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, Engagement automatically assigns the financial groups, account type, and account classification to each account if you selected to use system-provided financial groups. 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.
  • 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)

  • 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.

ClosedImport from Xero™.

  1. Click Xero™ 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.

  1. Click Confirm.

  1. Enter your email address and password for the Xero™ account.

  1. Click Login.

  1. Select the organization with the trial balance data you want to import.

  1. Click Allow to authorize the transfer of data.

Notes:

  • You can only import current period balances at this time.
  • If you get the error message "Failed to import from Xero," ensure the trial balance does not exceed the current limit of 5,000 accounts.

ClosedImport from CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance.

Prior to importing the trial balance data from CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance, you must first export the trial balance from CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance. See topic Exporting the Trial Balance in CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance.

During the import, CCH Axcess Engagement will map the CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance data as follows:

CCH ProSystem fx Trial Balance CCH Axcess Engagement
Account Number / Name Account Number / Name
Current year balances Current year balances
Prior year balances Prior year balances (one year)
Leads* Group Index / Group Name
Subleads* Sub-Group Index / Sub-Group Name
Tax Lines* Tax Group, Tax Sub-Group, Property #
Classes* Classes
Account Type* Account Type

*The export from CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance was enhanced in the August 2022 release to include this data.

To import data from CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance, do the following:

  1. Create a new engagement or open an engagement that does not have an existing trial balance.

Note: If a trial balance exists in the engagement and you select to re-import a trial balance from CCH® ProSystem fx® Trial Balance, then only the accounts and current year balances will import. It will not import prior year balances or map the leads, subleads and tax lines.

  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

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