A successful accounting migration is judged on one criterion only: the financial statements produced in the new software are identical to those of the old one. Same result, same balance sheet, same customer and supplier balances. Everything else (file format, tool, duration) serves that criterion. Here are the decisions to make, the checks that prove it, and how we orchestrate a migration at SynkriaOps.
The three decisions to make first
1. Which file to extract from the old software
The choice of file determines what you will find afterwards:
| File | What it brings | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| FEC | All entries, journals, matching, third parties | Whenever the old software can export it |
| General ledger (PDF, Excel, CSV) | Entry and third-party detail | When there is no FEC |
| Trial balance | Year-end balances, without detail | To start fast, without history |
With a trial balance, you start on correct balances, but you cannot look up the detail of a past entry or match an old invoice. With an FEC or a general ledger, history can be consulted as if it had been entered in the new software.
2. How many years to bring over
- One year (the last closed one) is enough to start with correct opening balances and an N-1 column in your statements.
- Two or three years let you compare trends and answer an audit without reopening the old software.
Beyond that, the benefit drops quickly: keep the old software, or its exports, as an archive.
3. When to switch
The simplest moment is the start of a fiscal year: you bring over the closed year, its balances become your opening entries, and you record the new year in a single tool.
A switch during the year is still possible: you bring over the months already recorded in the old software, then carry on. It needs a clear rule for the switch date, so that no transaction is entered twice or forgotten.
The checks that prove the migration is right
Never approve a migration on the impression that “it looks fine”. Five figure-based checks, to compare with the old software’s statements:
- Overall balance: total debits equal total credits.
- Balance per journal: every journal balances, opening journal included.
- Result for the year identical, to the franc.
- Balance sheet totals identical, assets and liabilities.
- Third-party balances: the detail per customer and per supplier equals the 411 and 401 control accounts.
Have your accountant approve these figures before entering any new transaction. An error found after months of entries is much harder to fix.
The classic traps
- The old software’s “home-made” chart of accounts: four-digit accounts, or numbers that do not exist in the SYSCOHADA chart. Each must be linked to an account of the chart, or turned into a third party.
- Third parties merged into one account: a single 411000 for all customers makes it impossible to track unpaid invoices. The per-customer detail must be recovered.
- Opening balances counted twice: a file that already contains an opening journal, imported on top of generated opening entries, doubles the balances.
- Years out of order: bringing over 2025 before 2024 breaks the chain of opening balances.
How we orchestrate it at SynkriaOps
The migration runs in a nine-step wizard, year by year, from the oldest to the most recent:
- Fiscal years: how many years to bring over, and their dates.
- Source: FEC, general ledger or trial balance, uploaded as the old software exports it.
- Reading: lines read, totals checked, lines set aside.
- Columns: the mapping between the file’s columns and the expected data, which can be saved as a template.
- Accounts: each account of the old chart linked to a SYSCOHADA account, or created as a third party.
- Journals: the journal carrying the opening balances, so they are not counted twice.
- Checks: overall balance, balance per journal, result, matching. A line in error blocks the import.
- Rebuild: what the migration will create, before creating it.
- Import: the import runs in the background; the next year’s opening entries follow once the migrated year is closed.
Three rules frame the whole process: one year at a time, at most three open years, and approval of the original trial balance by your accountant. A scanned PDF with no text is only sent to a text recognition service with your explicit consent.
The step-by-step guide for each path is in the help centre:
- accounting migration overview;
- migrate from an FEC;
- migrate from a general ledger;
- migrate from a trial balance;
- migrate the current year;
- migrate several past years.
To understand what carries over from one year to the next, also read Opening entries and balance carry-forward under SYSCOHADA.
Once the migration is done, the next step is often filing the year: see Preparing your DSF for free from your general ledger. The full presentation of the migration is on the Accounting migration page.