Before you begin recording your institution’s financial transactions in Savetime Calculator, you should enter your Starting Balances.
Starting balances represent the financial position of your institution at the point when you begin using Savetime. Entering them correctly gives the system a proper starting point for your financial reports.
This is an initial setup step rather than a page you will use for your regular daily transactions.
Your institution may already have money, stock, amounts owed to it, amounts it owes to others, loans, or other financial balances before you start using Savetime.
If these existing figures are not entered, your financial reports would only reflect activity recorded after you started using the system.
Entering your starting balances allows Savetime to take your existing financial position into account when producing your institutional financial reports.
From the Client Accounts page, go to:
Institutional Finances → Starting Balances
This is where you enter the financial balances your institution has at the beginning of its use of Savetime.
Enter the applicable starting figures requested on the page.
Depending on your institution’s financial position, these may include figures such as:
Only enter figures that apply to your institution and that you can establish accurately.
Your starting balances should correspond to the point at which you are beginning to use Savetime for your institutional records.
Make sure the opening date and figures are consistent.
For example, if you are starting your Savetime records on 1 September, your starting balances should represent the institution’s position at the beginning of that accounting period.
After entering the required information, review the figures carefully and click the Save button provided on the page.
Take particular care at this stage because these figures form the starting point for your subsequent financial records.
It is important to understand the difference between a starting balance and a transaction.
A starting balance represents what your institution already had or owed when you began using Savetime.
A transaction represents financial activity that takes place after you have started using the system.
For example:
Starting Balance
Your institution already has 100,000 in cash when you begin using Savetime.
Transaction
After you start using Savetime, the institution receives a payment of 20,000.
The 100,000 is part of your starting position, while the 20,000 is a transaction recorded during your use of the system.
Ideally, enter your starting balances before recording your regular institutional transactions.
This gives your financial reports the correct starting point from which subsequent activity can be reflected.
If you have just started using Savetime, make this one of your first setup tasks.
Before saving, check that:
Accurate starting figures help keep your subsequent financial records consistent.
Once your starting balances have been entered, you can proceed with your normal institutional activities, including:
The starting balances provide the foundation from which your financial position can be followed as you continue using Savetime.
Starting balances are intended to represent the institution’s position when you begin using Savetime.
If you later discover that an opening figure was entered incorrectly, correct the starting figure appropriately rather than treating the correction as a new institutional transaction.
If you are unsure about a correction, review the relevant records before making changes so that your financial reports remain consistent.
Once your starting balances are in place, you can continue managing your institution through the Client Accounts section and use the Institutional Finances pages to review your financial information.
See Understanding Institutional Financial Reports to learn about the financial reports available in Savetime.