Move a limited company from Sage Accounting by uploading reports you export from Sage. Briefcase Ledger takes over on your start date, with the balances, last year's history, unpaid invoices and bills, and customers brought across.
Moving from Sage 50, the desktop software? Follow Moving to Briefcase Ledger from Sage 50, FreeAgent or a spreadsheet instead.
Before you start
Choose the start date. For a VAT-registered company, it's the day after the last VAT period Sage files. If Sage files the quarter to 30 June, Briefcase Ledger starts on 1 July. Run every report as at the day before the start date.
VAT: Briefcase Ledger supports standard (accrual) VAT accounting. A company on the cash accounting scheme or the Flat Rate Scheme can't be imported yet.
Permission: you need Financial Close → Create.
What to export from Sage Accounting
Report | Where to find it | How to run it |
|---|---|---|
Trial Balance (required) | Reports → All reports → Trial Balance, then Try the new report | As Of the day before the start date. Export as CSV or Excel. |
Audit Trail | Reports → All reports → Audit Trail | Choose Detailed. Set the period to Custom, from the first day of last financial year to the day before the start date. Under More, set Status to Exclude deleted. Export as CSV. |
Customers | Contacts → Customers | Select the arrow next to New customer, then Export all. |
Aged Debtors and Aged Creditors | Reports → All reports | Set the date to the day before the start date, select Calculate, then Detailed. Export each as CSV. |
Only the trial balance is required. The Audit Trail brings in last year's history, so monthly reports and comparatives work from day one. The aged reports bring in every invoice and bill still unpaid. Each step of the wizard shows the exact dates to use.
Sage puts each export in Notifications, the bell on its top bar. Download the file from there.
Use the new Trial Balance report. The one that opens first is Sage's old report, which can count earlier years' profit and loss in this year's figures, so Briefcase won't import it.
1. Start the import
On the dashboard, click Add client, choose Limited companies, then Import from another system. The wizard saves your progress in this browser, so you can leave and come back.
2. Company
Enter the company name and its financial year end, and choose Sage Accounting.
3. Start date
If the company is VAT registered, enter its VAT number, how often it files and when the last VAT period Sage files ends. Briefcase Ledger starts the next day, so no VAT period is split between Sage and Briefcase.
4. Trial balance
Upload the Trial Balance. Check that it says balanced, tick that it was run as at the date shown on the accrual basis, and click Continue. Sage's Profit And Loss - Prior Years line (3XXX) is earlier years' profit, and goes to Retained Earnings.
5. History (optional)
Upload the Audit Trail. Briefcase reads every transaction and checks them against the trial balance before anything is imported. A large company can export each year separately and upload both files. History doesn't affect VAT returns.
6. Accounts
Each Sage account is matched to a Briefcase Ledger account. Check anything under To check, and hover the wand to see why an account was chosen. For each bank account, enter its sort code and account number and check its statement balance.
7. Customers (optional)
Upload the customers export so you can invoice them from Briefcase straight away. Customers marked inactive in Sage are left out. You don't need suppliers: Briefcase picks them up from your bills.
8. Open invoices and bills (optional)
Upload the Aged Debtors and the Aged Creditors, both in the Detailed view. Each should show Matches Accounts Receivable or Matches Accounts Payable.
9. Review and import
Check the summary and click Import. Nothing is created until then, and you can undo the import until the company goes live. With history, posting takes a minute or two.
After the import
The company's home page shows a checklist for going live.
Clearing the unpaid invoices and bills
The invoices and bills from the aged reports come in with Sage's dates, numbers and amounts still owed, so they show on Aged Debtors and Aged Creditors.
When the payment comes through the bank feed, Briefcase suggests the matching invoice or bill. Reconcile it and the item drops off the aged report, as with any other invoice or bill.
These invoices and bills are coded to Opening Balances on purpose: their sale or cost and VAT were already recorded in Sage, and they're in the trial balance and history you imported. Don't recode them to an income or expense account, or they'll be counted twice.