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This article applies to:

  • Product: Accounting CS,Accounting CS Client Access
  • Subject: Import

Export payroll journal entries

Accounting CS Client Access enables you to create export files (XML or IIF) with transactions for payroll and vendor liabilities, which you can then import into other applications, including QuickBooks Pro.
When creating these files, you have the option to specify a range of entries to include in the file and to specify file-creation preferences.

Special information for your QuickBooks client data

When you use the Export Transactions screen to export transactions, Accounting CS creates the following export files.
  • QBTrans.<client ID>PRD<end date selected on export> –
     includes detailed information on payroll checks and vendor payments based on options selected for export.
  • QBTrans.<client ID>PRS<end date selected on export> –
     includes summary information on payroll checks (P89 entry) and impound liabilities based on options selected for export.
  • QBChart.<client ID><end date selected on export> –
     includes the Accounting CS Chart of Accounts.
If you are importing your Chart of Accounts, first import data from the
QBChart.<client ID><end date selected on export>
 file, then depending on the other information you exported import data from either or both of the other 2 files.
note
The application matches accounts based on the account description. QuickBooks limits the account description to 31 characters, while Accounting CS allows up to 120 characters. When you import data from the Chart of Accounts IIF file, the application truncates the account description to meet the 31-character limit. When you import data from the payroll journal entries IIF file, the application doesn’t truncate account descriptions. Therefore, it is unable to match the account description to an existing account, and it creates a new (duplicate) bank account for each account it doesn’t recognize. If this happens, we recommend that you change the account descriptions in Accounting CS (using 31 or fewer characters) and then recreate the IIF files.

Create the export file in Accounting CS

  1. Select
    File
    Export
    Transactions
    .
  2. Mark the
    Payroll journal entries
     checkbox, if it is not already marked, then select the
    Options
     button.
  3. In the
    Export Options
     window, note the location to which the export file will be saved. You can't change this location.
  4. In the Dates section, specify the date range for the transactions you want to export.
  5. In the File Creation section, mark the checkboxes, then select
    OK
     to save these options.
  6. In the
    Export Transactions
     screen, mark the checkbox for each client for which you want to export payroll journal entry transactions.
  7. If necessary, select the
    Client Options
     button next to a client in the grid to open the
    Client Options
     window, where you can verify the application to which you are exporting, change the details to include in the file, and update the references for each type of entry for that client.
  8. Select the
    Export
     button to create the files in the default folder location; from there you can import them into another application or send them via email.
    note
    The export file is named
    Trans.<CLIENT> - PR<MMDDYY>.xml
    , where
    <CLIENT>
     represents the ID of the client in Accounting CS and
    PR<MMDDYY>
     represents the payroll period end date specified in the export date range. If the
    Include client name in the file name
     checkbox is marked in the
    Export Options
     window, the export file is named
    Trans.<CLIENTNAME> - <CLIENT> - PR<MMDDYY>.xml
    .

Import data into QuickBooks

  1. In QuickBooks, select
    File
    Utilities
    Import
    IIF Files
    .
  2. In the
    Import
     window, select the IIF file to import, then select the
    Open
     button.
  3. QuickBooks displays a prompt stating that the data has been imported. Select
    OK
    .

Troubleshooting

The following situations may cause errors during the export and/or subsequent import of payroll journal entries.
  • One or more accounts in Accounting CS use the same description as QuickBooks, but the account type in Accounting CS is different than the type in QuickBooks.
  • QuickBooks doesn't recognize the accounts used for the exported transactions because the Accounting CS account numbers don’t match the QuickBooks accounts. To prevent this from happening, we recommend that you either import the Chart of Accounts IIF file before importing the transactions, or that you manually add the accounts in QuickBooks.
  • The account description for QuickBooks transactions doesn’t match the account description in Accounting CS. Because QuickBooks doesn't require account numbers (only account descriptions), the descriptions must match exactly for the transactions to import correctly.
Export QuickBooks data with accounts and subaccounts
You use a handful of accounts for which the main account type is
Insurance Expense
, and you use a subaccount for each type of insurance. In this example, we’ll use
Insurance Expense General
 as the account and subaccount.
When you imported the QuickBooks data into Accounting CS, it created the following accounts:
  • Insurance Expense
  • Insurance Expense:General
     (no spaces around the colon)
In the IIF file, any transactions posted to the main account are listed as an Insurance Expense, while transactions posted to the subaccount are listed as
Insurance Expense:General
.
To ensure that these transactions are posted correctly in QuickBooks, the descriptions must match exactly. If the descriptions don't match, the application creates a new account (using the Accounting CS description contained in the IIF file) in QuickBooks during the import.

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