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Briefcase

How can I bulk upload accrued expenses to Briefcase?

How can I bulk upload accrued expenses to Briefcase?

This guide covers how to bulk import accrued expenses into Briefcase using a CSV, so you can track and post your accrual journals in one place.

How it works

To bulk import accrued expenses into Briefcase, you’ll need to use a correctly formatted CSV file. You can import up to 500 accrued expenses in a single CSV.

Formatting the CSV

The CSV must contain the following headers:

  • description: A description of the accrued expense. This is required.
  • amount: The accrual amount in the client’s base currency. Enter a positive number without a currency symbol, for example 1200.50.
  • date: The date of the accrual journal in YYYY-MM-DD format.
  • expenseAccountCode: The code for the expense account to debit in your chart of accounts.
  • liabilityAccountCode: The code for the liability account to credit in your chart of accounts.
  • alreadyPosted: Enter true or 1 if the accrual has already been posted outside Briefcase and you’re adding it for tracking purposes. Briefcase will track the accrual without posting the journal again. If left blank or set to false, the accrual will be created as a draft ready for review and posting.

|💡 Note: Account codes are specific to each client. expenseAccountCode must be an active profit and loss expense account, and liabilityAccountCode must be an eligible balance sheet liability account.

The following liability accounts cannot be used:

  • Xero system liability accounts
  • QuickBooks Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable accounts
  • Briefcase Ledger liability accounts that are not configured as accrued expenses accounts

You can download a CSV template by following these steps:

  1. Navigate to Financial Close → Accrued Expenses from the sidebar.
  2. Click the dropdown next to Add accrued expense, then click Bulk import.
  3. In the modal, click Download template to download a CSV with the correctly formatted columns.

Do not rename or remove any of the column headings in the template.

Uploading the CSV

Once you’ve completed your CSV, you can upload it to Briefcase:

  1. Drag and drop the CSV into the modal, or click to upload it.
  2. Briefcase will validate the CSV and surface any errors. Once valid, you’ll see a preview of the accrued expenses to be imported.
  3. Select or deselect the rows you want to process, then click Import x rows.
  4. Briefcase will process each row and create the accrued expenses in the background.
  5. Accruals where alreadyPosted is blank or false will appear as drafts ready for review and posting. Accruals where alreadyPosted is true will be recorded as already posted outside Briefcase, so the journal won’t be posted again.

If you see validation errors, check that:

  • Dates use the YYYY-MM-DD format.
  • Amounts are positive numbers of at least 0.01.
  • Account codes exist and are active for the client.
  • expenseAccountCode is an expense account.
  • liabilityAccountCode is an eligible liability account.
  • The CSV contains no more than 500 data rows.

|💡 Note: Bulk import does not currently support Xero tracking categories or QuickBooks classes. These can be added separately in Briefcase after importing.

Uploading the same CSV more than once will create another set of accrued expenses, so check that the previous import has completed before uploading it again.