Moving from spreadsheets takes nine steps, in order. Accounts come first so balances have somewhere to land, and contacts come before what they owe. You can stop after any step and pick it up later.
Step 1: Pick your switch date
Choose a clean cutoff before you lay out your sheets. Everything before it stays in your spreadsheets; everything after it lives in stub. The best dates are the start of your financial year, a quarter or a month. A mid-month cutoff makes VAT returns and bank reconciliation harder than they need to be.
For example: switch date 1 Oct 2026, so your cutoff (balances as at) is 30 Sep 2026.
Then, in your spreadsheets:
- Check your bank balances against your bank statements on your cutoff date.
- File any outstanding VAT return so your tax periods don't overlap.
- Work out every balance as at your cutoff date, the day before your switch date.
Tip: Switching at the start of your financial year means you only bring across closing balances, not this year's income and expenses.
Step 2: Lay out your sheets
Each row is one sheet or file. The last column says which step it goes in.
| What | What it should look like | Where it goes in stub |
|---|---|---|
| Chart of accounts | One account per row, with columns Name, Code, Type (Income, Expense, Asset, Liability or Equity) and, if you use them, Description and Parent account. | Step 4: Settings → Finance → Chart of Accounts, then click Import below the list |
| Customers | One customer per row, with columns Name, Email, Contact person, Phone, VAT number, Registration number, Customer code, Address, City, Postal code and Country. Only Name is required. | Step 5: Customers → ··· → Import (or press I) |
| Suppliers | The same columns as customers, plus Website, in its own file or sheet. | Step 5: Suppliers → ··· → Import (or press I) |
| Products and services | One item per row, with columns Name, Description, Item code, Selling price (excl. VAT), Cost price and Quantity on hand. | Step 5: Products & Services → ··· → Import (or press I) |
| Trial Balance | A heading with the date, for example Trial Balance as at 30 September 2026, then one account per row with columns Account, Debit and Credit. Debits and credits add up to the same total. | Step 6: Settings → Finance, then Edit next to Opening balances |
| Customer and supplier balances | Balance and Balance date columns on your customer and supplier sheets: what each one owed on your cutoff date, and that date. | Step 7: each customer and supplier: ··· → Opening balance |
Tip: Put a heading row with the column names at the top of each sheet, and write amounts as plain numbers: 3450 or 850.00, not R 3 450 or 850,00. Keep notes like "deposit paid" in their own column. One workbook with a sheet for each list is fine: stub picks the sheet that matches what you're importing.
Step 3: Set up your business
- Go to Settings → Business and confirm your name, registration number and tax numbers.
- Go to Settings → Finance and set your Operating currency and Financial year start.
- If you're VAT registered, click VAT under Features on the same page and enter your VAT number, before you bring in any balances.
Note: VAT returns are included in the Growing Business plan.
Full guide: Set up your business details
Step 4: Import your chart of accounts
- Go to Settings → Finance → Chart of Accounts, then click Import below the list.
- Choose your chart of accounts sheet.
stub files each account under Income, Expenses, Assets, Liabilities or Equity and keeps your account codes. If a code is already in use, that account gets a new one, and the import summary lists it.
Full guide: Customise your Chart of Accounts
Step 5: Import customers, suppliers and products
- Go to Customers → ··· → Import (or press I) and choose your customers file.
- Go to Suppliers → ··· → Import (or press I) and choose your suppliers file.
- Go to Products & Services → ··· → Import (or press I) and choose your products file.
Item codes become SKUs, and cost prices and quantities on hand come across. Importing the same file again updates each item rather than adding a second one.
Your stock should come in once: through your items' quantities, or through the Inventory line in step 6, not both. If your items came in with quantities, you'll remove the Inventory line in step 6.
Full guide: Import your product catalogue
Step 6: Bring in your opening balances
- Go to Settings → Finance, then Edit next to Opening balances.
- Choose your Trial Balance sheet. stub says the file is uploaded and reads it in the background. To type your balances in instead, click Set manually.
- Once it's read, click Edit next to Opening balances again to open Edit opening balances.
- Check the Date is your cutoff date, the day before your switch date.
- Check each line landed on the right category, especially VAT and fixed assets. A line stub couldn't match is marked: pick its category.
- Remove the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable lines. Step 7 brings those amounts in customer by customer and supplier by supplier.
- If your items came in with quantities in step 5, remove the Inventory line too: that stock is already counted.
- Put the amount still shown as unallocated on Opening Balance Equity: add a line, or change the one you have, until the Debit and Credit totals match.
- Click Save.
Tip: If your cutoff falls part-way through your financial year, your Trial Balance also lists this year's income and expenses. Bring those lines across too, so your reports for the year are complete.
Full guide: Set your opening balances
Step 7: Add what customers and suppliers owe
Record what each customer owed you, and what you owed each supplier, on your cutoff date. Work from your Balance columns.
- Open the customer or supplier.
- Click ··· → Opening balance.
- Set the date to your cutoff date and enter the amount.
- Click Save.
If your sheet had Balance and Balance date columns, the amount is already filled in. Check it and the date, then click Save.
To chase or settle old invoices one by one, enter them in Sales (and bills in Expenses) instead, dated before your switch date. Either way, check the contact's Statement: it shows the opening balance line.
Full guide: Customer and supplier opening balances
Step 8: Connect your bank
Go to Settings → Bank Accounts, click Bank account and choose Connect to link a South African bank. For any other bank, choose Add manually, set the account's currency, and import statements from the account's own screen.
If your bank accounts came across with your chart of accounts, open each one to connect it or import statements, rather than adding it again.
Your opening balances cover everything up to your switch date, so you only need transactions from then on.
Full guide: Connect your bank account
Step 9: Check your numbers
Go to Reports in the sidebar and tick these off against what you laid out.
- Trial Balance in stub matches your old one, line for line, once step 7 is done
- Bank balances match your bank statements on your switch date
- Each customer's Statement matches what they owed you
- Each supplier's Statement matches what you owed them
- Customer, supplier and product counts match your sheets
- VAT balance matches your last VAT return