Opening balance lines

Opening balance lines identify groups of accounts that work together to track and report a balance sheet account's change in position. The first account in the group is a balance sheet account with a line type of Opening Balance. The last account in the group is a balance sheet account which is a downfoot (subtotal) of all accounts in the group. All accounts between the first account and the last account are profit & loss accounts showing period movement. This example should be an opening balance line type.

Retained Earnings (Ending Balance) = Retained Earnings (Opening Balance) + Net Income - Dividends. Retained Earnings (Opening Balance)

You cannot change the type of a line to opening balance if:

• The line does not downfoot to some other line (the Formula Builder needs to assign an ending balance line).
• The line downfoots to more than one line. Opening balance lines can only downfoot to one line.

You cannot change the type of a downfoot line if it is an ending balance line. A line is defined as an ending balance line if there is a opening balance line that pulls its balance from that line. You must delete or change the type of the opening balance line first.