Edit your mapped inter-entity accounts with a CSV file

In a multi-entity shared company, entities represent a separate tax identification or a separately secured, fully balancing set of books. Entities typically represent divisions, franchises, affiliates, associations, locations, chapters, self-balancing funds or subsidiaries, with a shared chart of accounts.

A multi-entity shared company includes one or more entities under the top level. The company has a set of data lists that's shared among all entities. These shared data lists include users, chart of accounts, customers, suppliers, and employees. Administrators define the shared data lists once at the top level and use them throughout the entities in the company. Administrators use the top level to manage entities and their data.

Alternatively, administrators can restrict to working at the entity level only users and master data list members such as suppliers, customers, and employees. Administrators can even restrict users to working only in particular entities.

An example of a multi-entity shared company is a property management company. One entity represents the company's corporate headquarters and each managed property is represented by its own separate entity.

Sage Intacct records inter-entity transactions separately from other types of receivable and payable transactions. An example of an inter-entity transaction is when one entity pays an AP purchase invoice on behalf of another entity. For each entity in your company, you can specify the payable and receivable accounts you want to use for inter-entity transactions.

You can set up inter-entity transaction (IET) accounts for all your entities on one central page. First, select an inter-entity account mapping plan, either Basic or Advanced. The Basic plan enables using two accounts per entity for IETs. The Advanced plan enables using four accounts per entity for IETs.

If you decide to make extensive changes to your inter-entity setup, you can do so with CSV files. The inter-entity account setup page enables you to export a CSV file containing your migrated inter-entity account setup and edit the setup as you wish. When you're done editing, you can save the file and import it back in to Sage Intacct. The changes you make in the imported file are then reflected in your inter-entity setup.

A best practice is to make changes to your inter-entity setup at:

  • A time when no transactions are being recorded.
  • The beginning of an accounting period.

You can edit the IET account mappings as follows:

  • Add or update multiple IET accounts
  • Delete an inter-entity relationship by deleting their IET accounts and retaining the mapped entities
  • Ignore an inter-entity relationship by deleting the row of entities and IET accounts
Whatever changes you make to the IET account mappings, ensure you have previously defined in Sage Intacct any accounts you enter in the CSV file.

This topic deals with changing the inter-entity account mapping plan you want to use for managing inter-entity account transactions, and assumes that the entities already exist. To learn how to create an entity, see Entities.

To manage inter-entity account mappings, go to Company > Setup > Configuration > Inter-entity account mapping. Click the Edit at the top of the page.

Export your current IET account setup to a CSV file

A best practice before changing your inter-entity account setup is to export the setup from the Inter-entity account mapping page. Exporting your IET setup saves the setup to a CSV file. You can save a copy of the CSV file as an archive and edit another copy to update your setup. You can re-import the file after saving your edits to apply those edits to the Inter-entity account mapping page.

Subscription Company
User type Business user with admin privileges
Permissions Inter-entity Account Mapping: View and Edit
  1. On the Inter-entity account mapping page, select Edit.
  2. Select Export template.

    A CSV file is downloaded to your computer.

  3. Double-click the file to open and examine it, then save it.

Next, Edit the IET account mappings as needed in the CSV file.

Edit the IET account mappings as needed in the CSV file

Sage Intacct does not support:

  • Asymmetrical relationships where A can pay for B, but B cannot pay for A, or the reverse.
  • Mapping any inactive entities.

If you need to make substantial changes to your IET account mappings, it can be simpler and faster to do so with a CSV file.

You can edit the IET account mappings as follows:

  • Add or update multiple IET accounts
  • Delete an inter-entity relationship by deleting their IET accounts and retaining the mapped entities
  • Ignore an inter-entity relationship by deleting the row of entities and IET accounts

You can use the same IET account for more than one mapping, if you choose.

Mapping the same IET accounts twice will cause errors later on. A best practice is to examine your IET account mappings thoroughly before importing them back into Intacct.
  1. Open the CSV file of IET account mappings you exported, as described in Export your current IET account setup to a CSV file.
  2. Review the IET account mappings listed in the CSV file and find those lines you wish to change.
  3. Edit the CSV file as needed:
    • Update. To update multiple IET account mappings, find the relevant account mappings and change them. For example, you might want to change the receivable A and payable B accounts for the IET account mapping between the Australia and the US entities, and the Australia and UK entities.
    • Add. To add multiple IET account mappings, add a line to the CSV file for every IET mapping you want to create. For each line, enter entities A and B, in the relevant columns, and then enter the receivable and payable accounts as needed. You'll need two accounts per mapping when using the Basic plan, and four account per mapping when using the Advanced plan. The accounts can be the same or different, for example, you can use the same receivable account for each entity in a given mapping.
    • Delete. To delete an inter-entity account mapping, delete the accounts shown on that account mapping, and retain the names of the entities.
    • Ignore. To ignore an inter-entity account relationship, delete the entire line, including entities and accounts. Ignoring an inter-entity relationship means Sage Intacct will no longer track inter-entity transaction balances between the two entities you remove from your list of IET account mappings.
  4. Save the CSV file.

Next, Import your IET account setup from a CSV file.

Import your IET account setup from a CSV file

After you make changes to the CSV file of the IET account mappings you exported, such as modifying a number of accounts in the CSV file, import your changes back into Intacct.

Prepare a CSV file for import

When you download a template, the correct headers are in the template already. All you have to do is fill in the columns with your data, save it as a CSV file, and upload the file.

The header titles in the template you download correlate to fields in Intacct. Incorrect header titles will cause an upload error.

For more information about the CSV upload process, including best practices, common errors, and how to upload your CSV file, see Prepare your file for CSV import.

Subscription Company
User type Business user with admin privileges
Permissions

  • Company Setup Checklist: Run

  • Inter-entity Account Mapping: View and Edit
  1. On the Inter-entity account mapping page, click Edit.
  2. Click Import.

    The Inter-entity account mapping window is shown.

  3. Click Choose file, and browse for the IET CSV file you want to import.

    Follow the instructions for importing CSV files shown here.

    Import file option descriptions
    OptionDescription

    Browse

    Use the Browse button to locate and select the CSV file you want to import.

    Date format

    When you select a date format here, Sage Intacct attempts to import your file using the selected date format. If Intacct can’t import your file with the selected date format, it attempts to discover the date format used in your file and import the data using that date format.

    File encoding

    Leave this option set to "auto-detect" unless you're unable to import your file. Depending on your operating system, you may need to select a different type of file encoding.

    Process offline

    Some imports can take considerable time, depending on their size and how much processing the system must do on the uploaded data. If you're not sure how much time your upload will take, select Process offline. When the system completes the process, it sends an email to the address you provide in the Email results to this address field. The system also sends you any errors that may have occurred in the process. If you prefer to wait until the upload process is complete, don’t select the Process offline checkbox.

    Transactions and other records that are processed offline show a source of System in the audit trail, instead of CSV import.

    Email results to this address

    Email address to which import results and errors should be sent. You can enter multiple email addresses, separated by a semicolon (;) or comma (,).

    Sage Intacct highly recommends entering an email address.

  4. Click Import. The import process may take some time.

    When the file has been imported, a notification is displayed indicating whether the import was successful.

  5. Click Done to close the notification.

Avoid common import errors

Intacct recommends following these guidelines to avoid import errors.

In Microsoft Excel:

  1. Select all cells.
  2. Right-click the cells and select Format Cells.
  3. On the Number tab, select Text and then select OK.
  4. Save the file.

The short date format is formatted like this: 3/15/2021

In Microsoft Excel:

  1. Select a column of dates.
  2. Right-click the column and select Format Cells.
  3. On the Number tab, select Date and select the short date format.
  4. Save the file.

While spaces within memo fields are allowed, make sure there are no leading or trailing spaces in any field (not just memos). Leading and trainling spaces may cause import errors. For all other fields, remove unnecessary spaces at the start or end of the data.

In Microsoft Excel:

  1. Select a range of cells.
  2. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, select Find & Select and select Replace.
  3. In the Find what box, press the space bar once. Leave the Replace with box blank.
  4. Select Replace All. A prompt opens telling you how many spaces have been removed.
  5. Save the file.

Commas are used to separate fields in CSV files.

To prevent data from shifting into the wrong columns, avoid using commas in numeric and text fields.

If you must include a comma in a text field, always surround the field with double quotes, for example "Smith, John".

Headers in your CSV file must match the template exactly, including spelling, capitalization, and spacing. Even small changes (such as adding a space or changing a letter’s case) will cause the import to fail. Always use the official template provided by Sage Intacct.

ID fields must contain exact references to customers or suppliers.

ID fields must match exactly, including capitalization. For example, ven100 and VEN100 do not match.

Enter the ID exactly as it appears in Intacct or you run the risk of matching transactions to the wrong supplier or customer, or having the upload fail.

If you reference a supplier, customer, term, budget, etc., in a CSV file, whatever you’re referencing must already exist in Intacct.

For example, if you’re uploading transactions for a particular supplier, if the supplier does not already exist as a supplier in Intacct before your upload, your upload will fail.

This does not apply when creating new customers or suppliers using the import process.

For more information about to correctly number line items, see CSV import: Line number examples.

For fields with predefined valid entries (such as True/False), use initial capitalization. For example True, not TRUE or true. IDs require exact case matches, while predefined entries require initial capitalization.

If your import template contains a country field, for example for an address, make sure that this field has an entry.

If your company has enabled ISO country codes, you must specify the country code in the country field for each record. If you are unsure whether ISO codes are enabled, check with your administrator or test a sample import to confirm the required format.

Next, Import your IET account setup from a CSV file.

Review your changes to the IET account mappings

After you import the modified CSV file, it's a good idea to review the IET account mappings you now see on the Inter-Entity Account Mapping page. Compare the list of mappings on the page to the list you have in your CSV file.