Hiring guide
Accounting system migration: test opening balances before going live
By CFO Index · Published
A successful import is not proof that a new accounting system is ready. Before switching daily work, verify that opening balances, unpaid documents and reporting detail survived the move. Give the accountant, implementation partner and fractional CFO explicit acceptance checks rather than asking whether the totals look right.
Freeze the comparison, not the whole business indefinitely
Agree the last posting date in the old system and the first in the new one for each entity. Save dated source exports and a log of transactions arising during the cutover window. Name who approves late entries and how they reach the correct system once. Record whether historical transactions migrate or remain in a readable archive. Do not assume that a copied opening balance includes every document or attachment your team will later need.
Compare detail as well as the trial balance
Check account mappings, debit and credit signs, currencies and department or project dimensions. Microsoft documents separate Business Central reports for general-ledger movements and for reconciling receivables and payables to their control accounts. That separation is useful context: matching one report does not establish that another is correct. The acceptance matrix below is a proposed cross-system workflow, not Microsoft's migration procedure or an audit opinion.
| Area | Compare | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|---|
| General ledger | Old closing balances against mapped new opening balances by account | Mapping, reconciliation and explained differences |
| Customers and suppliers | Open invoices, credits, remaining amounts, currencies and due dates | Document-level comparison and control-account tie-out |
| Bank accounts | Ledger balances against statements and outstanding reconciling items | First completed reconciliation in the new system |
| Other material balances | Relevant inventory, assets, deferrals and tax records with their supporting schedules | Accounting owner's approved checks for the actual scope |
| Operations | A receipt, payment preparation and reporting cycle in a test environment | Expected result, observed result, exceptions and retest |
A matching total can conceal the wrong customers
Hypothetical example: the old receivables ledger shows Customer A owing €50,000 and Customer B €30,000. The import shows A at €60,000 and B at €20,000. Both total €80,000, so a total-only check passes even though collection work would start from wrong balances. Match document IDs and remaining amounts, not customer totals alone. After correction, a test receipt of €10,000 against A should leave A at €40,000 and total receivables at €70,000, assuming no other changes. Run this in a test environment; it is not an instruction to create a real receipt.
Follow the new system's opening-balance method
Microsoft's Business Central bank setup guidance warns that posting an opening bank balance directly to the general ledger can interfere with bank reconciliation. The required method is therefore a product-specific implementation question, not simply 'import a balanced journal'. Have the implementation partner demonstrate the supported workflow for your system and version, including foreign-currency accounts where relevant. Check that imported unpaid documents and opening entries do not count the same balance twice. Keep unexplained differences open rather than clearing them to a miscellaneous account for convenience.
Test the first normal transaction after cutover
Use approved test cases for a partially paid invoice, a credit note and a transaction spanning the cutover date. Verify the remaining balance, due date, currency and management-report classification. Check integrations too: an overlapping bank-feed start date or an old invoice automation can introduce duplicates after a clean import. Assign one owner to the cutover log and reconcile subsequent imports against it. Keep external payment release disabled during test preparation so a systems test cannot become a real payment.
Keep a recoverable path and a named go-live decision
NIST recommends protecting and testing backups. Ask IT to confirm what can actually be restored, by whom and how, rather than treating an exported spreadsheet as a complete system backup. Agree a rollback decision deadline and how transactions created after cutover would be handled. Retain necessary historical access under the company's retention and access policies. Accounting and tax owners should confirm their specific record requirements; this checklist does not set them.
What should the CFO accept?
Request a signed-off reconciliation pack, a defect log with retest results and an explicit list of remaining limitations. Management should know which defects block reliable billing, payments or reporting before approving live use. The CFO can coordinate that decision, while the accounting lead validates treatment and IT owns system recovery. Close the project only after the receiving team can reproduce the agreed checks and complete a normal reporting cycle. Keep evidence of the version tested, not merely a statement that migration succeeded.