Using Excel to import data into Fathom

Fathom has direct integrations with Xero, MYOB, and QuickBooks. If you’re not using one of these source accounting systems, then you can also import financial data into Fathom via Excel (.xlsx or .csv).

Using Excel as your source, you can import financial data for monthly, quarterly, or annual periods. Typically, you would export a monthly Profit and Loss (Income statement) and Balance Sheet report from your accounting system to Excel, and then adjust to conform to the Fathom Import Template.

Importing financial data from Excel

To import financial data from Excel into Fathom, go to your ‘My Companies’ page in Fathom:

Select the green ‘Add’ button in the top right of the ‘My Companies’ page
Choose ‘Company’
In the menu that pops open, select ‘Excel’
In the following screen, you’ll see our import guidelines for importing from Excel. We recommend downloading our detailed Import Guidelines which provide step-by-step instructions on creating your Excel file.
To download an import template, select the option to download an ‘example import file’. You can open this in Excel and enable editing to enter in your accounts and values. Here are some examples import files to compare to:
1. Fathom financial import file (Monthly)
2. Fathom financial import file (Quarterly)
3. Fathom financial import file (Annual)
  
  💡Pro Tip: Account Classification codes are required and Fathom-specific. Individual account codes (not classifications) are optional and can be left blank if you do not use account codes.
  
  ❗Notice: Make sure that your initial Excel file contains all periods of historical data that you'd like to use. You cannot change the start date to an earlier period after the initial import without deleting and reimporting the company. We recommend including 5 years of historical data.
Once you’ve created your import file in Excel, return to Fathom.
Select the option to ‘Choose a file to upload’
Then, select your import file

📝 Note: The currency for the Excel company will be assumed based on the country selected in the Organisation Settings. However, the currency can be changed after the company has been imported. The currency selected will only impact the currency symbol displayed, not the values.

Once your file has finished importing, you’ll see your company listed on the ‘My Companies’ page in Fathom. From there, you’ll be able to access the Settings, Analysis, Reports, and Forecasting tools.

Continue setting up your company in Fathom

Import multiple Excel files

If you have multiple Excel companies that you would like to import into Fathom, you can select the option to 'Launch Fathom Desktop Connector’ at the bottom of the importing page. This is a small executable file (.exe) ~6mb, which you can use to bulk upload multiple Excel files at once.

For more information, view our dedicated article on Using the Fathom Desktop Connector.

Updating your financial data from Excel

To update the financial data for your Excel company in Fathom, you’ll need to re-import the Excel file. To do this:

Go to Step 1 - Update Data of the company’s Settings
Select the option to Update from Excel
On the following page, you can import a blank financials template or download a template that includes the existing data.
Once you’ve created or updated your Excel financials file, select the Choose a file to upload option
Select your Excel file with the updated financials

💡Pro Tip: To add financial data for a recently completed period, you can just supply the new data that you wish to append to the existing financial range. You do not need to include prior periods.

However, many of our customers prefer to build upon a single Excel file that contains all periods. This can be easier to manage and allows you to easily make prior period adjustments if required.

Next steps

Congratulations on importing your company into Fathom via Excel! Finish setting up your company for analysis, reporting, and forecasting by continuing on in the 'Getting Started Workflow'. Choose from one of the next steps below:

What you want to do:	Next step in setup process:
Want to import a budget for your company?	Import a Budget from Excel
Don’t want to import a budget at this time and are ready to begin setting up your Company Profile?	Set up your Company Profile

💡Pro Tip: If you want to consolidate several companies in Fathom, we recommend importing and completing the setup process for each company before creating a consolidated group.