Migrating to nunia: taking over the trial balance from the accounts
As at: · fastview ag, Suhr
Professionally responsible: Marco Zanetti and Reto Ackermann, fiduciaries and auditors, fastview ag
nunia takes over the closing from the trial balance. If you have prepared the closing in spreadsheets or in another program so far, you export the trial balance from the client’s accounts and read it into nunia. This page is the guide for all programs; what is additionally important for exports from Abacus, Banana, Sage and bexio is in the section per program.
- ProgramTrial balance from AbacusWhat nunia looks out for in exports from Abacus.
- ProgramTrial balance from BananaWhat nunia looks out for in exports from Banana.
- ProgramTrial balance from SageWhat nunia looks out for in exports from Sage.
- ProgramTrial balance from bexioWhat nunia looks out for in exports from bexio.
Before you start: what you need from the accounts
nunia is not a bookkeeping system. The client’s accounts stay in the existing program; nunia takes over the closing from the trial balance (also called balance list or trial balance sheet). Export one trial balance per financial year as at the balance sheet date with these columns:
- account number and account name,
- balance, or debit and credit separately,
- all balance sheet and income statement accounts, after the closing entries.
How the export is created in the respective program is described in its documentation. nunia accepts the file in these formats:
| Format | What nunia does with it |
|---|---|
| Excel (.xlsx) | If the workbook has several sheets, you choose the worksheet. |
| CSV | Read as UTF-8, otherwise as Windows-1252, so that umlauts from older exports are correct. |
| nunia reads the text layer in the browser and takes over the printed digits unchanged. Only for a PDF without a text layer, such as a scan, does AI text recognition transcribe it (up to 60 pages per file). |
Step by step in nunia
- Create the engagement. Under “Create engagement” you enter the company, legal form, domicile and engagement lead. In the master data you choose the scope of the engagement and the financial year. The workspace with engagements, tasks and deadlines is shown in the tutorial video “Welcome to nunia – your workspace”.
- Drag the file. In the sidebar under “Preparation” you open “Data import and mapping”. The year overview shows one row per financial year; drag the trial balance into the field of the year.
- Confirm type, year and columns. nunia asks whether the type and year of the file are correct and shows the number of accounts detected. Under “Check columns” you see how account number, name and balance were read and switch a column if necessary – for PDF exactly as for Excel. If nunia detects no accounts, you assign the columns yourself; without account numbers nunia imports nothing.
- Map the accounts. nunia assigns each account to a balance sheet or income statement item according to the SME chart of accounts. If the chart of accounts differs, tick the box and nunia maps by account name. You change a mapping via the selection field or by dragging the account to another item; nunia remembers the correction for this client.
- Check and approve the balance sheet. Assets and liabilities must be equal, and the profit per the balance sheet must match the profit per the income statement. Rounding differences up to 50 centimes count as rounding; larger differences are shown openly by nunia instead of being smoothed over. With the mapping approval, the basis for the financial statements is set.
- Prior year and further years. You create the prior year as a separate financial year and import it straight away; nunia does not take over the prior-year column of the current file. You drag several years into the year overview at once; nunia proposes the year per file from the file name and saves only after your confirmation.
- Optional: account statements. In the “Account statements” column you upload account sheets or journals as CSV, Excel or PDF. nunia reconciles opening balance plus movements with the trial balance per account and shows additions, disposals and depreciation individually in the fixed asset movement schedule.
You then prepare the financial statements under the CO. The whole process is shown in the tutorial video “Importing data”.
Particularities per program
The import rules apply equally to all files; nunia has no program-specific settings. The import test series contains real trial balances from several Swiss accounting programs, including exports from Abacus, Banana, Sage and bexio. Depending on the program, these rules are particularly important. How the export is created in the respective program is described in its documentation.
Trial balance from Abacus
- Group and subtotals: account numbers in nunia have at least four digits. nunia never counts shorter numbers, such as group or level totals in a report, as accounts.
- Account statements as PDF: for the fixed asset movement schedule and account movements, nunia also reads account statements in addition to the trial balance. Recognised are, among others, a journal with the account number per line and an account sheet with the account as block heading and opening balance. If a line does not match the running balance, nunia reports this per account.
- Scans: if the trial balance is only available as a scanned PDF, AI text recognition transcribes the figures and recalculates printed subtotals; deviating blocks are reported, not silently adjusted.
More on the workflow with Abacus as the accounting system and nunia for the closing: Financial statements from the Abacus trial balance.
Trial balance from Banana
- Trial balance: you take over the trial balance as Excel, CSV or PDF with a text layer. It is important that each line contains an account number, a name and a balance or debit and credit.
- Account details as PDF: for the fixed asset movement schedule and account movements, nunia also reads printed account details. Recognised are account headers in the form “number currency name” without a preceding “Account” and opening balances with a preceding date, also with a two-digit year.
- Long files: nunia reads account details with many pages locally from the text layer. The limit of 60 pages applies only to AI text recognition of scanned files.
Trial balance from Sage
- Total lines: lines that begin with “Total” and carry a group number in the account column are skipped by nunia in all paths: in automatic reading, in manual column assignment (with a note) and in the PDF text reader.
- Accounts with a suffix: account numbers with a suffix, such as 1500-1 or 1500.1, are read by nunia as separate accounts instead of being discarded.
- Differences: if a file contains a real difference between the printed result and the sum of balances, nunia shows it. Above 50 centimes a difference counts as real and is not smoothed over.
Trial balance from bexio
- Group levels with their own number: if an export lists group levels as separate four-digit numbers above the accounts (such as a group line 1020 above the accounts 10200 ff.), these totals would be counted twice. nunia removes a shorter prefix number only if the sum of balances thereby moves closer to zero; real accounts are kept.
- Running line numbers: if the file contains a column with consecutive numbering 1, 2, 3 …, nunia never chooses this column as the account number.
- Chart of accounts: if the chart of accounts follows the SME chart of accounts, nunia maps by account number; otherwise tick the box for a different chart of accounts and nunia maps by name.
More on the workflow with bexio at the client, including duplicate lines in the export: Financial statements from the bexio trial balance.
From Aumico or another closing program
If you have prepared the closing in another program for financial statements so far, such as Aumico, you take the same route: import the trial balance of the reporting year and the prior year from the client’s accounts, file earlier documents in the permanent file. There is no transfer of files from the previous closing program. The steps are described in From Aumico to nunia.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to change my accounting software to use nunia?
No. nunia is not a bookkeeping system. The accounts stay in the existing program; nunia takes over the closing from the exported trial balance.
Is there an interface to Abacus, Banana, Sage or bexio?
bexio is connected directly (connection via sign-in with bexio, retrieval of trial balance and account statements per financial year). From Abacus, Banana, Sage and all other programs, nunia reads the trial balance from an exported file as Excel, CSV or PDF; further direct interfaces, including Abacus, Topal and Infoniqa, are in preparation. You continue to keep the accounts in the existing program.
Can I import several years at once?
Yes. In the year overview you drag the files of several years in at the same time. nunia proposes the year per file from the file name and saves only after your confirmation.
What happens if the trial balance does not balance?
nunia shows the difference openly. Rounding differences up to 50 centimes count as rounding; larger differences are not smoothed over, and you clarify them before the mapping approval.
Does nunia use AI during import?
Only for a PDF without a text layer, such as a scan. nunia reads Excel, CSV and PDF with a text layer without AI; the printed digits are taken over unchanged.
Are group and total lines counted twice?
No. nunia never counts numbers with fewer than four digits as accounts, skips numbered “Total” lines, and removes group levels with their own number only if the sum of balances thereby moves closer to zero. Real accounts are kept.
Do I have to redo the account mapping every year?
No. nunia remembers corrections to the mapping per client and applies them again on every later import, regardless of the financial year.
Try nunia
The system tour shows nunia with sample clients and sample figures, no registration required. For questions about your firm, book an online demo.