Opening bank balance

Entering an opening bank balance is as simple as creating a new receipt from your bank. This will increase the bank balance from the receipt date.

⚠️ Important: The opening balance should not be recorded as a journal entry.

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Finance ➡️ Banking ➡️ Bank Transactions ➡️ Add Receipt

🏷️ Example

For this example, we enter $100 as our opening bank balance on 3rd July 2025.

1. Click on the Add Receipt button in your bank transactions.

receive money form

2. Fill out the form

receive money form

Form Fields

  • Bank: Select the bank account for which you are setting the balance.
  • Payment Date: Set this to the date your opening balance is effective (e.g., your first day using Gimbla or the last day of the previous month).
  • Reference (Optional): You can enter "Opening Balance" for clarity.
  • Line Item Details:
    1. Description: Enter "Opening Balance."
    2. Price: Enter the starting balance of your bank account (e.g., $100.00).
    3. Account: Select an equity account from your Chart of Accounts. Common choices are "Owner's Capital" or a dedicated "Opening Balance Equity" account.

Why use an Equity Account? An opening balance isn't new income; it's money the business already has. By crediting an equity account, you are correctly recording this as the owner's investment or the company's retained capital. This transaction correctly increases your cash (an asset) and your equity, keeping your books perfectly balanced.

🏁 Results

1. The bank balance in your Gimbla system should now be $100.00.

banks

2. If you look at the account transaction report, you can see the double entry which debits the 1110 - ANZ Business Essentials and credits the 3110 - Owner’s Capital account.

account transactions

▶️ Video Tutorial

Prefer to watch? Our video guide walks you through the entire process.