Opening balances: starting mid-stream

Most shops don't start their books on day one of the business. If you're adopting TCGMargin with a shelf full of stock bought before record-keeping began, book it as an opening balance: a purchase order whose costs are your best estimate, permanently badged so estimates never masquerade as documented history.

Two ways to create one:

• From the PO form — set Type to Opening balance (estimated costs). The supplier is fixed to "Opening balance", you enter each product at your best-guess cost, and the PO wears an amber "estimated" badge forever. Its units flow through cost math like any purchase.
• From the uncovered-units panel — if you imported sales history first, any sold units with no covering purchase surface on the Purchase Orders screen with suggested costs prefilled. Tick the rows, adjust the estimates, and book them in one click.

Every cost ledger line from an opening balance is labeled "— estimated cost", and if the real paperwork ever surfaces you can replace the estimate with the documented PO. The rest of your books stay exact: the estimate is quarantined to the units it covers, and your reports can always say how much of your cost basis is estimated versus documented.