This form is used for entering beginning balances in preparation for General Ledger use. Balances can only be loaded prior to any posting activity. Your company's Spruce trainer will set the current financial cycle to the one you want to load balances for. Some companies prefer to load balances as of the end of the prior fiscal year; others just load balances for the month prior to when they go live. Prior to posting activity, this utility is accessible for balance entry.

Users can enter balances in either or both the previous year and previous month columns. If you are loading balances for the last cycle of the prior fiscal year, just enter balances under "previous month" (there's no need to enter the same figure for both columns). The cycle and fiscal year balances are being loaded for are displayed above the previous year and month columns. If this information is not correct, contact your trainer to change the month and/or fiscal year before entering balances.

Balances are loaded as either a positive or negative number. Negative numbers represent credit balances, positive represent debit balances. Some accounts normally maintain credit balances (liabilities, income) and some usually hold a debit balance (assets, expenses, and cost of goods sold). Overall, all debits and credits must balance (the total debits must equal the total credits). The balance sheet accounts (assets, liabilities, and owner's equity) must also be in balance. Before posting, run financial statements to ensure that this is the case. If not, find the problem and adjust balances as needed before doing any posting.

Balances don't have to be loaded all at one time and can be modified prior to posting if necessary. To save balances, choose Process (F12). To clear any entries without saving, press Cancel (F9). To close the utility form window without saving changes press Exit (F10). After posting activity, the only function available is Exit (F10).

Import (F2)

You can use the Import (F2), Wizard feature to import (copy) balances from a spreadsheet or delimited file. This option is only provided prior to any posting of account entries (journals). Once one or more journals (a collection of entries) have been posted, the Import (F2) function is disabled.

Three (3) columns are required in the data source for import: account (number), previous year balance, and previous (prior) month's balance. Account number format must match the Chart of Accounts format as presented in the Spruce software.