Business Plan Pro tip: Import from accounting files
Business Plan Pro has an Import function that lets you pull major categories and useful information from your QuickBooks or Peachtree accounting files into your plan file. (Note: Business Plan Pro UK Edition imports from Sage Line 50, rather than Peachtree.)
Bringing Planning and Accounting together
Accounting software and Business Plan Pro have different, but related, purposes. Accounting must necessarily go very deep into detail. Planning requires a balance between detail and concept, because there are times when too much detail is not productive. The key to bringing them together is being able to show the same summary categories in your plan projections as you have in your bookkeeping. This gives you a powerful tool for planning and management.
The Import function:
- Imports accounting categories for sales, cost of sales, and/or expenses.
- Matches major categories only, to turn accounting data into future planning. Accounting information for subcategories is summarized in the major categories.
- Can optionally apply growth rates to past amounts to provide estimations of future amounts for planning purposes. The approximate amounts are only slightly different from accounting totals.
(Premier Edition) Additionally, users with the Premier Edition can import data as you begin to plan, so your business plan row labels match your accounting categories. Then import actual accounting data again in a few months or a year to start using the built-in Plan vs. Actual analysis tools.
To get started, click Import on the File menu, and choose your accounting software.
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