Switch
Off the spreadsheet,
onto a real ledger.
Upload your CSV or Excel workbook, map your columns once, and Vinance turns your rows into real accounts, contacts, and documents, with your balances posted as one balanced opening journal. The import even flags the errors your formulas hid.
How it works
Detect, map, review, write.
A spreadsheet is already a file export, so there is nothing to disconnect and no API in the way. Save your workbook as CSV or Excel and Vinance reads it. Because a spreadsheet has whatever columns you gave it, the one extra step is mapping: you tell Vinance which column is the customer, which is the amount, which is the date, and it remembers.
Detect
Upload your CSV or Excel file. Vinance reads the tabs and headers and makes its best guess at what each column means, so common layouts (date, customer, description, amount, tax, status) are mapped for you.
Map
Confirm or correct the mapping: your header on the left, the Vinance field on the right. Set it once per column and it applies to every row and future files with the same shape.
Review
You see accounts, contacts, and documents it will create, and Vinance flags the things a spreadsheet hides: duplicate names, blank dates, and totals that do not add up.
Write
Type your closing balances once, approve, and Vinance writes real transactions and posts a balanced opening journal. Your first day on a proper ledger ties back to your last spreadsheet total.
Vinance shows your headers on the left and the field each maps to on the right. Fix a mapping once and it sticks for the rest of the file.
What carries over
From a list of rows to a set of books.
A spreadsheet stores rows; a ledger stores balanced entries. Vinance turns the first into the second. Your customer and vendor names become contacts, your line items become invoices and bills, and the balances you have been tracking by hand become a real opening position.
- A starter chart of accounts you can rename, or one built to match your columns
- Customers and vendors, deduped from however many times you typed each name
- Items or services, if your sheet listed them
- Open invoices and bills, from rows you mark as unpaid
- Your closing balances posted as one dated opening journal (debits equal credits)
You type your closing balances once; Vinance posts them as a balanced opening journal. From then on, balances are consequences of entries, never typed over.
The honest bit
The import finds the errors your formulas hid.
Spreadsheets fail quietly: a name spelled two ways, a date left blank, a SUM that stopped one row short. The import is where those surface, because a real ledger will not accept an entry that does not balance. You fix a handful of things once, on the way in, and never chase them again.
- Duplicate contacts merged into one
- Rows missing a date or amount flagged before they post
- An opening journal that must net to zero, or it tells you why
The import surfaces the small errors a spreadsheet hides: duplicate names, blank dates, totals that do not foot. You fix them once, on the way in.
Why leave the sheet
Where a spreadsheet stops, and Vinance keeps going.
A bookkeeping spreadsheet usually loses to its first VAT quarter, its first stock count, or its second person editing it. Here is what changes.
| Job | In a spreadsheet | In Vinance |
|---|---|---|
| Double-entry & balancing | By hand, if at all | Automatic, every entry |
| Bank reconciliation | Manual matching | Feeds, rules, statement import |
| VAT / tax returns | Hand-totalled | Region profile, built from the ledger |
| Two people editing | Version conflicts | One shared, audited set of books |
| Financial statements | Formulas that break | P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, live |
Or start from a sample
Not ready to import? Start from a seeded sample company (Meridian Trading Co.), learn the flow, then bring your own data in later.
Free to start
The core (invoicing, accounting, bank import, statements) is free, so moving off a spreadsheet costs nothing but the upload. See pricing →
Learn as you go
New to double-entry? The Finance Academy walks you from first principles to reading a cash-flow statement. Open the Academy →
Frequently asked questions
What file formats can I import?
CSV and Excel workbooks. A spreadsheet is already a file, so there is no connection to set up: you upload it, map the columns to Vinance fields, and review the plan before anything is written.
My spreadsheet has its own odd columns. Will that work?
Yes. Vinance guesses common layouts (date, customer, description, amount, tax, status) automatically, and you confirm or correct the mapping for anything unusual. Set a column once and it applies to every row.
I have never done double-entry. Is this going to be hard?
No harder than the spreadsheet was, and a lot safer. Vinance handles the debits and credits for you; you just enter invoices, bills, and payments in plain language. The Finance Academy covers the basics if you want them.
How do my current balances come across?
You enter your closing balances once (cash, receivables, payables, equity), and Vinance posts them as a single dated opening journal that must net to zero. From then on, your balances are results of entries, not numbers you type over.
What if I would rather not import yet?
You can start from a seeded sample company (Meridian Trading Co.) to learn the flow, then import your spreadsheet later. Or if you already use QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho Books, or Wave, see those switch guides instead.
Move your books off the spreadsheet.
Invoices to bank feeds, payroll to financial statements. One platform, priced by the company and not the seat, on web and desktop.
All modules included · Real double-entry books · Explore a seeded sample company in one click