How to import the opening balances

What is it for?

When a company starts working in Odoo partway through its life, the accounts must start with the balances they had in the previous software: cash, banks, customers, suppliers, capital. This wizard reads a file with one row per account and creates a single journal entry in the Opening entries journal, only if the total debit equals the total credit.

Nothing is saved while the file has a problem: the check lists the wrong rows and the import only runs once the file is correct.

When to use it?

• To load the closing trial balance of the previous software as the opening of the first fiscal year in Odoo.
• To load the customer and supplier accounts with the balance of each partner, when you do not need to reconcile document by document.
• Do not use this wizard for customers and suppliers if you will also import the open invoices: the same balances would be doubled.
• Do not use it to create invoices, credit notes or other certified documents: the wizard only creates a general journal entry.

Where to find it?

Accounting › Record › Entries › Import, then click Import opening balances.

Before you start

• Your profile is Administrator. The Fiscal officer, the Accountant and the Auditor do not see the Import opening balances button: the “Fiscal Migration / Import” permission only comes with the administrator profile. If you need to import without being an administrator, ask the system administrator to give you that permission. Pending validation by a certified accountant: who should be able to import opening balances.

• The company's chart of accounts already has all the accounts in the file. Customer and supplier accounts (for example 2111 and 2211) require the partner; create it first in Customers or Suppliers.

• The file is CSV (comma or semicolon) or XLSX, with a header in the first row: Conta, Débito, Crédito and, optionally, Parceiro (tax number (NIF) or exact name) and Descrição. Example, with made-up data (each table row is a file row; save with a semicolon between columns):

  Conta	Débito	Crédito	Parceiro	Descrição
  111	1500,00			Caixa
  121	20000,00			Depósitos à ordem
  2111	3000,00		PT501000771	Cliente Alfa, Lda
  2211		2500,00	PT502000880	Fornecedor Beta, SA
  511		22000,00		Capital subscrito

• The reference date falls in a period that is not locked. If there is a lock date (for example, fiscal year closed up to 31/12/2025), use a later date or ask the Fiscal officer to change it (see “Common problems”).

How to use it

1. In Import opening balances, click Choose a file and choose the file. In Reference date, type the opening date, for example 01/01/2026. Opening journal is filled in with the opening entries journal. In Mode, leave Create as draft to review the entry before posting it, or choose Create and post.
2. Click Check. Nothing is saved at this step. If the file has problems, the window says “N problem(s) found in the file. Nothing was saved.”, shows the totals and lists each error with the file's row number (row 1 is the header). Correct the file, click Back and choose it again (see “Common problems”).
3. With no errors, the window says “5 opening lines, total 24500.00 EUR, to be dated 01/01/2026. Nothing is saved until you press Import.” and shows Accounts 5, Total debit 24,500.00 and Total credit 24,500.00. Check these amounts against the trial balance of the previous software and click Import.
4. At the question “The opening entry will be created. Continue?”, click Confirm. The window says “Opening entry created (Create as draft) with 5 lines.” Click See entry.
5. Check the lines of the entry against the file. In draft, the entry shows the banner “274 days since the end of the month this entry refers to (limit of CIRC art. 123.º n.º 3). Post it or review its date; nothing is blocked.” (the number of days depends on the day you import): it is a warning and does not prevent anything. Click Publish.

Expected result

• A journal entry in the Opening entries journal, with the reference date and the reference “Opening balances 01/01/2026”, with the status Posted after step 5. The numbering in the example is ABR/2026/00001.

• The lines created are those of the file, account by account:

  Account	Partner	Debit	Credit
  111 Caixa		€1,500.00
  121 Depósitos à ordem		€20,000.00
  2111 Clientes gerais	Cliente Alfa, Lda	€3,000.00
  2211 Fornecedores gerais	Fornecedor Beta, SA		€2,500.00
  511 Capital subscrito			€22,000.00
  Total		€24,500.00	€24,500.00

• In the year's Trial balance, the posted entry counts as Movements of the period of 2026: the Opening balance stays at zero because the opening is dated within the fiscal year itself. A draft entry does not appear in the trial balance. Pending validation by a certified accountant: whether the opening should appear as opening balance or as a movement of the first fiscal year.

• The entry's history records “Opening balances imported by user from the file "saldos_abertura_exemplo.csv" (5 lines).” and the import is recorded in the import log.

Important notes

One journal entry, without its own opening type

The entry gets the SAF-T transaction type N — Normal. For the accounting SAF-T file, check with the certified accountant whether the opening needs another type. Pending validation by a certified accountant: SAF-T transaction type of the opening entry.

• It is all or nothing: with a single wrong row, nothing is saved.
• The wizard treats a cell that starts with =, +, - or @ as text, never as a formula.
• Amounts go in without a sign: debit and credit are separate columns and never negative. An account with an opposite balance (for example a customer in credit) goes in the Crédito column.

Common problems

“The date … is in a locked period”

• Symptom: when you click Check, the window says “1 problem(s) found in the file. Nothing was saved.” with Accounts 0 and, at row 0: “The date 31/12/2025 is in a locked period (Global lock date (31/12/2025)). Nothing can be imported there; change the date or ask the fiscal manager.”
• Cause: the Reference date falls on or before the company's lock date. The row is 0 because the error is about the date, not about the file.
• What to do: type a date after the lock date. If the opening really has to be in that period, ask the Fiscal officer to change the lock date, which asks for a reason and is recorded. Pending validation by a certified accountant: changing a lock date to import an opening.

“The opening balances are not balanced”

• Symptom: “The opening balances are not balanced: debit 24600.00, credit 23500.00, difference 1100.00. An unbalanced entry is never saved; fix the amounts.” The message's row shows as row 0, because the error concerns the whole file.
• Cause: the sum of the Débito column is different from the sum of the Crédito column.
• What to do: add up both columns in the file, find the difference and correct the amount or add the missing row (usually the capital).

“Account … does not exist”

• Symptom: “Account "999999" does not exist in company. Check the code in the chart of accounts.” The row shown is the file row. The same applies to an incomplete code such as 21.
• What to do: check the code in the Chart of accounts and use an account that exists; if it is missing, create it first.

“Account … is a third-party account and needs a partner”

• Symptom: “Account 2111 is a third-party account and needs a partner (customer or supplier statement and SAF-T). Fill in the partner on this row.”
• What to do: fill in the Parceiro column with the NIF and, if the partner does not exist, create it first.

Debit and credit on the same row, or an amount that is not a number

• Symptom: “The row has debit and credit at the same time. Split it into two rows.” or “The amount "abc" is not valid. Use a positive number (1234.56 or 1.234,56); debit and credit are separate columns, never negative, and text or formulas are not accepted.”
• What to do: split the row in two, or write the amount with digits only.

“This exact file was already imported”

• Symptom: “This exact file was already imported on 01/11/2026 12:59:04 by user. Importing it again would duplicate the opening entry. Tick "Import again" only if you are sure.” With another file on the same date and journal, the window says “An imported opening entry already exists in this journal on this date (…). Importing again would duplicate the balances.” The check continues and shows the remaining errors.
• What to do: if the previous entry was correct, do not import again. If it was wrong, correct or cancel it before repeating, so you do not end up with two opening entries.

Importing together with the open documents

• Symptom: after creating a balances entry, importing the open invoices on the same date gives no warning and doubles accounts 2111 and 2211 (the same happens in the reverse order: balances after documents).
• Cause: the product neither prevents nor warns about combining the two wizards: the repeat warning only applies to the same file or to the same date and journal in the same wizard.
• What to do: choose one of the two for customers and suppliers, as “When to use it?” says.