Opening Balance Setup

The instructions in this article relates to Opening Balance Setup. The icon may be located on your StrataMax Desktop or found using the StrataMax Search.

This menu is used exclusively during the setup of a new building in your portfolio and cannot be completed until after the owner details have been entered into the Roll screen. Refer to the Create A New Building article for the entire process. 

Opening Balance Setup Features

• Simplified method of entering balances for the Current and Old Financial Years.
• Closing balances and creation of the prior (old) year.
• Real-time view of amounts entered to ensure that balancing amounts are entered.
• Highlighting of each line being entered for ease of data entry and minimising errors.
• Easy entry of lot balances by each fund.
• Levy generation of levies already issued and due for the current year can be generated to allow for accurate reporting and arrears processing.
• Add new accounts.
• Calculation and processing of funds for system accounts.
• Save the balances for review by others or later processing.
• Creates an Unpresented Receipt for Cash at Bank on the Bank Reconciliation pending the initial deposit.

Handover Financial Reports

When entering the opening balances, the handover financial statements from the previous management company will be required. The financial reports should be checked to ensure that they balance. If the report doesn't balance, the previous management company will need to be consulted, otherwise it is recommended that qualified accountant be engaged. The reports will need to include:

1. Income & Expenditure / Profit & Loss.
2. Balance Sheet.
3. Lot Positions / Debtor Balances, which total to the same amount for Levy Arrears or Advance figures on the Balance Sheet.
4. Details for Balance Sheet accounts; Other Debtors, GST Reports, Unpaid Creditors, Bank Statement, etc.
5. All the same reports from the prior financial year if they need to be entered as well.

Before entering Opening Balances

In order to make the process quicker and easier, it is recommended to perform the below before entering the opening balances:

1. Review and mark up the Income & Expenditure / Profit & Loss statement on the handover financials with existing account codes in StrataMax.
   
2. If an account code is missing, use the Add Account to add from the Master Chart, if you need to create a new account code, use Account Maintenance menu.

Using Opening Balance Setup

 Open the Opening Balance Setup menu by searching for it or clicking the menu icon in the StrataMax icon (top left) > Property Info > Property Setup.

Income and Expenditure (both funds)

1. Enter all income under the Income section for the first fund to be entered (complete Old Year as well if entering) and ensure that the Total Admin. Fund Income figure matches the handover financials
   
   
   
2. Enter all expenditure under the Expenditure - Admin. Fund section and ensure that the Total Admin. Expenditure figure matches the handover financials.
   
   
   
   
3. Check and ensure the Surplus/Deficit figure matches the handover figure.
   
   
4. Enter the 195 Opening Admin. Balance figure. This is the prior year closing value and may be appear in the handover financials reports at the bottom of the Income & Expenditure statement, or under the Balance Sheet.
   
   
   
   
5. Ensure that the Administrative Fund Balance matches the handover financials. This will likely appear in the handover financials at the bottom of the Income & Expenditure statement as 'Total Fund Balance' or 'Closing Fund Balance'. It may also be on the Balance Sheet as an asset.
6. Click the Save For Later button.

Add Account (button)

If an account code isn't displayed in the menu (although it is recommended that all required account codes are added before you start entering the figures), you can add it directly from within the Opening Balance Setup menu, provided is exists in the building's local chart of accounts.

1. Click the Add Account button, located at the bottom of the menu.
   
   
   
   
2. When the 'Account Code List' window appears, search for the account code by typing either the code number or part of the account code name into the search field in the top left.
3. Tag the account to add.
   
   
4. Click the OK button, and the account code will appear back in the Opening Balance Setup screen.

Balance Sheet – Debtor / Lot Balances

1. Select the Assets & Liabilities tab.
2. Under the Current Assets section, enter any investment account balances.
   • Do not enter the 012 Cash At Bank figure yet!
3. Click the icon next to Lot Balances to expand the list of lot accounts, and tick or untick each Levy Fund as needed.
   
   
4. Enter the lot balance for each lot account and fund as per the handover financials. This could be the page called 'Levy Positions' for example.
   • Enter a negative figure (red) if the lot is in credit / made a payment in advance.
   • Enter a positive figure (black) if the lot is in arrears.
5. Ensure that the Total in Advance and Total in Arrears figures match the totals on the handover financials (Arrears = Assets, Advance = Liabilities).
   
   
6. Enter any remaining assets as per the handover financials.
7. Under the Liabilities section enter any liability figures from the Balance Sheet on the handover financials, including:
   • Outstanding Creditor balances (against each creditor by expanding the creditor section).
     
     
   • Clearing account balances if applicable.

Cash at Bank

The 012 Cash At Bank fields for each fund should be left until after all other figures have been entered. The figure on the handover financials should also match the expected funds, which the previous management company either transfers by EFT or issues to you as a cheque. An Unpresented Receipt to 012 Cash At Bank will sit on the Bank Reconciliation pending the initial deposit to process into the Bank Reconciliation and this will be Presented to this transaction.

If the figures are different, then it's possible that deposits or withdrawals have occurred after the handover financials were produced by the previous management company. This being the case, they should be engaged to provide details on any transactions so that adjustments can be made after the opening balances have been processed. These adjustments are made in the form of journals in the Journal Preparation menu or in the Bank Reconciliation menu using Add Allocation when the initial deposit downloads.

1. Once all other figures have been entered, each tab/fund will have an outstanding balance in the top right (highlighted in red below).

2. These figures must balance to 0.00 by entering the opposite amounts of what is displayed into the 012 Cash At Bank field. However, a manual calculation should be done to check that the sum of those two figures (Admin and Sinking/Cap Works/Maint) equal the total Cash at Bank figure on the handover financials.

3. If this is the case, then all figures have been entered correctly, and it is safe to enter the opposite amounts into the 012 Cash At Bank fields.

Generate Due Levies

If levies have been entered, struck and generated for the current financial year and the due dates have passed for one or more of these, these can be generated to allow more accurate reporting for arrears, certificates, etc.

By ticking the Generate Due Levies box, additional fields will appear under the Lot Balances section called Levy Balance and Levy Amount. This is where adjustments should be entered to ensure the lot balance matches the handover financial reports, after the levies are generated.

Processing Opening Balance Setup

1. Click the Save For Later button
2. Close the Opening Balance Setup menu.
3. Complete the Data Storage.
4. Open the Opening Balance Setup menu and click the Process button.

Process will complete the following steps:

• Old Year (if entered) will be created and transactions processed in the general ledger.
• Current Year transactions will be written in the general ledger to balance to the amount entered.
• If the Generate Due Levies box is ticked, levies will be generated for all periods that are entered and past their due date.
• Adjustment transactions will be processed to balance the lot/debtor accounts.

Opening Balance Deposit Form (cheque)

Once the Opening Balance Setup screen has been processed and bank account details loaded into Bank Account Setup, a deposit form can be printed for the 012 Cash at Bank account. By using this deposit form to deposit the cheque, the funds will be automatically processed in the Bank Reconciliation menu, once the funds have cleared into the SCM bank account.

For guidance on deposit forms and how to print them, refer to our Print Deposit Forms article.

Opening Balance Bank Reconciliation 

If the Cash at Bank balance has been entered in account code 012 Cash At Bank during the Opening Balance Setup process, and a deposit form was not created to deposit the funds, when the opening balance transfer/deposit is presented in the Bank Reconciliation, the below instructions will apply. The other common account that can be used to post the bank balance to is 011 Cash on Hand (if the building was transferred). Producing the Interactive Reports will confirm the account code used if unsure. 

1. Search or select Bank Reconciliation.
2. Highlight the opening balance transaction to expand the transaction information.
3. Click Match to Unpresented.
4. Tick the Receipt in the Select Unpresented window.
   • Note that it will post to either account code 012 or 011 automatically with no need to change it. The code used will depend on what was used in the Opening Balance Setup screen.
5. Click Auto Reprocess once all transactions have been allocated as required.
6. If the Bank Reconciliation is not reconciled, it is recommended to view the Bank Reconciliation Report and a Transaction List for A/c 012 to begin the Bank Reconciliation process.

Transfer In Opening Balance

If the building has been transferred in and the funds are already reporting against 012 Cash at Bank the below can assist with matching this first deposit in the Bank Reconciliation.

1. Search or select Process Bank Statements.
2. Locate the new Transfer In building. There will be a variance displayed.
   
   
3. Click the red ! to open the Bank Reconciliation Balance window. From the unreconciled items area, tick this item to match the deposit received for the new bank account. There should be no difference. Click Save.