Importing historical dates

How to import historical data from your connected apps and post them to your accounting platform.

What are historical dates?

Bookkeep™ allows you to run/post historical data for your connected apps.  Historical dates are journal entries for dates earlier than 14 days before an entity is created.  For example, If I begin my 14 day free trial with Bookkeep on August 15th, then my historical entries begin on July 31st (15 days in the past).

How much does it cost to post historical dates?

The cost of posting historical entries to your accounting platform is calculated as: (the number of historical postings) multiplied by ($0.35).  You will be charged in the currency that matches the billing postal code on your account (CAD, USD, GBP, etc).   

Please note that charges will not be applied to previously posted entries or days without sales/deposits.  We will only charge you for new postings to your accounting platform.


How do historical dates work during my 14 day free trial?

During the 14 day free trial, you can use all features, except post historical journal entries (i.e. back post for days later than 15 days before you signed up or created another entity).

If you wish to post historical data before your trial ends, you have the option to start paid service early.


Why is it important to run historical data?

The advantage to running historical data is that you can post your entire activity for the previous year in order to clean up your books or catch up on your accounting to prepare for tax season.

Some customers have even posted multiple years’ worth of data after recognizing the superior accuracy of our financial postings compared to their previous methods. That said, you can bring over old data as long as it is available in your source system e.g. Square, Shopify) - be it from a month ago, or 5 years ago.

Note: The "Import dates" button can be used for more than simply running historical data.  Customers can also utilize this button to Refresh posted entries in bulk.  This functionality is important for customers who wish to migrate new data from their source apps to their accounting platforms:


How do I import dates in Bookkeep?

In order to run historical data, please use the following steps:

1. While logged in to your organization, go to “Activity” and select your desired journal entry type that you would like to post historical data for (e.g. Shopify Ecommerce, Shopify Payments Deposit, Shopify Cogs are all separate types - which means you may need to run the same day across multiple types).

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Selecting the desired journal entry type will display the “Import dates” button:

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2. Click on “Import dates” button, which will display an additional line below with a date picker. Select your desired range for “From Date” and “To Date” from the calendar drop-down:

Screen Shot 2022-09-02 at 2.19.10 PM


3. For connections that have multiple locations (stores, channels) you will need to choose the appropriate one for posting your historical data. If you only have one location, this "Select location" field will not display for you.

Screen Shot 2022-09-02 at 2.23.23 PM


4. After your journal entry type, dates, and location are all selected, you may click "Start import".  Prior to posting the historical entries, we will ask you to acknowledge the cost of USD $0.35 per entry.  This will be expressed via a pop-up window.  See below:

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5. Click the blue “Import data” button and the system will start posting the entries for that specified time frame, location, and journal entry type

Please allow some time for these entries to be posted to your accounting platform and be displayed in your Activity” log

Note: currently you can post a maximum of 365 days at a time from the "Import dates" feature. Simply change the date range and hit "Start import" again if you need to run more.

IMPORTANT:

  • The posting of historical data is only available for accounts with a billing method on file.
  • You will need to run historical data for each individual journal entry type for a connection, depending on your needs, as you might only want to run the sales entries, or deposits etc.


It is vital that you understand how and what is being posted, as for example running the Shopify Payment Deposit will add entries to your bank register mapped for bank deposits which would be off if you already added those deposits from your bank feed in previous periods and reconciled those bank accounts. The correct way would be to “undo” all the bank deposits received, post the historical data and then match the deposits from you bank feed.

Of equal importance when posting historical data or even posting current data is to understand and have your balances properly accounted for and understand the “cut-off” date for using our integration. For example, if you start posting sales and deposits for a specific app (e.g. Shopify) from January 1st, the first deposits posted and received might include proceeds for sales from the previous year (period).