Trial balance import

If you are moving to Bokapsys from another accounting system or spreadsheet, you want your books to start from where they left off. A trial balance is a list of every account with its balance on a given date, with debits and credits that add up to the same total. Importing one gives Bokapsys your opening balances: the starting point your new transactions build on.

You find it under Accounting → TB Import. The import is a five-step wizard: Upload, Map accounts, Validate, Import and Verify.

Tip

Moving from QuickBooks Online? You can bring your books in directly instead. See Migrate from QuickBooks.

Before you start

• You need a role with access to TB Import. See Team and roles.
• Export a trial balance from your previous system as CSV or Excel (.xlsx, .xls, .xlsb or .xlsm), as of the day before you start keeping books in Bokapsys. The last day of a month or fiscal year is a common choice.
• Check that your Chart of Accounts has accounts for everything in the trial balance. You can add missing ones during mapping.

File layout

Open What should my trial balance file look like? on the upload step for examples. Bokapsys detects either of these layouts:

• Three columns: Account, Debit, Credit. This is the recommended layout.
• Two columns: Account, Balance, with credit balances shown as negative numbers or in brackets.

QuickBooks-style “Parent:Child” account names, such as 1000 Cash:1001 BofA, are understood too.

Import a trial balance

1. Upload. Enter the Trial balance date (as of), then drop your file onto the upload area or click to browse. Bokapsys reads the file and shows the number of accounts, total debits and total credits, and whether it is Balanced. Accounts with a zero balance are skipped; you can expand the list of skipped rows and include any you need. Click Next: map accounts.
2. Map accounts. Each account from your file is listed with its code, name and balance. For each one, choose the matching account in Bokapsys under Map to. Click Auto-map to have Bokapsys match as many as it can for you, then review the result. When every account is mapped, click Save & validate.
3. Validate. Bokapsys checks the import. Errors must be fixed before you can continue: the trial balance must balance, and every account must be mapped. Warnings point out things worth checking, such as an asset with a credit balance or two lines mapped to the same account.
4. Import. Click Import trial balance. Bokapsys posts the opening balances to your general ledger, dated on the as-of date.
5. Verify. Bokapsys builds a Balance Sheet for the as-of date and shows Total assets, Total liabilities, Total equity, Net income, Retained earnings and Balanced?. If it does not balance, Bokapsys suggests likely causes and lets you go back to the mappings.

Click View reports to open your Financial reports, or Import another to start again.

Caution

If a trial balance for the same date has already been imported, Bokapsys warns you before importing. Importing anyway adds the new balances on top of the old ones; it does not replace them. Undo the earlier import first if you are replacing it.

The cutoff date

An imported trial balance sets your books’ starting point. Bank statements dated on or before its as-of date are kept out of the ledger, because their effect is already inside your opening balances. Counting them again would double them.

This means you can upload statements from before your start date for reference without disturbing your books. On Financial reports, Bokapsys explains how many statements are being kept out for this reason. If you import more than one trial balance, the earliest as-of date is used.

Undo an import

The Previous imports card lists every trial balance you have imported, with its as-of date, number of accounts and status.

1. Find the import and click Undo import.
2. Confirm.

Bokapsys removes the import’s entries from your ledger and lifts the cutoff it set, so older bank statements can be posted again. The import stays in the list with the status reverted. You can then import a corrected trial balance.

You cannot undo an import whose as-of date falls in a closed accounting period. Reopen the period first, or reverse the year-end close if the whole year has been closed.

Account mappings are remembered

The mappings you choose are saved. You can review and change them later on Reporting Config → Account Mappings. See Reporting config.

Related

Migrate from QuickBooksImport directly from QuickBooks Online.

Chart of AccountsAdd accounts before you map.

Financial reportsCheck your opening Balance Sheet.

General LedgerSee the imported entries.