In Brixx the Opening Balance is a special tool that can be found under the Settings menu in the top left of the screen.



It is used to record and measure the assets, liabilities and equity that make up the business at the very start of the plan. These make up the starting conditions of the plan.


The opening balance is essentially a snapshot of your balance sheet just before your plan begins. 


The balance sheet report in Brixx is calculated by items in your plan and balances automatically. However, since the opening balance begins before your plan starts it needs to be set manually. 


You'll need to ensure that Assets - Liabilities = Equity are balanced yourself and there is a balance sheet check at the top to aid you in this process:



This is calculated based on the data added to the opening balance which is displayed below:




Editing opening balance rows

There are two types of entries:

  1. Directly editable rows (pencil icons)
  2. Indirectly editable rows (magnifying glass icon)


The editable entries can be changed directly on this page.


Other entries are set in different places in your plan. These have a magnifying glass icon next to them and give you some information about where they are entered. 



In the above example, 'existing assets' are set by Asset components in your plan:



For the rest of this article, we'll run through what all the directly editable entries are.

In part 3, we'll run through the other areas of your plan that contribute to the opening balance.


Assets:

Starting Cash

This represents the cash the business has in its bank accounts at the start of the plan. If the business has cash in several places, combine the totals and add them here.


Accounts Receivable

If the business is owed any cash at the start of the plan, enter this here. Leaving the dropdown as 'Before month start' will cause the cash amount to be paid to you immediately at the start of the plan (you will not see this cash amount in your reports, except as contributing to your opening cash position). If you wish to delay the payment of this cash, use the dropdown to choose a different month. You'll then see this amount appear in your cash flow forecast.


Prepayment & Accrual Assets

If the business has paid for any goods or services in advance and has not received them yet, then enter the unreceived value here. Use the dropdown to manage when you believe that these goods or services will be delivered. 


This does not delay the payment of cash, since the cash payment has already been made. This control manages when the value is delivered on your Profit & Loss report.


Other Assets

If the business owns any assets which don't fit other categories on the opening balance, enter them here. Use the dropdown options to manage which month these assets impact the Cash Flow.



Liabilities:

Accounts Payable

If the business owes any cash at the start of the plan, enter this here. Leaving the dropdown as 'no delay' will cause the cash to be paid immediately at the start of the plan (you will not see this cash amount in your reports, except as contributing to your opening cash position). If you wish to delay the payment of this cash, set up a delay. The cash movement will appear on your cash flow after the delay set.


Employee Cost Payable.

If the business owes any cash at the start of the plan to employees, enter this here. Use the dropdown to manage when this cash amount impacts the Cash Flow. 


Prepayment and Accrual Liabilities

If a customer has paid for any goods or services from the business in advance or hasn't received them yet, then enter the undelivered value here. Use the dropdown to manage when you believe that these goods or services will be delivered.


This does not delay the payment of cash, since the cash payment has already been made. This control manages when the value is delivered on your Profit & Loss report.


Other Liabilities

If the business has any liabilities which don't fit other categories on the opening balance, enter them here. Use the dropdown options to manage when any cash owed by this liability impacts the Cash Flow. 



Equity:

Retained Profit

If the business has retained earnings (profit or losses carried forward from the previous accounting period) enter this amount here. 

Equity balances Assets - Liabilities, so if you just had starting cash of £1000 and this was produced entirely by the business' retained earning from its previous business activities, you would enter £1000 Retained Earnings and £1000 Starting Cash.




The other entries in the Opening Balance do not have a pencil icon. These cannot be edited in the Opening Balance, but are populated by adding components to your plan or adjusting tax settings. In the next guide we'll look at these areas, and how they post their figures through to the Opening Balance. 


Continue to 3. Adding opening values from components and taxes.