should reverse the current stock balance from the prior financial year here (dated the last day of that financial year), and then add a new prepayment for the retained value of any stock to carry-forward, as of the same date. If you would prefer to do this monthly rather than annually, this is also possible.

The above mechanism will mean stock held will show as a current asset on your balance sheet and in your other financial reports.

To help you better understand the Adjustments module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.