Several components in Brixx can be set to have an opening value. This is the value they have at the start of the business plan, which can be different from the price they were originally purchased.
For example, if the business bought a van for £10,000 a few years ago, it may only be worth £7,000 at the start date of the Brixx plan. If this is the case, we would record the van's opening value as £7,000. The £3000 of accumulated depreciation is assumed to have taken place since its purchase - we do not currently record this detail in Brixx because it is not particularly useful for forward planning.
Opening values from components feed into the Opening Balance, adding to the business' opening assets, liabilities and equity. Some parts of the Opening Balance can only be filled by using components with an opening value.
Below is a guide to each of the opening components, divided by how they fall into the Opening Balance.
Assets
Assets are things the business owns which have value. Some assets (Starting Cash and Cash Owed to You) are entered directly into the Opening Balance, under Settings. The rest are represented in Brixx by the following components:
Existing Assets
For existing tangible (physical) assets, use the Asset component in Brixx to model the current value and any future depreciation or sale of this asset. An existing asset's opening value will automatically appear in the opening balance.
To ensure that the asset appears as part of the Opening Balance, the component must start at the beginning of the plan's Timeline and have the "This asset was acquired before the start of the plan" toggle turned on.
For more information about the Asset component, read our full guide here.
Existing Inventory
For existing inventory, use the Inventory components in Brixx to model the current value and any future sale, repurchase or write-off of this inventory. Existing inventory value will automatically appear in the opening balance.
To ensure that the inventory appears as part of the Opening Balance,the component must start at the beginning of the plan's Timeline and have the "Some stock was purchased before the start of the plan" toggle turned on.
For more information about the Inventory component, read our full guide here.
Existing Investment
For existing Investments, use the Investment component in Brixx to model the current value and any future growth or sale of this investment. An existing investment's opening value will automatically appear in the opening balance.
To ensure that the investment appears as part of the Opening Balance, the component must start at the beginning of the plan's Timeline, and have the "Some of this investment was made before the start of the plan" toggle turned on.
For more information about the Investment component, read our full guide here.
Liabilities
Liabilities are costs which the business is responsible for paying. Some of these can be entered directly into the opening balance tool, while others are added as components. The opening balance tool can be found under Settings/Opening Balance.
Subscription Liability
If the business has sold subscriptions before the start of the plan and the customer has yet to complete their renewal period, then the remaining time counts as subscription liabilities. These liabilities are added using the subscription component.
To ensure that the subscription liability appears as part of the Opening Balance, the component must start at the beginning of the plan's Timeline, and have previous subscription numbers entered in "Number of subscriptions before the plan started".
Note: Subscription Liability will only be triggered if the renewal period is greater than 1 month. A 1 month renewal period does not generate a liability.
For more information about the Subscription component, read our full guide here.
Corporation Tax Owed
If the business has outstanding corporation tax to pay from previous years, then this is counted as a liability. In the Corporation tax tab in settings, you can enter pre-existing Corporation tax owed.
For more information about the Corporation tax, read our full guide here.
Net VAT Liability
If the business has any outstanding tax to pay to the government, or the government owes you, then it is entered in the VAT, Sales tax and GST tab in settings. This liability can be entered in by the outstanding tax owed section.
For more information about how VAT works in Brixx, read our full guide here.
Loans
If you have outstanding loans, these count as liabilities in the opening balance. These existing loans are added using the Loan component, which also models the future capital repayments and interest payments of the loan.
To ensure that the loan appears as part of the Opening Balance, the component must start at the beginning of the plan's Timeline, and have the "This loan was acquird before the start of the plan" toggle turned on.
For more information about the Loan component, read our full guide here.
Equity
Equity is a measure of the money that has been invested in the business.
Equity
Equity is entered in the Equity component and can represent either existing equity or shares sold during the course of the plan. Existing equity will automatically appear in the opening balance.
To ensure that the investment appears as part of the Opening Balance, the component must start at the beginning of the plan's Timeline, and have the "Existing share(s) sold before the start of the plan" selected.
For more information about the Equity Component, read our full guide here.