If you click in a newly set-up account for the first time on the menu item “Accounting”, you will be requested to set up your accounting system:
To start with, you select the corresponding legal form.
As a next step you have to define the duration of the financial year. Please note that you can no longer alter this entry once the first bookings have been made in the accounting system.
In addition, you can specify whether it is the first financial year for the company (= new foundation) or whether the company has been in existence for some time. If you answer the question with “Yes”, in the next step you will only be able to set up accounts, if you answer “No” you will also be able to enter the previous year’s figures to all the balance sheet accounts.
Then you must enter information on your VAT liability. The default setting is “No VAT”. If your company is liable for VAT, the correct billing method and settlement type, as well as the “Valid from” date can be selected by clicking on the editing tool:
In the case of the effective billing method (irrespective of whether the type of settlement is paid or collected) it is sufficient to select the checkbox “VAT” and to select the corresponding billing method and settlement type.
In the case of the net tax rate method (irrespective of whether the type of settlement is paid or collected), the valid net tax rate(s) must be entered. In addition, in the table below it must also be stated which net tax rate is used with which VAT rate.
Once you have entered all this information, you are directed to the next page Opening balance.
This is where you can enter all the figures in KLARA according to your previous year’s financial statements as opening balances for the new financial year. (As stated above, this is not possible for companies in their first financial year since newly founded companies do not have any previous year’s figures. Companies in their first financial year can only add accounts in the opening balance sheet.)
You have the following options:
- By clicking on the arrow next to the name of the account group you can open up the details
- In the case of an empty text field, you can name the sub-accounts as you wish
- By clicking on the “+” you can add new sub-accounts
- By clicking on the recycle bin you can delete the newly created accounts (as long as no bookings were made)
- In some of the accounts (for example “Accounts receivable trade”) you can access the “Details” in a separate list (here the list of accounts receivable) with a single click
- You can exit these detailed lists by clicking on the tick icon
As long as the balance has not yet been reconciled, i.e. there is still a difference between the assets and liabilities, you can leave the opening balance with “Continue later” and return to it at a later date. If your opening balance has been entered in full, you can close the whole process with “Save”.
When starting with KLARA, it is possible to enter some individual accounts already (for example the bank accounts with the corresponding balances) so that the booking of receipts can be started and to finish entering the definitive financial statements for the previous year at a later date.
The setting up of the KLARA balance sheet complies with the account system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). A lot of accounts (for example, “bank” or “non-interest bearing current accounts”) are set up as mirror accounts, i.e. if the balance is in debit it is posted with the assets in the final balance sheet, if it is in credit, with the liabilities. In the opening balance sheet, balances are always allocated to the side where they occur most frequently in practice, i.e. the bank accounts with the assets, the non-interest bearing current accounts with the liabilities. This information may possibly help you if you find an account in KLARA in a different place from your previous year’s financial statements when entering the previous year’s figures.
When changing from a different accounting system to KLARA, certain adjustments in the balance sheet must be made, if:
- no sub-ledgers were kept previously. The positions for liabilities (debtors) and payables (creditors) should be set up as a single position in the corresponding lists in the opening balance. This is important, so that the automatic bank reconciliation functions seamlessly in the future and the incoming and outgoing payments can be booked automatically.
(KLARA also maintains the sub-ledgers automatically – thus there is no additional work for the user).
- Bookings were previously directly expensed as incurred. KLARA works according to the debit position method. It makes sense to enter the assets and liabilities vis-à-vis the tax authorities and social insurances directly when setting up the opening balance sheet for the corresponding current accounts (instead of collective accounts such as accrued expenses and deferred income). If later on with the booking of payments automatic booking is selected, the amounts are also debited to the corresponding current accounts. This saves later time-consuming reconciliations and transfer postings when setting up the annual financial statements.
Too complicated? We are pleased to carry this out for you. You will find all the information you need on our chargeable setting-up service here.