Goldenseal Accounting Balances

Here are details for the money balances used in accounts, in Goldenseal accounting software:

Current Balance

Every Goldenseal account has a current balance. When you enter transactions that involve the account, the current balance changes.

Job Accounts-- the current balance for Customers and Projects is the amount they owe you for unpaid sales and project bills (Accounts Receivable).
Asset Accounts-- the current balance is the asset value of the account.
Liability Accounts-- the current balance is the asset value of the account, which is generally negative.
Cost Accounts-- the current balance is the amount you owe for unpaid purchases or services (accounts payable).

NOTE-- When you enter business transactions that affect the current balance, Goldenseal automatically "posts" them to the account, and updates the balance amount.

Minimum Balance

Goldenseal Bank accounts have a minimum balance.

If you enter transactions which reduce the current balance to less than the minimum, Goldenseal will warn you.

NOTE-- For credit card and loan accounts, or asset accounts with overdraft protection, the minimum balance is a negative number.

Starting Balance

Every Goldenseal account has a starting balance. It is the value of the account when you start to use Goldenseal (also known as a Trial Balance).

Job Accounts-- the starting balance for Customers and Projects is always zero.   If you have prior Accounts Receivable, enter them as Sales or as Project Bills.
Asset Accounts-- the starting balance is the initial asset value of the account. If you don't know the exact starting balance for an existing account, enter a guess.   When you reconcile the account for the first time, you can calculate the correct starting balance and adjust it then.
Liability Accounts-- the starting balance is the asset value of the account, which is generally negative. If you don't know the exact starting balance for an existing account, enter a guess.   When you reconcile the account for the first time, you can calculate the correct starting balance and adjust it then.
Cost Accounts-- the starting balance is always zero. If you have prior Accounts Payable, enter them as Labor Hours, Material Purchases, Other Costs or Subcontractor Costs. Goldenseal will add them to the starting balance for each cost account.
HINT-- You can also enter prior expenses with Job Cost Only status. They'll be included in job costs, but not in Payables.

If you create a new asset or liability account after you start using Goldenseal, use a Starting Balance of zero, and then enter a Bank Deposit to cover the first deposit of funds into the account.

HINT-- After you've finished entering your existing bank accounts, you can 'lock' the starting balance fields-- choose Preferences from the Options menu, choose Data Entry from the submenu, and turn on the Lock Starting Balance Fields checkbox.