Balance for bank accounts

If you are creating this account while entering a transaction (by entering the account name on a page like Check), leave the Amount empty. The transaction you are entering gives the account an initial amount.

For accounts newly-opened with your bank or financial institution, leave the Balance as 0. The opening balance will be created when you transfer funds into the account. For example, you may use Transfers to record moving money from an account called Savings into a new Checking account.

For accounts you've held awhile, enter the ending balance of your last statement, or your last statement of the previous accounting period.

To bring the account up to date, enter all your banking transactions since that date.

Which date should you use?

The older the statement you start with, the more data you need to enter to bring your account up to date.