Starting your books from another system
Your books here begin on a date you pick. From that date on, your bank and card statements carry them forward.
Direct answer
Local Accountant does not open another program’s data file. You choose a start date, enter what each account held on that day as its opening balance, and bring in statement files from that day forward.
Pick a start date
The first day of a month is the easiest place to begin, because the books close one month at a time. The first day of your financial year is easier still: there is a full year behind it that you have already settled.
Enter opening balances
For each bank and card account, the opening balance is the closing balance on the statement that ends the day before your start date. For everything else in your ledger, use the last balance sheet you trust.
Bring in statements from that day
Download each account’s statement file from your bank’s website, starting with the month that holds your start date. Older months stay where they are.
Check the first month
Every line of that first month comes to you to decide before anything posts. When the month’s statement agrees with your bank, close it, and the next month starts from there.
Next
FAQs
Can I bring my old transactions in?
Yes, as statement files: bring in a file for each month you want in these books. It reads what your bank gives you, never another program’s records.
What if an opening balance was wrong?
Correct it with an entry in the month you are working in. A closed month is left as it was, and the correction is dated in the first open month.