Last Updated on March 17, 2022

One of the most crucial tasks for a new QuickBooks user is to set up a proper chart of accounts. In case if you already have a chart of accounts set up for your company, then you can avoid recreating the chart of account for the new company by importing it in QuickBooks. Chart of accounts is basically the list of critical financial data like equity, liability, income, assets, and expenses that can be moved from the desktop version of QuickBooks to the Online version and from one computer to other. Sometimes QuickBooks throw errors while importing the chart of accounts and in this article, we will show you how you can get rid of them with few basic troubleshooting steps. Follow the complete article for detailed instructions.

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What Cause Errors Importing Chart of Accounts

Once you encounter this type of error an error message “Error while reading the file. Format may be incorrect” might appear on your screen. Some of the primary reasons that cause QuickBooks to encounter errors while importing chart of accounts are listed below:

1. You have entered the same email id more than once in the same column in chart of accounts.
2. In case when you try to import an existing service or product in the chart of accounts.
3. There are same phone numbers present in the same column.
4. The account that you are trying to import data from is not present.
5. You have exceeded the limit of accounts that can be imported in chart of accounts.
6. In case if you are trying to import a sub-account.

Steps to Import Chart of Accounts into QuickBooks

1. Open QuickBooks and click Utilities under the File tab.
2. Click Import and then select Excel Files.
3. Now from under the Lists section Add / Edit Multiple List Entries.
4. Choose the appropriate file and import it in QuickBooks.

Important Points to Consider Before Following the Troubleshooting Steps

1. Make sure that the file that you are trying to import should be compatible with QuickBooks.
2. The file must not be more than 2 Megabytes in size, and it must not contain more than 2000 rows in it.
3. Make sure that the file that you are importing should not contain any decimal values, and the account number field should not be empty.
4. The application must be installed with the latest released updates.

Steps to Resolve Chart of Accounts Importing Error in QuickBooks

Follow the steps mentioned below in the given sequence to resolve the error in the shortest time

1. Open the file in Microsoft Excel and verify that each column has only one email address as QuickBooks only support files that have one email address in one column. In case if you want to import more than one email addresses then first add a single email address and then edit the file and import it again in QuickBooks.
2. It is not suggested to import services and products if importing gives any error, you can manually add these items after the import is complete.
3. If you are getting the error in the fields that contain the phone number then first verify that each column has only one phone number. Usually, this error appears when there are more than one numbers present in one column.
4. Check if the accounts you are trying to import from are sub-accounts if yes, then change them to the parent accounts, and after the import, you can change them back as sub accounts.
5. Verify the availability of the accounts before importing as you might also experience the chart of accounts import error in case of non-existing accounts.

Errors while importing chart of accounts in QuickBooks mostly occurs by common mistakes made by users while preparing the chart of accounts and following the steps mentioned above you can easily get rid of them. We suggest users review the account carefully to resolve the error and in case if the error still exists, you can reach us at our  Number 1.855.738.2784 for help.

Edward Martin

Edward Martin is a Technical Content Writer for our leading Accounting firm. He has over 10 years of experience in QuickBooks and Xero. He has also worked with Sage, FreshBooks, and many other software platforms. Edward’s passion for clarity, accuracy, and innovation is evident in his writing. He is well versed in how to simplify complex technical concepts and turn them into easy-to-understand content for our readers.