Importing Trial Balance Data

After a new engagement is created, you must import a trial balance from one of the following:

  • Microsoft® Excel®
  • QuickBooks® Online
  • Xero™

You can import up to 5,000 accounts. During the import, CCH iFirm Engagement automatically assigns the financial groups, account type, and account classification to each account if you selected to use system-provided financial groups. CCH iFirm Engagement also automatically assigns tax groups based on the tax entity type and year end date.

After the initial import, you can import current period balances again with the Import trial balance option on the Trial Balance page. This option will zero out current period balances before importing the new balances and add new accounts and balances. Existing account groupings and journal entries will be left intact. See Re-Importing the Trial Balance data.

Trial Balance Imports for Consolidated Engagements

For consolidated engagements, a separate trial balance must be imported for each subsidiary from the Subsidiary Setup Page.

To reimport a trial balance for a subsidiary, see Re-Importing the Trial Balance data.

Import Procedures

Click a link below to view specific instructions for importing from different types of source files.

ClosedImport from Microsoft® Excel®.

To successfully import a trial balance from a Microsoft® Excel® file, your import spreadsheet must:

  • Be a Microsoft® Excel® 2013 or newer XLSX file that contains only one worksheet.
  • Begin your accounts on Row 2 of the worksheet. Row 1 can be blank or used for header information. Formatting in Row 1 is ignored during the import.
  • Have the following information in the first four to six columns of the worksheet, in this order:

  1. Account Number (optional)

    Note: If you do not use account numbers, then leave column A blank.

  2. Account Name (required)

  3. Current Period Debit Balance (required)

  4. Current Period Credit Balance (required)

  5. Prior Period Debit Balance (optional)

  6. Prior Period Credit Balance (optional)

    • Any rows in the import file that are missing an account name or number will be ignored during the import. For example, if totals are included below the debit and credit columns in the import file, these will not be imported.
    • Also, if the last row of the import file contains the formula "=sum," it is recognized as a total row and skipped during the import.
    • Similarly, any text or data that appears beyond column six (or column four, if there is no prior period data) will be ignored during the import. The presence of this extraneous information will not prevent the import from being successful.
    • Have only one instance of each account number and account name.

To import data from a Microsoft® Excel® file, do the following:

  1. Click Microsoft Excel on the import Trial Balance page. This page opens after:
    • Creating an engagement, or
    • Opening an engagement that has not yet been imported, or
    • Clicking Import on the Subsidiary Setup page of a consolidated engagement

  1. Browse to the Excel® file and click Open.

ClosedImport from QuickBooks® Online.

To import data from QuickBooks® Online, you must be either an accountant or admin user of the QuickBooks® Online company file. Keep in mind the following for these imports:

  • If an account has a sub-account in QuickBooks® Online, the account and sub-account names are concatenated with a colon (:) separating them. This will prevent duplicate accounts.
  • If you roll forward an engagement and then reimport, sub-accounts with no account number will reimport as new accounts. You must reassign these accounts to groups if they are not automatically assigned during the reimport.

Prior-year data cannot be imported from QuickBooks® Online. However, you can add prior-year balances into the trial balance by doing the following:

  1. Create the engagement for the prior year.
  2. Import accounts and balances from QuickBooks® Online.
  3. Roll forward the engagement to the next year.
  4. Import accounts and balances from QuickBooks® Online for the current year.

To import data from QuickBooks® Online, do the following:

  1. Click QuickBooks® Online on the Import Trial Balance page. This page opens after:
    • Creating an engagement, or
    • Opening an engagement that has not yet been imported, or
    • Clicking Import on the Subsidiary Setup page of a consolidated engagement
  1. Select Cash or Accrual for the accounting basis.
  2. Click Confirm.
  3. Enter your User ID and Password for your Intuit® account, and click Sign In.
  4. Select the company with the trial balance data you want to import.
  5. If prompted, search for or select the client you are importing data for.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Click Connect to authorize the transfer of data.

Note: If you see strange behavior using Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, switch to a browser QuickBooks® Online supports (such as Google® Chrome ™). For further information, see the QuickBooks Help.