Sage Accounting Conversion Process

Do not amend or delete converted transactions

If a historic balance must change please create a new adjusting journal, customer/supplier invoice, customer/supplier return or bank transaction to achieve the desired adjustment.

The 2 main reasons for this is the following:

• • The Sage Accounting API currently does not allow bank statement lines to be imported and reconciled. Thus we create direct bank transactions during conversion. If these are deleted they are gone, it will not appear as unreconciled transactions in Sage Accounting.

• In certain scenarios (because of system differences) we have to use suspense accounts to get the data across to Sage Accounting. Deleting or amending these transactions causes the suspense account to go out of balance.

Foreign currency transactions

We are currently unable to convert foreign currency transactions, all foreign currency transactions will be converted using the base currency as standard. This means that you will need to adjust the balances of foreign currency bank accounts and foreign currency customers and suppliers.

We advise you to do the following:
Bank accounts: Create a new bank account using the correct applicable currency. Transfer the balance of the converted bank account to the newly created foreign currency bank account by using the correct currency ratio. NB remember to make sure the balance in Sage Accounting of the new foreign currency bank account reconciles to the physical bank statement.

Contacts: Create a new (foreign currency) contact account. You will now need to move the balance of the converted contact to the newly created foreign currency contact. You can do this by creating an Invoice/Bill/Credit note to a suspense account for the entire balance of the base currency contact. Then you need to move the balance of the suspense account again to the newly created foreign currency contact. You can do this by creating an Invoice/Bill/Credit note to a suspense account for the entire balance in the required currency using the appropriate currency rate contact.

VAT reporting (mid VAT period conversions)

Due to certain workarounds used the VAT report in Sage Accounting may not reflect correctly as it was in the previous system. Custom VAT rates in the previous accounting system, different transaction reporting and tax effective date in the previous system and transactions with different debit an or credit dates in the previous system are the most common causes for this.

If you converted mid VAT period simply generate the VAT report in the previous system for the converted transactions, then generate the VAT report in Sage Accounting for transactions processed post-conversion. Simply add the two reports together to calculate final details for VAT submission. This will only need to be done for the first VAT submission in Sage Accounting, going forward only the VAT report in Sage Accounting will be used for VAT submission purposes.

Also, note due to differences in rounding treatment between systems we may need to create a separate line item on documents that will represent the VAT movement for specific line items when these differences in rounding treatment occur.

Sage Accounting limits

Please note the following Sage recommended limits for Sage Accounting:

• 3 000 Customers;
• 3 000 Suppliers;
• 5 000 Items;
• 1 000 Customer Invoices per month;
• 1 000 Supplier Invoices per month; and
• 2 000 Bank Transactions per month.

Note we are still able to do conversions exceeding the above but do not provide the 2 business day guarantee in these cases.

Conversion data retention

All conversion-related data and workings are deleted 30 days after conversion completion. This is to ensure the security of our clients’ data and we can therefore unfortunately not comment on detailed system movements of the previous system after this 30 day window period.

Non-12-month financial periods

If one of the detail financial periods to be converted is not 12 months you will need to inform us. It can lead to balance issues and require manual intervention from Cloud Convert. Also please note that depending on the scope of the adjustments required, this may incur additional costs.

General ledger Accounts

Distinct system differences:

Sage Accounting does not allow account numbers to be added to general ledger accounts; whereas with most other accounting software it is compulsory.

General ledger account fields that will be converted:

• Account number (will be combined with account name);
• Account name (will be combined with number name);
• Account default tax rate (mapped to default Sage Accounting VAT rates); and
• Account type.

2 Types of accounts will be created in Sage Accounting:

• • Bank Accounts: The general ledger account number and general ledger account name will be converted to the account name field in Sage Accounting. Example: Bank account “8500/002” (general ledger account number) “ABSA current account” (general ledger account name) will be converted to Sage Accounting as a bank account with “8500/002 : ABSA current account” as the account name. Note: the actual banking institution is a required field in Sage Accounting and will be created as “Unknown” during the conversion.

• Other general ledger accounts: The general ledger account number and general ledger account name will be converted to the account name field in Sage Accounting. Example: account “7500/001” (general ledger account number) “LB Personal loan” (general ledger account name) will be converted to Sage Accounting as a general ledger account with “7500/001 : LB Personal loan” as the account name.

Customer and Supplier Accounts

Distinct system differences:

Sage Accounting does not allow account numbers to be added to customer and supplier accounts; whereas with most other accounting software it is compulsory.

Customer and Supplier account fields that will be converted:

• • Customer/Supplier account number (will be combined with account name);
  • Customer/Supplier account name (will be combined with number name);
  • Customer/Supplier First name (will be combined with Last name);
  • Customer/Supplier Last name (will be combined with First name);
  • Customer/Supplier Postal address line 1;
  • Customer/Supplier Postal address line 2;
  • Customer/Supplier Postal address line 3;
  • Customer/Supplier Postal address line 4;
  • Customer/Supplier Postal address postal code;
  • Customer/Supplier Physical address line 1;
  • Customer/Supplier Physical address line 2;
  • Customer/Supplier Physical address line 3;
  • Customer/Supplier Physical address line 4;
  • Customer/Supplier Physical address code;
  • Customer/Supplier Phone number;
  • Customer/Supplier Mobile number;
  • Customer/Supplier Fax number;
  • Customer/Supplier Email address;
  • Customer/Supplier Tax number; and
  • Customer/Supplier Categories.*

* Pastel Conversions Only

Inventory Items

Distinct system differences:

During conversion, the first selling price will be stored to the VAT exclusive selling preset price in Sage Accounting.

Inventory Item fields that will be converted:

• • • Item code;
    • Item description;
    • Item selling price 1 (VAT exclusive);
    • Item selling price 1 (VAT inclusive); *
    • Item type (physical or service) *
    • Item opening balance quantity; *
    • Item opening balance value *
    • Item category *
    • Item Pricelist 1 – 10 (VAT exclusive and VAT inclusive) *

* Pastel Conversions Only

General ledger, Customers and suppliers opening balances

Distinct system differences:

Sage Accounting does not allow system account opening balances to be set via the API. The following workarounds will be used to set the required system account opening balances on conversion date:

• • The customer and supplier opening balances will be set by creating invoices/credit notes for each customer/supplier balance on take-on balance date;

• • The VAT control account opening balance will be created via a 100% VAT manual journal on conversion take-on balance date; and

• The retained earnings account opening balance will be set via the creation of a manual journal against a conversion expense account on the last day of the previous financial year.

All other general ledger account balances will be set on conversion opening balance date.

Note: no inventory item opening quantities and values will be converted, this will need to be added post-conversion.

Distinct system differences:

1 – Conversion suspense accounts:

The main goal of the transaction phase is to mirror the general ledger movements in Sage Accounting. Therefore in the scenario where a single transaction has different debit/credit movement dates, different transaction types are bundled together with a single transaction code, or because of system differences, a conversion suspense account is used to get the transaction movements across during conversion.  

For example:

Sage Pastel transaction:

Sage Accounting transactions during conversion:

In the above example, you will see the total movements against the conversion account add up to ZERO. The net result for the general ledger post-conversion is the same.

2 – VAT account adjustments

Sage Accounting does not allow the system account “VAT Payable” to be used as an account in transactions or adjusting journals. When adjustments on the VAT Payable account are required, the conversion suspense account will be used with a 100% VAT adjustment. The end result is a 100% movement on the “VAT Payable” account with no effect on the conversion suspense account.

3 – Retained Income adjustments

Sage Accounting does not allow the system account “Retained income” to be used as an account in transactions or adjusting journals.

When adjustments on the Retained Income account are required an adjusting journal entry will be created in the prior year against the conversion expense suspense account. The end result is a movement on the “Retained earnings” account in the current year.

The following transaction types will be created in Sage Accounting:

• • Customer invoices;

• • Supplier invoices;

• • Customer return;

• • Supplier return;

• • Adjusting journal entries;

• • Bank transaction: Spend money account;

• • Bank transaction: Receive money account;

• • Bank transaction: Pay Supplier;

• • Bank transaction: Receive Customer; and

• Customer/Supplier Allocations.

Customer invoices

Note: all debit movements against customer accounts will be converted as customer invoices.

The following fields will be converted to Sage Accounting:

Invoice lines:     

• • General ledger account;                        

• • Line description;                        

• • Quantity = 1;

• • Line item total = unit Price;

• • Line VAT; and

• Line VAT type.            

Invoice details:

• • Due date = invoice date plus 30 days as standard;

• • Invoice date;

• • Customer;

• • Customer Delivery address;

• • Customer Postal address; and

• Document number. *

* If document number is not unique (duplicates in the previous system) OR document does not end with a numeric number (Sage Accounting requirement), a five digit random number will be added to document number.

Supplier invoices

Note: all credit movements against supplier accounts will be converted as customer invoices.

The following fields will be converted to Sage Accounting:

Invoice lines:

• • General ledger account;                        

• • Line description;                        

• • Quantity = 1;

• • Line item total = unit Price;

• • Line VAT; and

• Line VAT type.            

Invoice details:

• • Due date = invoice date plus 30 days as standard;,

• • Invoice date;

• • Supplier;

• • Supplier Delivery address;

• • Supplier Postal address; and

• Document number. *

* If document number is not unique (duplicates in the previous system) OR document does not end with a numeric number (Sage Accounting requirement), a five digit random number will be added to document number.

Customer returns

Customer returns will be created when the following conditions occur:

• • Credit movement against a customer; and

• No bank account debit movement with the identical transaction ID and transaction date.

The following fields will be converted to Sage Accounting:

Return lines:   

• • General ledger account;                        

• • Line description;                        

• • Quantity = 1;

• • Line item total = unit Price;

• • Line VAT; and

• Line VAT type.            

Return details:

• • Return date;

• • Customer;

• • Customer Delivery address;

• • Customer Postal address; and

• Document number. *

* If document number is not unique (duplicates in the previous system) OR document does not end with a numeric number (Sage Accounting requirement), a five digit random number will be added to document number.

Supplier returns

Supplier returns will be created when the following conditions occur:

• • Debit movement against a supplier; and

• No bank account credit movement with the identical transaction ID and transaction date.

The following fields will be converted to Sage Accounting:

Return lines:

• • General ledger account;                        

• • Line description;                        

• • Quantity = 1;

• • Line item total = unit Price;

• • Line VAT; and

• Line VAT type.            

Return details:

• • Return date;

• • Supplier;

• • Supplier Delivery address;

• • Supplier Postal address; and

• Document number. *

* If document number is not unique (duplicates in the previous system) OR document does not end with a numeric number (Sage Accounting requirement) then 5 digit random number will be added to document number.

Adjusting Journal entries

Sage Accounting only allows one-legged journal entries. This means that only one debit and one credit movement per adjusting journal entry, as well as only allowing a VAT movement on one of the movements (either the debit or credit movement). Therefore a conversion suspense account is used to get the transaction movements across during conversion.  

For example:

Previous system adjusting journal:

Sage Accounting transactions during conversion:

In the above example, you will see the total movements against the conversion account adds up to ZERO. The net result for the general ledger post-conversion is the same.

The following fields will be converted to Sage Accounting:

• • Line Total;

• • Line Date;

• • Line VAT Type;

• • Line VAT total;

• • Line Description; and

• Line Reference.

Bank transactions

Three types of bank transactions will be created during conversion:

• • General ledger bank transactions;

• • Supplier Payments; and

• Customer Receipts.

Each bank transaction type will be created when the following conditions occur (Transaction ID and date have to match in all instances):

1. General ledger bank transactions

• • Debit movement on bank account = receive money bank transaction OR Credit movement on bank account = spend money bank transaction; and

• Movements on general ledger accounts.

2. Supplier payments

• • Credit movement on the bank account; and

• Debit movement on Supplier account.

3. Customer Receipts

• • Debit movement on the bank account; and

• Credit movement on the Customer account.

The following fields will be converted to Sage Accounting:

Bank transaction lines:

• • General ledger account/Supplier/Customer;

• • Line VAT type;

• • Line VAT total;

• • Line type: Account/Customer/Supplier;

• • Line total amount;

• • Line Description; and

• Line reference.

Bank transaction details:

• • Bank account ID;

• • Bank transaction date;

• • Bank transaction reference;

• • Bank transaction description;

• • Bank transaction Total (Total > 0 = receive transaction; Total < 0 Spend transaction);

• • Bank transaction description;

• • Accepted = true;

• • Reconciled = true; and

• Payee = “Bank Transaction”.

Customer/Supplier Allocations

Customer and supplier allocations will be done on a FIFO basis excluding open invoices as per the previous system. This will result in a similar customer and supplier age analysis post-conversion.

Note in cases where open customer/supplier invoice data is corrupt the FIFO method will be used on all invoices for the applicable customer or supplier.

The following fields will be converted to Sage Accounting:        

• • Allocated to document ID (Invoices);

• • Source document ID (Customer receipt / Supplier Payment / Customer return / Supplier return); and

• Allocation total.