Setup your new company file using the New Company File Assistant as described in the AccountEdge help (Australia | New Zealand). As Brett is moving onto AccountEdge in the month of February, make the Conversion Month February. Be sure the correct conversion month is selected.

Prepare a Profit and Loss Sheet and Balance Sheet up till the time of conversion using the previous method. In Brett's case he will require a Profit & Loss Statement from the 1st July till 31st January and a Balance Sheet as at 31st January.

1. In AccountEdge, go to the Setup menu and choose Balances then choose Account Opening Balances. The Account Opening Balances window appears.
   
2. In the Opening Balances column, click an account's balance and overtype with the correct opening balance.
3. Repeat for all relevant accounts.
4. Click OK.

If you need to obtain monthly Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reports, rather than seeing all the opening balances as of the conversion month, it is not necessary that we recreate all data for the period from the start of the financial year to the conversion month in MYOB. To do this, after entering you opening balances at Task 3 above, we break that balance up into the monthly totals in the account history.

1. Go to the Accounts command centre and click Accounts List.
2. Click the zoom arrow next to the applicable account.
3. Click the History tab as shown below. End of month balances for all Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet items can be entered here. Your software will allow you to insert end of month balances for accounts in the current financial year except for the month prior to conversion. The month prior to the conversion month obtains its balances via the Account Opening Balances window.
   
4. Click OK.

The balance of Profit & Loss accounts in the month prior to the conversion month equals the account opening balance discounted by any amounts placed in the preceeding months balances for the current financial year.

As shown in the example below, we have entered an opening value for the Expense Account 6-1000 as $5234. This is shown in the Account History as the final balance for June.

As we enter values into May, April and March, the value of June is automatically reduced.

Using the multi-period Profit & Loss report on this account, you can now report on the values for each month, where previously you would only have had 1 value of $5234 showing for June.

Your software also allows the user to enter Account Historical Balances up to 12 months prior to the current financial year. By entering historical data prior to the current financial year, This Year versus Last Year Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss reports will become available.

This information will allow you to produce analyse sales reports by Customer, Items and Salesperson including this year versus last year.

To enter sales history for Customers and Employees:

1. Go to the Card File command centre and click Cards List.
2. Click the Customer or Employee tab (as applicable).
3. Click the zoom arrow next to the customer or employee (as applicable).
4. Click the History tab.
5. Enter sales information for the applicable year and period.
6. Click OK.

To enter sales history for inventory items:

1. Go to the Inventory command centre and click Items List.
2. Click the zoom arrow next to the applicable item.
3. Click the History tab.
4. Enter sales information for the applicable year and period. Use the back and forward arrows to navigate between financial years as highlighted in the example below.
5. Click OK. See example window below.
   

Enter opening Trade Debtors, opening Trade Creditors, outstanding Cheques and Deposits not yet credited.