Use Google Sheets to import financial data into Fathom

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

Using Google Sheets as your source, you can import monthly, quarterly, or annual financial data. You can import a maximum of 3000 accounts and up to 96 months, or 8 years' worth, of financial data.

We recommend importing up to 60 months, or 5 years' worth, for the best performance. When you import your company, the periods in your Google Sheets file determine your company's date range.

Fathom requires Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet data. Cash Flow Statements are automatically generated using the indirect method based on the imported Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet data.

Ensure that your Google Sheets file adheres to Fathom's formatting requirements, including proper account classifications. If you are importing monthly or quarterly data, ensure that Balance Sheet accounts reflect cumulative/as-of balances, while Profit & Loss accounts show monthly or quarterly activity.

📝 Note: While importing quarterly or yearly data into Fathom from Google Sheets is possible, you must have monthly financial data to forecast in Fathom and to import a company on a Portfolio plan.

Import financial data from Google Sheets

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

On the My Companies page, select the green Add button.
Choose Company.
Select Google Sheets.
Choose to use a template or select an existing Google Sheet.

📝 Note: The currency for the Google Sheets 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.

Use a Fathom import template

If you choose to use a Fathom import template to import financials from Google Sheets, you will need to:

Authorise Fathom's connection to your Google Sheets account so Fathom can create the Google Sheets file for you.
Enter the following in the import modal:
1. Company name
2. Period type (e.g. Monthly, quarterly, yearly)
3. Financial year start month
Click the option to open the template in Google Sheets. This will open a new tab with the Google Sheets file.
There will be dummy data in the file that you are expected to change/delete. Enter your company's financial data.
1. Enter your account names
2. Enter the classification codes
3. Enter account codes (optional)
4. Enter the periods. The periods you enter will determine the date range for your company. All periods must be continuous; you cannot skip a period or have period columns out of order.
5. Enter the data within the periods for each account. Enter a 0 if there are no values for an account for a particular period.
  
  💡Smart Tip: If you need to flip the values of an entire account (e.g. from negative to positive or vice versa), you can add a minus sign '-' directly after and in the same column as the classification code.
Return to Fathom and go to the next step in the modal.
Choose to import your company as Fathom Pro or Portfolio.

💡 Smart Tip: If you’re a triallist, we recommend choosing Fathom Pro so you can try out all of Fathom’s features during your trial. You can learn more about the plan options from our ‘Fathom Pro v Portfolio’ article.

After you’ve imported your financials into Fathom, the next steps depend on the plan type you selected during import. You’ll find setup steps for both plan types in our ‘Getting Started with Fathom’ article:

Set up your company

Use an existing Google Sheets file

If you choose to import your financials from an existing Google Sheet, you will need to:

Authorise Fathom's connection to your Google Sheets account so you can select the Google Sheet(s) to import.
Choose to import your company as Fathom Pro or Portfolio.

💡 Smart Tip: If you’re a triallist, we recommend choosing Fathom Pro so you can try out all of Fathom’s features during your trial. You can learn more about the plan options from our ‘Fathom Pro v Portfolio’ article.
Select your Google Sheet. Its formatting must match Fathom's import guidelines. You cannot import a blank file.

💡 Smart Tip: If you want to import multiple companies at the same time, you can select multiple Google Sheets files. Just hold down the Command (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) key and select multiple sheets.

Set up your company

Update your financial data from Google Sheets

You can manually update companies sourced from Google Sheets at any time from the My Companies page.

To update a company:

Click the Three dots icon on the right side of the company's row.
From the dropdown menu, select Update.

💡 Smart Tip: Updating multiple Google Sheets companies? You can trigger a bulk update directly from the My Companies page.

Enable automatic daily updates

From the My Companies page, you can activate automatic daily updates for companies sourced from Google Sheets.

To enable automatic updates:

Select the Three dots icon in the Options column, to the right of the company's name
From the drop-down menu, click the option to Enable automatic updates

Automatic updates will update your financials from Google Sheets once every 24 hours. You can still trigger a manual update at any time while automatic updates are on.

Troubleshoot your Google Sheets financials import or update

👀 Are you looking for something else?

Is your financials import or update successful, but the values seem incorrect? See 'Why do the numbers in Fathom not match my source accounting system?'
Are you running into issues with importing non-financial data from Google Sheets? See 'Troubleshoot a Google Sheets Non-financials Connection'

When importing or updating your financials from Google Sheets, you may encounter some errors. The error message you receive may provide more details about why the import or update failed.

There are some common reasons a financials data import or update from Google Sheets may fail. If you encounter a failure, please check the following:

Ensure your Google Sheets file matches Fathom's import guidelines.
1. The formatting of your Google Sheets file should look similar to this:
2. Do not alter or change the Template Version. This is used by Fathom Developers.
Do not have more than 8 years' worth of financial data. If you have more than 8 years' of financial data, you must:
1. Remove earlier financial periods from Fathom
2. Delete those periods from the Google Sheets file
Ensure account names have no invalid characters (e.g. ", ~, { }, < >, =, etc.)
Ensure all periods are continuous.
1. There cannot be any skipped periods in your data.
2. Periods must be in order (e.g. Jan 2026, Feb 2026, Mar 2026, etc.).

If you check the above and are still experiencing import issues, please reach out to our Support Team at support@fathomhq.com with the following details:

A screenshot of the error message you are receiving.
The exact process you are going through when receiving an error:
- Are you importing a new company or updating an existing one?
- Is this part of a bulk import or update?
- At what point in the process are you receiving the error?
Please inform our team that you are attempting to import or update a Google Sheets company.

Learn more

Import financials from Google Sheets