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Import/Export Trouble Shooting G/L

 
Section #1: - Import-Export General Ledger Chart of Accounts List:
Some General Tech Tips:

• General Ledger export order is incorrect if exported by Description order
  When exporting the Chart of Accounts for General Ledger if the report order is selected using the description, the export will still list in Account ID order. It will not list the accounts by their description in alphabetical order.
  
  This does not happen with the other list exports. The user can open the exported file in Excel and re-sort based on the Description field.
  
• Import/Export does not exclude accounts with zero balances when this option is deselected on the filter tab
  If you export the Chart of Accounts list and, on the filter tab, deselect “Include Accounts with Zero Balances” it exports the accounts with zero balances anyway. You will need to delete the accounts you do not want to work with after you have exported by opening the export file in an application like Excel.
  
• What does the TaxCode field in the GL COA IE view do?
  At this time, the TaxCode Field in the Chart of Accounts import/export view is not used. It was added to support future functionality which has not yet been implemented.
  
• Export Append selection does not work when Account Type filter is used
  Select to export the Chart of Accounts list and only include 2 or 3 cash accounts. Open the chart.csv file in notepad or Excel and notice the accounts that show. Now go back into Peachtree and choose to export the Chart of Accounts list again. This time, on the filter, select to only export Account Types of Income through Expenses, also on the Options tab choose to Append the file (either Ask first or overwrite) and export the file. Open the chart.csv file again in notepad or Excel. Notice the file only includes the accounts from the first export and not the information that should have been appended.
  
  Notice the file only includes the accounts from the first export and not the information that should have been appended.
  
• Import of Chart of Accounts is truncating field length or it is not checking the field length correctly
  When importing a CSV file into Peachtree it should be checking for valid field lengths, but is not in the case of the General Ledger Account ID or Description fields.
  
  For Example, if you try to import a 16 Character GL ID it will truncate it to 15 and import without giving any errors.
  
  This should not be an issue for rebuilding customers, because their export field lengths should be correct. However, if you are manually creating import files or have another program that is creating the CSV files your end results would not be what you expected.
  This will also happen on the Description field.

Table of Field Definitions for Chart of Accounts:
The following table lists the fields available for import or export, with a brief description of the field and (when necessary) a character limit for the field. The Required? column indicates the required fields for the import. All fields export, those fields that will not import are noted in the Field Description column. Note: Chart of Account fields are exported using CHART.CSV as the default file name.

The minimum recommended fields for importing the Chart of Accounts are marked Required and must be included; other fields are recommended for additional detail that may be more difficult to enter in Peachtree for larger groups of records.

Field Name	Required?	Field Description
Account ID	Y	Alphanumeric - General Ledger Account Number - Up to 15 characters
Account Description	N	Alphanumeric - General Ledger Account Name - Up to 30 characters - Although this field is not required it is recommended
Account Type	Y	Whole Number - Valid numbers are:
		0=Cash 1=Accounts Receivable 2=Inventory 4=Other Current Assets 5=Fixed Assets 6=Accumulated Depreciation 8=Other Assets 10=Accounts Payable 12=Other Current Liabilities 14=Long Term Liabilities 16=Equity-doesn't close 18=Equity-Retained Earnings (you must have 1 and only 1 of this type of account) 19=Equity-gets closed 21=Income 23=Cost of Sales 24=Expenses
Inactive	N	Boolean - Inactive check box; valid choices are TRUE or FALSE, where True=Inactive and False=Active
Budget-Period End xx/xx/xx (where xx/xx/xx represents the period end date)	N	Numeric (Real) - The budget amount per period. NOTE: There can be up to 39 (52 in Peachtree Premium Accounting and Premium Accountant's Edition) of these periods--up to 13 periods per year, for 3 (4 for Peachtree Premium and Premium Accountant's Edition) years (In Premium Accounting and Premium Accountant's Edition, budget years go to a third year in the future therefore you will have Last Year, This Year, Next Year and the First Future Year)
*** Revised Budget-Period End xx/xx/xx (where xx/xx/xx represents the period end date)	N	Numeric (Real) - The budget amount per period. NOTE: There can be up to 26 of these periods--up to 13 periods per year, for 2 years (Revised budgets only exist for two years, Last Year and This Year)
Debit-Period End xx/xx/xx	N	Numeric (Real) - Total debit amount per period. This field is used for exporting only. NOTE: There can be up to 39 of these periods, up to 13 periods per year, depending on your company setup.
Credit-Period End xx/xx/xx	N	Numeric (Real) - Total credit amount per period. This field is used for exporting only. NOTE: There can be up to 39 of these periods, up to 13 periods per year,, depending on your company setup.
Net-Period End xx/xx/xx	N	Numeric (Real) - The net amount of the credit and debit per period. This field is used for exporting only. NOTE: There can be up to 39 of these periods, up to 13 periods per year,, depending on your company setup.
Next Ref Number	N	Holds the next check number if this account is used for writing checks.
Tax Code	N	This field is reserved for future use by Peachtree Accounting.
E-Pmt Bank	N/A	THIS FIELD IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED
E-Pmt Account	N/A	THIS FIELD IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED
E-Pmt RTN	N/A	THIS FIELD IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED
**Current Balance	N	The current balance of the account (as of the Peachtree system date). This field is for Export purposes ONLY.
**1099 Settings	N	Numeric (Whole) - 1099 Settings set up in Vendor Defaults for each G/L account. Valid numbers are:
		0 - Box 1 or Box 7 2 - 1099-INT, Box 1 1 - 1099-MISC Box 7 3 - None

** These are NEW fields in Release 2002
*** These are NEW fields in Release 2004-Premium and Premium Accountant’s Edition

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Section #2 - Importing the General Journal Some Tech Tips:

• Chart of Accounts Beginning Balances: Beginning balances for your general ledger accounts are imported and exported as general journal transactions. That means if you try to export these beginning balances from one company to another, the balances will be correct, but you won’t be able to view these beginning balances using the Beginning Balances button on the Maintain Chart of Accounts window. Instead, you must open the General Journal Entry window and select the Open button to find the beginning balance entry.
• Import warning about duplicate records does not appear If you externally create a General Journal import file with reference numbers that already exist in the company, and turn on the “Warn before importing rows with duplicate reference” on the Options tab, there is no warning message appearing and the duplicate transactions are being imported. Currently the import code for General Journal does not check for duplicate references. The Reference for a General Journal transaction is not required therefore duplicates are permissible.
• The GJ Import/Export template shows posting status even in real time The General Journal Import/Export template will always show the field "Posted Transaction" with equal to: Posted/Unposted available. This is true even in a real time posting company. The other Templates only show this field if the company is in batch posting. The field actually functions. If you select unposted entries while in real time, it will export the GJ as blank, unless you have data errors where unposted entries are present while in real time.
• Allowed to import leading or trailing spaces in the reference field of transactions The import of transactions in Peachtree allows leading or trailing spaces in the reference field. This is corrected by running Data Verification (or resaving the transaction). This includes Sales Invoicing, GJ etc. Workaround: If the transaction is in an open year, resave the transaction to correct the problem. If there are a lot of transactions, or the transactions exist in a closed year, run Data Verification from the File menu in Peachtree."

Table of Field Definitions for General Journal: The following table lists the fields available for import or export, with a brief description of the field and (when necessary) a character limit for the field. The Required? column shows those fields that must be provided (all are available for export). Note: General Journal fields are exported out using GENERAL.CSV as the default file name.

Field Name	Required?	Field Description
Date	Y	mm/dd/yy - Date of the transaction
Reference	* N	Alphanumeric reference number for the transaction. Up to 20 characters, although this field is not required it is recommended that unique references be included in the import file. This will prevent reporting problems in the future.
Date Cleared in Bank Rec	N	Date - If the transaction used a cash account and was cleared in the bank reconciliation, then this is the date it cleared. Otherwise, leave blank or don't include as a field. Must be in ##/##/## (month/day/yr) format.
No. of Distributions	Y	Numeric (Whole) - Number of distributions in the transaction - valid numbers are 2 - 147 GJ entries must have at least 2 distributions - 1 DR and 1 CR
GL Account	Y	Alphanumeric up to 15 characters. G/L account ID for a line of distribution. Must be a valid account ID from Maintain Chart of Accounts.
Line Description	N	Alphanumeric up to 160 characters. Description for a line of distribution
Amount	Y	Numeric (Real) - Amount for a line of distribution. Debit = positive -- Credit = negative
Job ID	N	Alphanumeric - Job ID for a line of distribution. When importing any combination of jobs, phases, or cost codes, you must separate the items with commas and enclose the entire string with quotes. These id's must be valid id's as set up in Maintain Jobs, Phases and Cost Codes - For example: "jobid, phase, costcode". Up to 20 characters for Job ID, 20 characters for Phase ID and 20 characters for Cost Code ID
Used for Reimbursable Expense	N	Boolean - Used for reimbursable expenses on Sales/Invoicing task, valid choices are [True] or [False]. Where TRUE = Used for reimbursable expenses
Transaction Period	N/A	Numeric (Whole) - Period number for the transaction. Used in conjunction with the Transaction Number to identify where a transaction (which is composed of several lines of distribution) begins and ends. This field is for Internal Use only.
Transaction Number	N/A	Numeric (Whole) - Transaction number for the transaction. Used in conjunction with the Period Number to identify where a transaction (which is composed of several lines of distribution) begins and ends. This field is for Internal Use only.
*** Consolidated Transaction	N	Boolean - Used for transactions of consolidated companies; valid choices are [True] or [False], where True=consolidated transaction, False=not a consolidated transaction (i.e., regular General Journal entry). Note: This field is available only in Peachtree Premium Accounting and Peachtree Premium-Accountant's Edition.

*** This is a new field in Release 2004 Premium Accountant’s Edition
* See the below table for an example of a Sample General Journal Import transaction.

Sample General Journal Import transaction:
Date	Reference	No Distributions	GL Account	Line Description	Amount
06/18/03	030618-01	2	10200	Cash Transfer	100.00
06/18/03	030618-01	2	10100	Cash Transfer	-100.00

Number of distributions is crucial, especially when importing transactions with no reference/invoice number. Peachtree looks at the first line of a transaction and checks the distribution field. If it sees 2 or more distributions, it expects the following lines to belong to that same transaction and have a matching distribution number. These lines should have the same distribution number. Although a unique reference in General Journal transactions is not required, it is highly recommended since this can cause problems in reporting later on.

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