Error: You must first create an opening balance - when attempting to start a reconciliation in FACTS.

You will get this message when you attempt to reconcile an investment account. The message appears when you click the New button in the Reconcile tab. This can happen when you first start a new investment account or after processing for many cycles.

One cause of this issue is if the pool does not match the investment account for the pool as far as reconciliation cycles. For example, if you go to the pool\balances tab the end date there for the last reconciled cycle should be the same as the last reconciled cycle on the investment account on the Accounts tab\balances sub-tab. If they are not, then un-post FACTS back to the post that they both match then re-post FACTS for those cycles, verify that the pool and the investment account are in sync then start cycle for new cycle and the error should no longer be there.

If this is the first time reconciling the account:

1. Go to the Account SuperTab in FACTS and open the Account record.
2. Click the opening balance box near the bottom of the screen.
3. Click Add Initial Balance. 
4. Enter in the beginning account balance if necessary. 
5. Do not change the dates. 
6. Typically, the beginning balance is $0 so all that is necessary is to click "Done"
7. Navigate to the Reconciliation tab and attempt to reconcile your account again.  

If the account has been reconciled for many cycles:

1. The first thing to do is to go to File Maintenance\FACTS unpost and select the pool.
2. If the cycle is 0, then click OK to unpost the pool. 
3. Do not unpost if the cycle information appears to be accurate and current.
4. This should resolve the problem and you can continue creating the new investment account reconciliation.

If this doesn't fix the issue:

For troubleshooting purposes, would you please go to the Pool tab and note the cycle number on the pool record.  Is it "0" or one or more cycles ahead of the current one? - check the balances tab for information on the actual current cycle.  Then with this information contact FIMS support and we will investigate and fix the problem for you.