Name and ID creation—best practice

Most Intacct applications have best practices for names and IDs. In some cases, Intacct might not be able to find or load a name even if it is allowed when you create it. This can happen if a transaction or record interacts with another application, or even another area of the same application.

Special characters

To be sure that a name or ID will not cause problems, we recommend using only the special characters in the Use column. Avoid those in the Do not use column.

Use Do not use
  • letters
  • numbers
  • a single space
  • a single dash
  • underscores
  • periods*

* Periods are not supported for product line IDs.
  • special characters such as the following:
    • exclamation point (!)
    • at sign (@)
    • equals sign (=)
    • quotation marks (")
    • backslash (\)
    • any other character not listed in the Use column.
  • double spaces
  • double dashes
  • leading spaces
  • trailing spaces

When a name is rendered, double spaces often appear the same as single spaces, which can cause difficulty in name recognition. For example, if an application displays an error that an item with a double space doesn't exist, but you know that it does, check the name in the appropriate list to make sure that no extra or hidden characters are part of the name or ID.

Leading zeros

We recommend against using leading zeros as part of an ID, or creating IDs that are only zeroes. IDs with leading zeros can cause errors with integrations, or when you import information into your company from Excel because Excel removes the leading zero. Use a character as a prefix to your ID.

  • Correct: C0001
  • Incorrect: 00C43

Workaround: if you must use leading zeros in IDs, use Excel to convert the column of ID numbers to text format before importing the file content. Excel will not remove the leading zeros when you save the file. Remember to do this every time you use a template to import information that requires IDs.

Other considerations

When creating names, IDs, or configuring sequencing for applications, consider not only the impact of the naming scheme within different areas of Intacct but the impact in outside applications such as importing and exporting files to Excel, Word, and CSV. Reports might sort differently than you expect if you use special characters or leading spaces. Some applications strip out leading zeros and spaces; others might simply ignore them.

Learn any limitations of third-party applications that you commonly use to help create your naming strategy.