# Change Opening balance

The **Opening Balance** for a year represents the amount of money available in your maintenance fund at the **start of the financial year**.

Sometimes the forecasted opening balance in the plan may differ from the **actual balance** in the fund. This setting allows you to update it to reflect reality.

---

## How to change the opening balance

- Click the **edit button** in the first Opening Balance cell.

[![Opening balance.png](https://help.commonview.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-01/scaled-1680-/dgPUrtvommvAEvMV-opening-balance.png)](https://help.commonview.com/uploads/images/gallery/2026-01/dgPUrtvommvAEvMV-opening-balance.png)

- Enter the **actual opening balance**.
- The system will automatically **recalculate interest, contributions, and closing balances** for that year and subsequent years.

---

## Why you might change the opening balance

Updating the opening balance is useful in several situations:

1. **Actual fund differs from forecast**
    
    
    - If the fund received more or less than expected due to early contributions, unexpected expenses, or other financial events.
2. **Corrections or adjustments**
    
    
    - To correct errors from the previous year or to account for late transactions not included in the plan.
3. **Aligning with audited figures**
    
    
    - When preparing for reporting or approval, you may want the plan to match the **official audited balance**.

---

## Key points

- Changing the opening balance **does not alter past approved years** — it only affects the selected year and **all subsequent calculations**.
- This ensures that contributions, interest, and closing balances are **calculated from the correct starting point**.
- It is especially useful for keeping the plan **accurate over multiple years**, reflecting the real state of the fund.

---

### Example

<div class="_tableContainer_1rjym_1" id="bkmrk-year-opening-balance"><div class="group _tableWrapper_1rjym_13 flex w-fit flex-col-reverse" tabindex="-1"><table class="w-fit min-w-(--thread-content-width)" data-end="1965" data-start="1859"><thead data-end="1887" data-start="1859"><tr data-end="1887" data-start="1859"><th data-col-size="sm" data-end="1866" data-start="1859">Year</th><th data-col-size="sm" data-end="1887" data-start="1866">Opening Balance</th></tr></thead><tbody data-end="1965" data-start="1916"><tr data-end="1942" data-start="1916"><td data-col-size="sm" data-end="1929" data-start="1916">Forecasted</td><td data-col-size="sm" data-end="1942" data-start="1929">$50,000</td></tr><tr data-end="1965" data-start="1943"><td data-col-size="sm" data-end="1952" data-start="1943">Actual</td><td data-col-size="sm" data-end="1965" data-start="1952">$52,000</td></tr></tbody></table>

</div></div>- Updating the opening balance to **$52,000** ensures that **interest, contributions, and closing balances** for 2025 and beyond are calculated accurately.
- This adjustment keeps your maintenance plan aligned with reality.