The opening balance is your account's starting point in Financio. It represents the balance on the day you begin tracking, and all future transactions build from this foundation.
What is an Opening Balance?
The opening balance is the amount of money in an account on a specific date. Financio uses this as the baseline to calculate your running balance as you add transactions.
Example: If your savings account had $5,000 on January 1st, and you add a $200 deposit on January 5th, your balance becomes $5,200.
Setting the Opening Balance
When creating an account, you'll need to provide:
- Opening Balance: The exact balance on your chosen date
- Opening Balance Date: The date when this balance was accurate
Use a Recent Statement
The easiest approach is to use the closing balance from your most recent bank statement. The statement date becomes your opening balance date.
Opening Balance by Account Type
Different account types handle opening balances slightly differently:
Bank Accounts and Cash
Enter the positive balance shown in your account.
Example: $3,500.00
Credit Cards
Enter a negative amount if you owe money, or zero if the card is paid off.
Example: -$1,200.00 (you owe $1,200)
Investments
Enter your initial cash deposit, not the current market value of holdings.
Example: $10,000.00 (your original deposit)
Assets
Enter the current market value or purchase price of the asset.
Example: $750,000.00 (property value)
Loans
Enter the amount you owe as a positive number. Financio will store it as negative internally.
Example: Enter 450000 for a $450,000 mortgage
Loan Balances
When adding a loan, enter the outstanding balance (what you owe) as a positive number. Financio automatically treats loans as debts that reduce your net worth.
Why the Date Matters
The opening balance date determines:
- When your balance history begins
- Which transactions affect your balance
- How your net worth is calculated over time
Transactions dated before the opening balance date won't affect your running balance calculations.
Importing Historical Transactions
If you want to track historical transactions from before your opening balance date:
- Set your opening balance to an earlier date
- Adjust the opening balance to match that earlier date
- Import or enter all transactions since then
Example: To track a full year of history:
- Set opening balance date to January 1st of last year
- Enter the balance your account had on January 1st
- Import all transactions from January 1st onwards
Adjusting the Opening Balance
If you made an error with your opening balance:
- Go to the Accounts page
- Click on the account to view it
- Click Edit to modify the account
- Update the opening balance or date
- Save your changes
Your running balance will recalculate automatically based on the new opening balance.
Common Issues
Balance doesn't match my bank
If your Financio balance doesn't match your actual bank balance:
- Check that all transactions have been entered
- Verify the opening balance amount is correct
- Confirm the opening balance date matches when you started tracking
- Look for duplicate or missing transactions
Negative balance showing incorrectly
For credit cards, remember:
- Negative balance = you owe money
- Positive balance = you have credit (rare)
If your credit card shows a positive balance when you owe money, edit the account and enter the opening balance as a negative number.