When you need it
Use it when a company arrives with years of history in another system and you want that history in Accmerio: the chart of accounts, customers and suppliers, invoices, bills, payments, journals and the balances they add up to. For balances only, choose Opening balances only — or use Opening Balances by hand for a few accounts.
Nothing reaches the books until the end. Every step before approval works on copies: the importer reads your files, proposes how each account, contact and tax code maps, and posts everything in a sandbox to compare the result with the old system's own trial balance and ageing. Only when they agree — or every difference is explained — can the Owner or an Administrator approve and post.
Step 1 — start a migration and upload the files
- Open Workspace › Import from Other Software — or type import into Find a page — and choose New migration.
- Choose the software the books are in now. Each one shows how well it is supported: Verified means tested against that product's own exports. Anything else can come in as CSV or Excel through the column mapping.
- Choose how much to bring across — Full history, Selected periods, Opening balances only or Lists only — and the dates it needs, then Start migration.
- Under Files, drop the exports or Choose files. A ZIP of everything is fine. Then choose Read the files.
Step 2 — the health check
Health check lists each kind of data the migration needs against what arrived: Found, Partly found or Missing, and whether it can be proved — a ledger with no trial balance beside it imports, but nothing can show it is complete. A missing item that is needed blocks approval until it is uploaded.
Step 3 — mapping the columns
- Open Mapping and choose a table. It shows what it was recognised as, how sure the importer is and why.
- Check each column's Read as field. Change any that is wrong; columns marked Not used are kept with the record but not read.
- Check Dates are written and Decimal mark when the file could be read either way — the importer never guesses between 03/04 meaning March or April.
- Choose Preview the rows to see the file's cells beside what they become, then Save mapping or Confirm it reads correctly.
- When every table reads correctly, choose Stage the records.
A table you do not want — an instructions sheet, a duplicate export — can be left out with Set this table aside.
Step 4 — the review queue
Review lists every account, contact, item, tax code and kind of transaction the records depend on, with what the importer proposes, the evidence, the records it touches and where they would land in the statements.
- Start with Accounts. Choose Approve for a proposal that is right, or Change to match another account, create a new one or leave it out (with a reason).
- Approve safe suggestions approves, in one go, only the suggestions with no open question and no high risk. Everything else is decided one at a time.
- Work through Contacts, Tax codes and Transaction types the same way.
Step 5 — the records
Records shows every staged record and what happens to it: Posts, Evidence, Archived or Skipped, always with the reason. Open one to see the file's values beside what they became. You can correct a date, number, reference or memo, or handle a record differently with a reason; it is marked Edited and recorded.
An invoice that is also in the general ledger is posted once, as an invoice: its ledger lines become evidence that checks it.
Step 6 — prove it
- Open Check and choose Simulate. Every record is posted in a sandbox, the reports are read and compared with the old system's, and everything is rolled back.
- Read the result: each comparison says whether it agrees. A difference shows the old figure, Accmerio's and the likely cause.
- Fix the cause (usually a mapping) and simulate again — or choose Explain for a difference you understand and accept it with the reason.
- Ready to approve? lists every condition; all must be met.
Step 7 — approve and post
- Open Approve and post. The Owner or an Administrator writes what they checked and chooses Approve the migration — an Administrator confirms with a second factor; the Owner is not asked.
- Choose Post into the books. Posting runs in the background through the ledger's own rules; the page shows its progress.
- When it says Posted and verified, download the completion report with Report (PDF) or Report (Excel).
The historical archive and saved layouts
Historical archive keeps what a migration did not post — voided and draft documents, closing entries, memo vouchers — searchable by number, name, date and reason. Nothing in it is in any balance, report or statement.
Saved layouts lists your company's saved column layouts and AccountHouse's reviewed ones. Propose to AccountHouse sends only a layout's column titles and mapping, never your figures or names.