Recovering historical accounting data

By the end of this guide, you will know how to import your opening balances into SynkriaOps — through manual entry or CSV import via the AN journal (opening balances) — then verify your carry-forward before any current-period entries. This operation is performed once only, at startup, when migrating from a previous system (SAGE 100, Saari, Dunya, CIEL) or from spreadsheets.

Typical use cases

Migration from SAGE 100 or Saari Compta to SynkriaOps
Starting fresh after several years of Excel-based bookkeeping
Mid-year take-on (partial year already started in the previous system)
Change of accounting firm that held the historical data

Prerequisites before starting

Fiscal year open in SynkriaOps: go to Settings → Fiscal years and verify that a year covering your take-on date is open. See Opening a fiscal year →.
Closing trial balance from the previous system or manual bookkeeping, exported as CSV or entered in a spreadsheet with 4 columns: account number, label, debit, credit.
Verify that total debit = total credit in your source balance — this is a non-negotiable prerequisite.
All counterparties (customers, suppliers) present in the balance must already exist in SynkriaOps — their 411xxx and 401xxx sub-accounts are created when the counterparty is created.

Fundamental rule — what to carry forward and what not to

Account type	Carried forward in opening entries?	Reason
Balance-sheet accounts (classes 1–5)	Yes	Their balance rolls over from one fiscal year to the next
Counterparty accounts (411xxx, 401xxx)	Yes — with detail per counterparty	Each customer/supplier sub-account is carried forward
Expense accounts (class 6)	No	Reset to zero at the opening of each fiscal year
Revenue accounts (class 7)	No	Reset to zero at the opening of each fiscal year
Net income account (13)	Yes	Prior-year net income (`1301`/`1309`) is carried forward pending allocation

Method 1 — Enter the opening trial balance manually

Recommended if you have fewer than 50 accounts to carry forward.

Go to Accounting → Vouchers → New voucher.
Select the AN journal from the journal list.
Set the date to the first day of the fiscal year (e.g. 01/01/2026).
Add one line per account to carry forward:
- Account: SYSCOHADA number (e.g. 521001)
- Label: Opening balance 2025 — Main bank
- Debit or Credit: the balance from your source trial balance
Continue until total debit = total credit. The green banner confirms the balance.
Click Post. SynkriaOps assigns the number AN-2026-000001.

Example — partial opening trial balance (extract):

AN Opening balances as at 2026-01-01 — trial balance extract

Account	Description	Debit	Credit
101000	Share capital		5 000 000
13	Prior-year net income		1 243 750
411000025	Customer SOTRANB	890 000
401000018	Supplier CAMPU SARL		295 000
521001	Main bank	3 750 000
571001	Cash register	418 750
161000	Long-term bank loan		2 520 000
Totals Unbalanced entry		5 058 750	9 058 750 XAF

Method 2 — Import the opening trial balance as CSV

Recommended if you have more than 50 accounts, or if your balance is available as a file.

Export your trial balance from the previous system as a CSV file (comma or semicolon as separator).
Verify that the file contains these columns in order: account_number, label, debit, credit. Amounts without spaces or currency symbols (e.g. 3750000.00).
Go to Accounting → Import → Opening balance.
Select your CSV file. SynkriaOps shows a preview of the detected lines and the computed debit/credit totals.
If total debit ≠ total credit, SynkriaOps blocks the import and shows the difference. Correct the source file.
If everything is correct, click Import. The AN vouchers are created and posted automatically.

Recommended CSV format — empty columns are allowed (never debit AND credit on the same line):

account_number;label;debit;credit
101000;Share capital;;5000000.00
521001;Main bank;3750000.00;
411025;Customer SOTRANB;890000.00;

Mid-year take-on (partial fiscal year)

If you have already posted transactions in the previous system for the current fiscal year (e.g. January and February already done), you have two options:

Option A — Balances at the cut-over date
Option B — Full re-entry

Carry forward cumulative balances only at the cut-over date (e.g. 28 February). The detail of January–February transactions stays in the previous system.

Advantage: quick. Drawback: you won’t have Jan–Feb transaction details in SynkriaOps.

Verify the carry-forward after import

After the carry-forward, perform these checks before starting current transactions:

Trial balance check: go to Reports & Exports → Trial balance. The “Total” line must show Debit = Credit.
Counterparty balance check: filter the trial balance on accounts 411xxx and 401xxx. Compare the balances against your source trial balance.
General ledger by account: open the general ledger for account 521001 (Main bank) and verify that the balance exactly matches your bank statement balance at the cut-over date. See Consulting the general ledger →.
Entry test: create a current draft voucher (do not post yet) to confirm that accounts and journals are functioning correctly.

Common errors

Error	Cause	Solution
”Import blocked — debit ≠ credit”	Unbalanced source balance	Locate the missing account or amount error
”Account not found: 411025”	Customer counterparty not yet created	Create the counterparty in Counterparties & Products → Counterparties before importing
”AN journal — no fiscal year”	Fiscal year not open for the date	Create or open the fiscal year in Settings → Fiscal years
”Class-6 account 601xxx in AN”	Attempting to carry forward an expense account	Remove class 6/7 lines from your balance
”AN voucher already exists”	Duplicate import	Check existing AN vouchers and delete drafts