Importing and Exporting Balance Sheet Detail

July 2019

A more streamlined method of entering and editing detailed balance sheet information in FINPACK is available with the addition of the capability to import and export CSV files. The process works with Intermediate, Long Term, and Personal Assets of an Agricultural balance sheet and Noncurrent and Personal Assets of a Commercial balance sheet. Following are steps necessary for working with new and existing files.

Import

First, export the data from the other source into a CSV format as the Import function can only bring in a CSV file. If the data already exists in an Excel spreadsheet, save it as a CSV file (under File, click Save As, then select CSV (Comma Delimited) from the Save as type dropdown).  

Second, once the data is in a CSV file, open it with Excel and insert the corresponding headers to the proper columns in order for FINPACK to know what data to bring into the Balance Sheet. The FINPACK detail has specific column headings; additional columns are ignored by the import but do not cause any problems. 

• Located at the end of this document is a list of the asset categories and their associated column headings.
• Column order does not matter; the import tool will bring in the data and organize it according to the order of columns used in the FINPACK detail.
• Capitalization of the headings does not matter, however, any spaces or missing letters in the headings will not allow the corresponding columns to be imported.
• It is not necessary to include all the FINPACK columns for an asset category in order to import data.
• Importing completely replaces current items with the incoming list, so to keep your current information, export the list first, and then add new items to the exported file.  

Finally, within a detailed balance sheet of a FINPACK file, go into the detail under the asset category you wish to import. Click on the ‘Import from a CSV file’ button, select the file, and click ‘Import’.

Export

For existing FINPACK files, export a balance sheet category’s detail information by going into the asset detail and click on the ‘Export to a CSV file’ button.

This will create a CSV file; click on the ‘Export’ button to save it to an easily accessible location.

Navigating this process for a Consolidated Balance Sheet

The function of importing and exporting of balance sheet detail data also works for consolidated balance sheets. 

When exporting consolidated balance sheet detail data from FINPACK, the process creates two CSV files - one with the detailed list of assets and the other a list of the individual business entities, named ‘ConsolidatedID.csv’, that make up the consolidated balance sheet. The ConsolidatedID file, used as a reference, assigns a code (ConsolidatedID) for each business entity in the file. This tells FINPACK where in the balance sheet to place the asset that follows the ID code. 

When adding assets to a CSV file for a consolidated Balance sheet, it works best to sort the sheet by the ConsolidatedID, thus separating the numerous business entities. This allows for the insertion of new lines into the sheet to enter asset detail. It also works best to add the asset at the bottom of the sheet. This works as long as you remember to include the ConsolidatedID of the correct entity. 

If transferring data from a consolidated balance sheet in another program, the best option would be to import the data into a new FINPACK file and run the detail in a single list. You can also export the individual balance sheet for each entity and import them separately. Once completed, create a consolidated balance sheet in FINPACK. For further information on that function, please refer to the Consolidating Balance Sheets pdf, available in our website’s Knowledge Base.

Asset Categories and Associated Column Headings