Import Invoices and Credit Notes

Introduction to Importing

Importing Invoices and Credit Notes is an efficient alternative to manually creating transactions. It can be used to simplify the process of transferring data from your previous accounting system or to assist with importing your organisation's regular Sales and Purchases activities.

WARNING:

It is always recommended that you verify the results of your import. Manipulating data in file formats such as CSV can result in errors, which is why we advise you to save transactions initially as 'Draft'. Do not email invoices or statements until you have checked the validity of imported transactions.

Getting Started with Importing

To get started, you will need to download the template file provided. The template contains column headings which correspond to the fields maintained when manually creating Invoices and Credit Notes, and you should not alter these headings.

Navigate to the Sales or Purchases tab and click on the Import button.

Step 1: Download the template file

Click on the link to download the template file. It is advisable to open the file using a spreadsheet program like Excel. This will automatically recognise the commas in the CSV file and split the fields into columns. Enter or copy and paste your input data into the relevant fields.

The following general rules and tips should be considered:

• Save the file as CSV (comma delimited) with a .csv file extension as only CSV files are permitted for upload.
• Field names and field order cannot be changed or deleted.
• Maximimum lines per upload file is 250.
• Duplicates are NOT checked. Take care not to upload the same file twice.
• Commas within a field require the contents of the field to be Text delimited with quotation marks eg "xxx, xxx" (your spreadhseet program should do this for you automatically).

The following specific rules apply to each field. They are the same fields that would be used for manual entry of the transactions and are explained in greater detail in Sales Invoices, Invoice Items, Purchase Invoice, Purchase Credit Note.

Template Field	Rules and Explanation
InvoiceNumber	Mandatory field. There are two options: Use invoice numbers specified in the import file. If you select this option, then AccountsPortal will use the InvoiceNumbers as specified in the CSV file. You must ensure that the InvoiceNumbers do not overlap with existing invoice numbers in AccountsPortal. Automatically assign invoice numbers. If you select this option, the the InvoiceNumber in the CSV file  does NOT become the Transaction ID for the transaction created. It is only used during the import to identify when a new transaction begins. The value in this field is not saved. AccountsPortal will automatically assign Invoice Numbers based on your organisation's Transaction Numbering. Multi-line transactions must all have the same InvoiceNumber value on consecutive rows as in the example above for INV208. Multi-line transactions only need values in the first row for the Customer/Supplier, Reference, InvoiceDate, DueDate and Memo fields. Values entered for these fields on subsequent lines of a multi-line transaction will be ignored Values in the InvoiceNumber field can only repeat when used to enter Multi-line transactions. If the same value appears further down in the file, it will be considered a duplicate and rejected.
Customer/Supplier	Mandatory field If the value in this field corresponds exactly with the Name of an existing Customer/Supplier, then that Custome/Supplier will be used. Any deviation will result in a new Customer/Supplier being automatically created.
Reference	Optional field. We recommend inserting the original Invoice or Credit Note number in this field.
InvoiceDate	Mandatory field. Must follow the format DD/MM/YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY.
DueDate	Mandatory field. Must follow the format DD/MM/YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY.
TaxTreatmentId	Mandatory field. A numeric value indicating the underlying nature of the transaction for VAT/GST/Tax purposes. If you are not VAT/GST/Tax Registered, then use 99. UK Vat Registered Organisations: Sales Invoices and Credit Notes   1 - Goods or Services to UK Customer   2 - Goods to EU Customer   3 - Services to EU Customer   4 - Goods to Customer outside EU   5 - Services to Customer outside EU 99 - No VAT / Out of Scope Purchase Invoices and Credit Notes 21 - Goods or Services from UK Supplier 22 - Goods from EU Supplier 23 - Services from EU Supplier 24 - Goods from Supplier outside EU 25 - Services from Supplier outside EU 99 - No VAT / Out of Scope See VAT UK - Box by Box for more information on how the different options flow through to the VAT Report International VAT/GST/Tax Registered Organisations: Sales Invoices and Credit Notes   1 - Sale of Goods or Services 99 - No VAT/GST/Tax Purchase Invoices and Credit Notes 21 - Purchase of Goods or Services 99 - No VAT/GST/Tax If you are not registered for VAT/GST/Tax on the date in the InvoiceDate field, the entry in TaxTreatmentId will be replaced by 99 automatically.
Notes	Optional field. Any text relevant to the individual transaction.
PrintNotes	Optional field. Insert the number 1 if you would like the Notes above to print on the generated PDF.
Brand	Optional field. If specified, this needs to exactly match the Template Name as defined in Invoice Brands and Templates. If nothing specified here, the brand will be derived from the Contact or the default brand of the Organisation.
ItemProductCode	Optional field. If specified, this needs to exactly match the Code as defined in Products and Services. Note that when using this field in an invoice import, the default settings for all other Products and Services fields are ignored. You will need to insert these specifically in the fields below.
ItemQuantity	Mandatory field. If Quantity is not relevant to your invoice, use a value of 1.
ItemUnitAmount	Mandatory field. The Amount of the line item net (i.e. excluding) any VAT/GST/Tax. Multi-line transactions will use the sign of the first row to determine if the transaction is an Invoice or Credit Note. eg. -200.00 as the amount of the first line of a transaction will indicate that the transaction is a Credit Note. If the negative line is in a subsequent line of an invoice, this will reduce the overall total of the invoice (eg. discount line) The total value of a line is ItemQuantity x ItemUnitAmount + any VAT/GST/Tax (if applicable).
ItemAccountCode	Mandatory field. The Account number defined in the Chart of Accounts.
ItemDescription	Optional field. Any relevant text to describe the line item.
ItemCategoryCode	Optional field. If specified, this needs to exactly match the Category Code as defined in Categories.
ItemTaxCode	Mandatory field. The tax rate applicable to the line item. This needs to have the exact same description as the VAT/GST/Tax Rates maintained for your organisation. The descriptions can be found in the settings for Tax Rates. If you are not registered for tax on the date in the InvoiceDate field, the entry in ItemTaxCode will be replaced by 'No Vat/GST/Tax' automatically.
ItemTaxAmount	Optional field. If this field is left blank, the VAT/GST/Tax Amount will be calculated based on the ItemTaxCode field above. Only insert a value into this field if you require the VAT/GST/Tax Amount for a line item to differ from the amount that would be calculated by using the ItemTaxCode. If you are not registered for tax on the date in the InvoiceDate field, the value in ItemTaxAmount will be ignored.

The above file viewed in a text editor such as Notepad would appear as follows:

Step 2: Select the file

Click on the Browse button and select the saved CSV file.

Step 3: Invoice numbering options

Select how you would like the invoice or credit note numbers in AccountsPortal to be determined:

• Use invoice numbers specified in the import file
• Automatically assign invoice numbers based on your organisation's Transaction Numbering

Step 4: Import the file

Click the Import button. A pop-up will show a summary and status of incorrect file records. The import has not yet taken place and can be cancelled in order to amend the file.

Correct the errors in your file and resave the CSV. Click on the Go Back button and try to import the file again.

When the file is error free, you will be taken to the Confirm Import screen.Note that the default setting is for all transactions to be saved as Draft. We recommend you retain this setting and review the individual results before marking transactions as 'Approved'. This approach will result in less errors.

Click the Complete Import button to import the transactions.