We get a few questions from people regarding importing data. We have tried to make this as flexible as possible but here are a few tips to speed things up:

1. If you wish to import consolidated or financial statement figures rather than trial balance you can just create a ‘trial balance’ from the draft accounts in Excel then import. This is quicker than data entry directly onto the data page. That is really just intended for adding the odd extra line later.
2. On a very large trial balance it can take a while to sort but in most cases I find just dragging the headings into place then sorting out the odd things that are out of order by moving individual accounts around is only a 5-10 minute job – way faster than the old style of typing every line in. Some people don't realise that you can drag individual accounts around as well as section headings. Remember the section sequence is not vital – the software will sort this out itself. Note now that you can pre-select sections data is to be mapped to by adding a 'section' column. See here for further information.
3. It is a good idea to clean up the trial balance a bit before import – making sure headings are correct, deleting blank lines and headings etc. You can also cut and paste into different order in Excel before importing if required so there is less sorting later (the advantage in Excel is you can cut and paste blocks of accounts if required). Note also the ability to filter out unwanted lines simply by leaving them blank in the 'section' column. See here for further information. 
4. The comparative figures will roll over and when you import the new year’s data it will keep the prior year’s sequence and sub-totals.

Updated 3 March 2011