Accounting import with SAF-T

If you come from another accounting system, it is easy to bring data over to Catacloud. The absolute easiest way is through a SAF-T import. SAF-T stands for Standard Audit File-Tax and is a format that is actually designed to send the accounts to the tax authorities. This is a file type that the vast majority of accounting systems will be able to export, as this became a statutory standard from January 2020 in Norway. If you are unsure how to export a SAF-T file, you can contact your current supplier.

Are you going to change accounting systems? Read this one before you decide!

Start of import

If you are in the process of setting up a new company, you will be asked in the process whether you want to import from another system. If you already have a company, click on the menu in the top left corner, then Administration. At the bottom of the side menu you will find the button Data transfer. At the top here we find SAF-T accounting and we click on import.

Here you can easily drag the SAF-T file into the browser or click on the field Choose File. An important thing to note here is that if you want to import several SAF-T files, it is important that you start with the oldest financial year and take them in chronological order. You will be given a choice if you want to import another file after the first file has been imported.

Import of data

In addition to accounting transactions, SAF-T files can contain chart of accounts, customers, suppliers, departments, employees and projects. In Catacloud, we make use of this and allow you to import at the same time as you import the accounts general ledger accounts, customers, suppliers, departments and projects. It is entirely possible to choose which data you want to import and it can therefore be easy to use SAF-T import to bring in customers and suppliers, even if you may not want to transfer the accounts into a new program.

You might get some warning triangles once we've analyzed the file. This means that Catacloud cannot find an exact match between what is in the file and what is in the accounts. By default, we will create what is missing, but you now have the option to connect the data (the account, the customer, the supplier, the department or the project) to data already in Catacloud by selecting "Map to". You can also choose to overwrite what you have already saved if there are conflicts. If Catacloud finds a match, the system will automatically select "Map to".

Here you can use the option to clean up the chart of accounts (and the accounts) if there are accounts in the old system that deviate from the standard chart of accounts. You also have a few different options for importing accounting data. You can choose whether you want to import vouchers and transactions, which means that you get the entire history of the data in the accounts. Along with the option, you have an option to import opening balance, this can be combined with vouchers and transactions or done alone.

For example, if you import a SAF-T file for the year 2021 and you select vouchers and transactions along with opening balance you will get the opening balance for 01.01.2021 as well as the transactions for 2021. Whereas if you select only opening balance all history will be included in this and be opening balance for 01.01.2022.
If you are going to import several years, you can choose to include opening balance only on the first file, while the others do not need opening balance since these numbers have already been imported.

Control and choice

When you have now imported the SAF-T file, it may be a good idea to check that everything is correct. You can always find a log of the imports below Data transfer on the Administration module. In the log, we will inform you and list whether we have found discrepancies in the accounts you have imported or other things that should be noted. You also have the option here to undo an import afterwards if an error has occurred.

We have tested imports from the most common accounting systems. Errors can still occur because the import is only as good as the basis. If you experience challenges with the import and cannot proceed, you are welcome to contact us. Good luck!