Moving a factory's books from Pastel, Sage or Xero
How a manufacturer moves its books from Pastel, Sage or Xero by export and import while the direct connections wait, reconciles to the cent and cuts over.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Manufacturing businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A factory that has run on Pastel or Sage for fifteen years has more than a ledger to move. It has a chart of accounts that grew line by line, hundreds of customers and suppliers, a stock valuation the auditor has accepted for years, a plant register, and a bookkeeper who knows every quirk of the old system. Moving all that is a project, and the worst outcome is not a slow move; it is a quick move that leaves opening balances nobody can explain.
Achekam lists direct connections to Xero, Sage Business Cloud and Sage 50/Pastel, but none of them works yet. This article explains why, and how to move a manufacturer's books today by export and import, with a reconciliation that has to agree to the cent and a second person approving the cut-over.
The connectors listed and why they wait
Xero, Sage Business Cloud and Sage 50/Pastel connections appear in the list of ways to move in. None of them works until the app registrations it needs are in place, and for Pastel a signed agent as well. So, for now, treat them as labelled for the future and plan your move around files.
That is not a disadvantage. A file-based move makes you look at what you are bringing across, which is exactly where old systems hide problems: inactive customers, duplicate suppliers, suspense accounts and stock adjustments that were never cleared.
Exporting from the old package
Choose your cut-over date first. A financial year end is cleanest; a month end works if the old package's books for that month are fully closed and reconciled. Then export, as at that date:
| Export | What to check before you import |
|---|---|
| Chart of accounts | Remove accounts with no balance and no use; agree new names for anything unclear |
| Customer list | Remove inactive customers; check names, tax numbers and contact details |
| Supplier list | Merge duplicates; check names and VAT or tax numbers |
| Trial balance at the cut-over date | Debits equal credits; agrees with the signed-off accounts or the latest management accounts |
| Debtors and creditors age analyses | Totals agree with the control accounts in the trial balance |
| Stock valuation | Agrees with the inventory account |
| Fixed-asset register | Cost and accumulated depreciation agree with the trial balance |
Do the clean-up in the old system or in the exported spreadsheet before import, not afterwards. Investopedia's explanation of the trial balance covers the listing of ledger balances used to check that total debits equal total credits; at the cut-over date it is the single document everything else must agree with.
Importing accounts, customers, suppliers and balances
A business can bring its accounts, customers, suppliers and an opening-balance journal into Achekam from CSV or Excel. If your accountant is on Achekam, the firm can run the move from the Migration Centre ("Move to Achekam" under Settings), bringing a client's ledger in from the client's exported CSV or Excel files.
The migration runs in named steps: connect the source, choose the company, choose the periods and depth, analyse, map, reconcile, preview, import, verify and cut over. If something goes wrong, a migration can be rolled back with a reason. The map step is where your old account codes are tied to the accounts in Achekam, and it is worth doing slowly with the trial balance beside you.
Two manufacturing items need extra care:
- Stock. Opening quantities entered on products in the Item Master do not post to the general ledger. The value of raw materials, work in progress and finished goods at cut-over comes in through the opening-balance journal, against the inventory accounts, not through product quantities. Bring both across, and check they tell the same story.
- Plant and machinery. The opening-balance journal carries the totals; the fixed-asset register needs the individual machines. Achekam's register lets you add assets at cost and depreciate them monthly by straight line or reducing balance. Agree with your accountant how each machine's cost and depreciation to date is set up so the register agrees with the ledger.
Reconciling to the cent
The move reconciles to the cent before anyone can approve the cut-over. Every account's opening balance in Achekam must equal the old trial balance at the cut-over date, and the customer and supplier balances must add up to their control accounts.
Differences will appear: a rounding difference on a foreign-currency supplier, a customer with a credit balance the old system netted off, an account that was mapped to the wrong place. Each difference has to be explained, and then approved by someone who is neither the person who prepared the migration nor the person who explained the difference. That rule feels slow on the day. It is the reason you can trust the opening balances a year later.
A cut-over, in words
A packaging manufacturer moves at its financial year end. The bookkeeper exports the chart, customers, suppliers and trial balance from Pastel, merges duplicate suppliers, and imports the files. The reconciliation shows a small difference on the inventory account, explained by a stock adjustment posted in the old system after the valuation was printed. The bookkeeper documents it, the financial manager explains the adjustment, and the external accountant, who did neither, approves the explanation. Only then is the cut-over approved.
A second person approves the cut-over
The final step is the cut-over itself, and a second person approves it. Choose that person deliberately: the owner, a director or your external accountant, someone senior enough to ask awkward questions and independent of the hands-on work. Give them the old trial balance, the reconciliation and the list of explained differences.
After cut-over, run the first month in Achekam alongside a final check of the old system for late postings, then archive the old company as read-only. How a spreadsheet-run business makes the same move is covered in moving the books off spreadsheets, and how an accounting firm runs a client's migration in migrating a client's ledger.
Planning the move
Pick the cut-over date, list the exports above, and book time with your accountant for the mapping and the reconciliation. Clean up customers, suppliers and suspense accounts in the old system first. Then import, reconcile to the cent, and let someone independent approve the switch.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
