Thank you for the hard work! I am a newbee.
I installed KMyMoney but did not enter the account opening balances at that time. I though I could enter them later. I have gotten as far as enabling the General, Filters, Show Equity Accounts checkbox to make the Equity Account appear. Do I create 1 Equity Account called Opening Balances and give it a Ledger Entry for each account that needs an Opening Balance? Or do I need a separate Opening Balance account for each of my accounts? I tried entering the Opening Balances. They appeared as Transfers after I did them. They also appear as recent entries instead of at the very beginning date. When I try to change the date the Enter button is not active.

I also think I may need to make the Account Opening Date earlier but how do I do that?


KMyMoney 1.0.2 (Using KDE 3.5.10)
Ubuntu Desktop
Installed KDE Dependicies using these steps from the web:
sudo aptitude install build-essential
sudo aptitude install kdelibs4-dev (this one will install a ton of other KDE-related packages)
sudo aptitude install kcontrol (this one will allow you to change KDE-related settings)
Installed KMyMoney from the Ubuntu Software Center

Solved. I will explain it the best that I can.

I found the answer on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/395601

I reworded it and added some notes.

THE RIGHT WAY:
To edit or enter the Opening Balance:
Select Accounts, right-click the account, select Edit account.
Select the General tab. Change the opening balance to a date well before any entries you expect to enter, and then click Ok.

NOTES ON THE WRONG WAYS THAT I TRIED TO ENTER/EDIT AN OPENING BALANCE:
It is not advisable to modify the opening balance yourself on the ledger.
Do not enter/edit an Opening Balance yourself into an Equity Account.
KMyMoney will enter Opening Balances into Equity Accounts.
KMyMoney has an option in the settings dialog to show equity accounts (defaulted to off). If you want to see it then:
(Top Toolbar), Settings , Configure My Money, General, Filter, Accounts/Categories, Show Equity Accounts
Turn it On to show opening balances.
Turn it OFF when done

Useful answer for a complete newbie like me, but in my case it didn't take.
I was trying to set the opening balance on an account, after creating it earlier - but with a future start date (in 2012 Doh!).
Editing the start date and balance in Edit Account/General still did not give me the correct value. Zero!

However, I followed the tip on showing Equity accounts. Although the balance showed correctly on the Equity page, it only appeared on the Account ledger when I edited the date on the Equity page. Bingo!

Looks like it goes against the advice on messing with the entries in Equity accounts, so take care!
I suppose it depends what kind of mess you're trying to get yourself out of, but this worked for me.

{Newbie; Fresh from years of happy MS Moneying. Absolutely loving kMyMoney!}

I think it's best to set up one's accounts first, with great care, before entering any operations. It makes importing easier as well.