Moving from AutoCount

Start with a cut-off date

AutoCount and Faas both keep double-entry books, so the move is mostly about carrying the balances on one day across, not about rebuilding your history. AutoCount calls customers debtors and suppliers creditors, so look for debtor and creditor reports.

Pick one date, called the cut-off date. Everything up to and including that day stays in AutoCount as your history. Everything after it is recorded in Faas. You do not bring across every old transaction: you bring across what stands on the cut-off date, and then check that it agrees.

The end of your financial year is the easiest cut-off, because the year's profit has just been closed off. The end of any month also works. Talk to your accountant before you choose, and stop recording in AutoCount for dates after the cut-off once you start in Faas.

What to export from AutoCount

Run each of these as at the cut-off date, and save it as Excel or CSV where the report offers it (a PDF is fine for the ones you only read from). Keep a copy of every file: they are your record of what was brought across.

• Trial Balance as at the cut-off date. The list of every account and its balance. It is the checklist for the whole move.
• Chart of accounts listing. Your accounts with their codes, to compare with the Faas chart.
• Debtor listing and creditor listing. Name, contact details, registration number, TIN and SST number. In the Faas Contacts file, debtors are customers and creditors are suppliers.
• Debtor ageing as at the cut-off date. Each customer invoice still unpaid, with its number, date and amount outstanding, plus any deposits or payments not yet applied to an invoice. Choose the detailed version that lists documents, not only debtor totals. The Faas Opening receivables import reads a "Debtor" column as the customer.
• Creditor ageing as at the cut-off date. Each supplier bill still unpaid. You enter its total in Faas and keep the list for reference.
• Bank balances. The closing balance on the bank statement for each account on the cut-off date, and your bank reconciliation as at that date.

Where each file goes in Faas

Faas takes the files in Full Mode, mostly under Accounting. The import page reads a CSV, shows a preview, and writes nothing until you press Import. Each import type has a template you can download, and the columns also accept common names such as "Debtor", "Outstanding" or "Doc No".

• Chart of accounts goes to Accounting, Chart of Accounts. Faas starts with a Malaysian SME chart. Compare it with your list and add any account you need, by hand. There is no file import for accounts, and you rarely need more than a handful.
• Customers and suppliers go to Accounting, Import, type Contacts. One row per contact, with its type (customer, supplier or both), email, phone, registration number, TIN and SST number.
• Bank balances go to Bank, Accounts. Add each bank account and set its opening balance: the statement balance at the end of the cut-off date, with the day your books begin in Faas (the day after the cut-off) as its date.
• Open customer invoices, and customer deposits not yet used, go to Accounting, Import, type Opening receivables. One row per open item: date, number, customer and the amount still outstanding. A negative amount is money the customer has paid you in advance.
• Every other balance from the trial balance goes to Accounting, Opening Balances: assets, what you owe suppliers, loans, SST payable, capital and retained earnings.
• Documents dated after the cut-off, if you kept working in AutoCount for a few days, go to Accounting, Import as Invoices, Bills, Receipts or Supplier payments. Invoices, quotations, credit notes and bills printed as PDF can also be read by the import page's PDF reader.

The order to bring it in

The order matters, because each step leans on the one before it.

1. Chart of accounts. Add the accounts you need, so every balance has somewhere to go.
2. Contacts. Import customers and suppliers, so open invoices can find their customer.
3. Bank accounts. Add each one with its opening balance from the statement, dated the day your books begin in Faas.
4. Opening receivables. Import the open customer invoices and unused deposits. Their total becomes Accounts Receivable, so leave Accounts Receivable empty on the Opening Balances page.
5. Opening balances. Enter every other balance from the trial balance, as at the cut-off date.
6. Check. Compare the Faas Trial Balance with the old one, as described below, before you record anything new.

Unpaid supplier bills

Faas brings open customer invoices across one by one. It does not yet do the same for supplier bills. Enter the Accounts Payable total from your trial balance on the Opening Balances page, and keep the creditor ageing report from AutoCount as your list of who you owe and when. When you pay one of those bills, your accountant can record it against Accounts Payable.

New bills dated after the cut-off are entered or imported in Faas as usual, and are tracked one by one.

Check the trial balance matches

This is the step that tells you the move worked. In Faas, open the Trial Balance report and set it as at the day your books begin (the day after the cut-off), before anything dated that day is recorded, so it includes the bank opening balances. Put it next to the Trial Balance as at the cut-off date from AutoCount and compare them account by account.

• Bank in Faas equals the bank statement balance at the end of the cut-off date.
• Accounts Receivable equals the total of the debtor ageing report.
• Accounts Payable, loans, SST and every other balance sheet account equal the old trial balance.
• Retained Earnings in Faas equals the old retained earnings plus this year's profit up to the cut-off.
• Opening Balance Equity is zero. If it is not, something was missed or entered twice.

Credits are shown as negative amounts. Retained earnings of RM 7,500.00 plus the year's profit of RM 3,250.00 is RM 10,750.00, which is what Faas shows. Every other line agrees, and Opening Balance Equity is zero, so the move is complete.

If the bank figure in the old trial balance differs from the statement because of cheques or deposits that had not cleared, ask your accountant how to bring those items across before you compare.

After the move

AutoCount runs on your own computer or server, so make the exports before you retire it, and keep the AutoCount backup somewhere safe as well as the exported files.

• Tax codes. Faas starts with the current SST codes. Your old system may use different code names, so match them by rate and by what they apply to, not by name. Confirm the rates with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department or your accountant.
• Run both for a month if you like. Record in Faas and compare a month of figures with AutoCount before you stop using it.
• Keep your old records. Do not delete anything. Your history before the cut-off stays in AutoCount and in the files you exported. Ask your accountant how long to keep them.

The Switching to Faas page has the short version, and the guide to bank reconciliation helps with the first month.