When using our file upload options in the Crunchafi Data Extraction portal, the first step is uploading a COA. This gives the system the account structure it needs to map and normalize your client's financial data.
In practice, many auditors find it difficult to get a COA directly from their clients because clients may not know where to find it or their ERP system may not make it easy to export. The good news is that a Trial Balance file works just as well and your clients typically know how to pull one.
A COA is simply a list of account codes and their names. A Trial Balance includes the same information, plus a debit or credit balance for each account. Because the account structure is embedded in the trial balance, Crunchafi can extract it automatically during the upload process.
This means you can skip the COA entirely and go straight to uploading Trial Balance files.
| 1 | Ask your client for a Trial Balance Request a full Trial Balance export from their accounting system or ERP. Most clients are familiar with this report and can generate it from QuickBooks, Sage, NetSuite, or any ERP with just a few clicks. |
| 2 | Make sure it is a complete, full trial balance Confirm that the Trial Balance includes all accounts — even those with a zero or null balance. Some systems suppress zero-balance accounts by default. Ask your client to turn that filter off. A missing zero-balance account is still a real account and needs to be in the system. |
| 3 | Gather two to three years of Trial Balances A single period may not show every account that exists. Accounts that were active in prior years but have no current activity will be missing. Collecting two to three years of trial balances ensures you capture the full account structure, including dormant or infrequently used accounts. |
| 4 | Combine the files in Excel Stack all trial balance exports into a single Excel workbook, one period per sheet or all rows in a single sheet. Once combined, use the cleanup steps below to reduce the data down to a unique list of account codes. |
| 5 | Run a deduplication cleanup Use Excel's built-in Remove Duplicates tool or the UNIQUE formula to keep only one row per account code. This gives you a clean, complete list of every account that has ever appeared across your selected time range. |
| 6 |
Upload the clean file to Crunchafi NOTE: If the file includes columns with amounts, you may receive a warning message that the file appears to be a Trial Balance rather than a Chart of Accounts. You can, however, still proceed with your upload. |
Before uploading, take a moment to confirm the following:
| Formula/Action | Purpose |
|
Remove Duplicates (Data tab) |
Extract unique account codes from a single column. This is a built-in Excel tool to deduplicate rows across all columns. |
|
Sort A to Z on Account Code column |
Normalize mixed text/number account codes. This makes it easy to spot gaps or duplicates visually. NOTE: If saving your file as an .xlsx file, we recommend copying the impacted cells and pasting them as Values Only (i.e., remove the formula) to avoid any data validation issues during file upload. |
If your client's ERP system exports the Trial Balance with merged header rows and subtotals, delete those rows before deduplicating. Crunchafi expects clean tabular data with one row per account.
Most accounting systems have a standard Trial Balance report. If your client is unsure, ask them to look for it under Reports > Financial Statements or Reports > General Ledger in their software. You can also ask for a general ledger detail export, which will contain the same account codes.
Yes, if possible. Prior closed periods may contain accounts that are no longer active but were used historically. Including them ensures the account mapping in Crunchafi is as complete as possible for multi-year engagements.
Upload it as-is. Crunchafi can work with account codes alone. If account names are missing, you or your client can add them manually inside the product after the initial upload.
