Stay up to date on new releases— check out the
Digits Changelog
PricingSign In

Troubleshooting Cash Totals: Verifying Opening Balances

Opening Balances are critical to ensuring accurate cash metrics and reporting. In Digits, an Opening Balance represents the amount in a client’s bank account when Digits begins tracking data. It serves as the starting point for calculating metrics like Total Cash on the Dashboard and drives downstream reporting accuracy.

How Digits Sources the Opening Balance

When you connect a bank account for a client, Digits attempts to retrieve the Opening Balance through one of the following methods:

  1. From QuickBooks Online (QBO): If the client’s data is imported from QBO, the Opening Balance is brought in automatically. You’ll see this logged as "imported from QuickBooks" in the Activity Log.

  2. From the Bank (via Plaid): For direct bank connections, Digits retrieves up to 2 years of transactions using Plaid. If the account is recent enough, it uses this data to calculate the balance as of the connection date.

  3. If No Data Is Available (Older Accounts or Manual Setup): If Digits cannot retrieve the balance—typically because the account predates the Plaid window—it estimates the Opening Balance based on the first visible transaction and books it as a journal entry labeled "Digits generated opening balance."

When to Adjust the Opening Balance

You may need to update the Opening Balance if:

  • The client’s Total Cash appears incorrect

  • Older transactions are missing

  • No opening balance entry appears in the Ledger

How to Adjust the Opening Balance

You can either edit the existing journal entry or create a new one.

Option A: Edit the Existing Entry

  1. Go to Accounting → Ledger → All Transactions.

  2. Locate the Opening Balance entry (Journal Entry or Pay In).

  3. Open the entry and adjust the amount.

  4. Click Save & Close.

Option B: Create a New Entry

  1. Go to Ledger → All Transactions.

  2. Click New Transaction → Journal Entry.

  3. Enter the correct amount and assign the appropriate accounts.

  4. Click Save & Close.

Unsure of the correct amount? Refer to the client’s bank statement from the date of connection. Need journal entry help? See: Journal Entries in Digits.

Backfilling Historical Data (Optional)

If you have a CSV of older transactions, you can backfill to improve accuracy:

  1. Go to Ledger → All Transactions.

  2. Click the dropdown next to New Transaction → Import Bank Transactions.

  3. Upload your CSV file and confirm the field mappings.

  4. Click Next to complete the import.

✨ Digits will incorporate this data and improve the overall accuracy of metrics and history.

If you’re unsure how to handle a specific client scenario or run into any issues, reach out to [email protected].