How to import a general journal to QuickBooks

Frequently we are asked if it is possible to import a general journal from another accounting system into QuickBooks Pro, Premier or Enterprise.  Since a general journal is not a transaction but rather a report of all the debit and credit activity there is no way to directly import a general journal.  However, you could take this same report and import the activity to QuickBooks as a journal entry.

There are a few things that you will need to do to reformat the general journal as journal entries.  Here are some steps that you can follow:

1. Export the general journal to Excel so you can easily manipulate the file
2. Remove any extraneous subtotals or formatting so it is just ONE header row and the raw data.  Read more here.
3. Sort the file by the journal entry number so that the same lines on the same journal follow sequentially in the import file.  Read more on how multi-lined transactions here.

Some other things to consider especially if coming from another accounting system as QuickBooks has a lot of very specific rules as it relates to journal entries.

1. If you have any line in your journal entry that posts to an account that has an account type of Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable, QuickBooks requires that a customer or vendor name appear on the same line.  You can map this column to the QuickBooks field, entity, on the Transaction Pro Importer mapping screen.  What I would suggest is setting up a static Name in QuickBooks such a Conversion Data in QuickBooks to be used on these line items.
2. QuickBooks will only allow one posting per journal entry to an Accounts Receivable or an Accounts Payable account.  If your import file has multiple Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable accounts per journal entry I would suggest setting up these accounts in QuickBooks with an account type of other receivables or other payables to get around this QuickBooks requirement.
3. Make sure all your accounts exist in QuickBooks pre-import.  You can also use Transaction Pro Importer to import your chart of accounts to QuickBooks.

Some other format things to consider:

1. Transaction Pro Importer will work with either account names or account numbers read more on formatting here.
2. If you amounts are all in one column make sure your credits are expressed as negative numbers and your debits as a positive number and select the options button and on the Advanced Tab select the option:  Specify a Single Column for Debit/Credit instead of separate columns.  Read more about all the journal entry options here.

If you would like to test this out request a free trial of our software here.