Warning: Before you begin this step of entering beginning balances, it is essential that you read this guide in its entirety — you must understand the process before beginning the process.
The first phase of transferring your business data focuses on determining what information should be transferred, verifying that your information is accurate, and getting it into a format ready to import into aACE.
Minimum Business Operations
Your team members will begin using aACE as their primary information system on your Go-Live date. They must be able to conduct these essential workflows:
- Accounts Receivable — Print receivables aging reports and record receipts (customer payments) for outstanding invoices
- Accounts Payable — Print payables aging reports and pay bills for currently outstanding purchases
- In-Process POs — Receive in-coming shipments
- In-Process Sales Orders — Manage fulfillment tasks (e.g. shipping and invoicing)
- Inventory — Manage fulfillment tasks (e.g. shipping and invoicing)
Note: If your organization currently tracks inventory, then inventoried LICs must have quantities and values so that inventory-related features in aACE can calculate accurately. - Uncleared Checks — Reconcile your bank accounts
- Deposits-in-Transit — Reconcile your bank accounts
- Beginning Account Balances — Set balances after the necessary records are in the system
- Historical Invoices (optional) — Generate more accurate reports about sales (Note: This data can be imported before Go-Live or after.)
Required Data for Your Business Operations
In order for team members to continue their essential workflows in aACE, you must populate your aACE system with data from your previous system(s). The preliminary step is to collect the information from your previous system(s) and "scrub" or restructure it to line up with aACE data fields. Then you can import each type of data into aACE.
To support the essential workflows listed above, you must have the following data in your aACE system as of your Go-Live Date:
- Master Data — These records are required to successfully complete a transaction. They should be imported prior to working on your beginning balances transfer.
- Chart of Accounts
- Line Item Codes
- Company Records (for both customers and vendors)
- Transaction Data — These records track specific exchanges between vendors / customers and your company.
- Accounts Receivable Transactions
- Accounts Payable Transactions
- Inventory Balances
- Other Transactions (based on your specific business needs)
Confirm Accounting Dependencies in Your Existing System(s)
As you collect financial information from your existing system, you need to confirm a few dependencies. Your balance sheet reflects invoicing, purchasing, and inventory activity. Certain numbers in your existing system must balance:
| The A/R balance | Must equal | The balance of all open invoices in your invoice lists |
| The A/P balance | Must equal | The balance of all open purchases in your purchase lists |
| The total inventory assets | Must equal | The inventory values from your inventory count |
| The current bank statement reconciliation report | Must equal | The difference between your bank balance and your book balance for each cash account |
Warning: If any of these numbers in your existing system do not match, it represents a potentially significant accounting error. Prior to working on beginning balances in aACE, schedule a meeting with the necessary parties to determine the source of the error in your existing system and resolve the imbalance to the best of your abilities. If any of the imbalances need to be carried into aACE, then each imbalance should be isolated into a separate suspense GL account dedicated to that purpose. This will allow aACE's sub-ledgers to reconcile with their respective accounts at go-live and permit your team to resolve the discrepancies at a later date.
After any discrepancies in your existing system have been addressed, you can move forward with the process for migrating transactions into aACE.
Formatting Data for Import
Many aACE modules allow you to download a spreadsheet to help with importing data. Click Actions > Export <records> and save the file as an Excel spreadsheet. Use our guides on importing data to help fill out each spreadsheet.