How to reduce data file sizes larger than 500MB for Reckon Accounts Business range

There are multiple paths you can take to reduce the file size of your current data file when it gets quite large.

There are many reasons why you would want to reduce the size of the file such as performance and storage considerations.

The classification of what is perceived as small, medium or large can be quite elastic.

One factor that to consider is the computer hardware on which the Reckon Accounts software is running and the resources allocated to it.

User expectation and patience threshold is also a factor.

As a rough guide based on the file sizes encountered by the Data Recovery Team of data files that have undergone analysis, we use the following file sizes to classify a file as being 'large'.

  • 300 MB to 500 MB for Reckon Accounts business range (Reckon Accounts Plus / Pro / Premier)
  • 500 MB to 700 MB for Reckon Accounts Enterprise desktop
  • 500 MB to 700 MB for Reckon Accounts Hosted

Some options are not suitable or practical if certain product features have been used in the data file such as Units of Measure for Items.

Depending on your level of familiarity with report generation and interpretation along with the entry of transaction journals, we highly recommend that you get assistance from your accountant or a Reckon Advisor 

Option 1: Start a brand new data file [DIY]

  • Decide on what date you want the new data file to begin from, such as the next month* Example: the new transactions will begin on 1st November
  • Generate the necessary reports to acquire the summary balance figures for the Trial Balance, outstanding Customer Balance, Supplier Balance, Inventory Quantity On Hand, Employee Leave accrued, etc as at 30th October
  • Use the built-in "Clean Up Company Data" function in the Reckon Accounts software to remove ALL transactions from the data leaving only the Lists* intact. * (COA, Items, Customers, Suppliers, Employees, etc)

This will also retain Units of Measure information-Use the figures from the original source file for Customer Balance and Supplier Balance summaries to create a summary journal that covers each customer/supplier outstanding value (for each customer or supplier a single summary total)

  • Alternatively, use the transaction details from the original source file to re-create any transaction that is outstanding for each customer or supplier. (individual invoices and bills)
  • Use the figures from the original source file to create the opening balance journals of the accounts
  • Create inventory adjustment transactions
  • Keep the original source data file as a historical record
  • Start new data entry in the destination data file for transactions in the new month onwards

Option 2: Start a brand new data file [Using IIF Export / Import process]

  • Decide on what date you want the new data file to begin from, such as the next month* Example: the new transactions will begin on 1st November-Generate the necessary reports to acquire the summary balance figures for the Trial Balance, outstanding Customer Balance, Supplier Balance, Inventory Quantity On Hand, Employee Leave accrued, etc as at 30th October
  • From the existing source file, export all Lists as IIF text files * (COA, Items, Customers, Suppliers, Employees, etc)This will NOT retain Units of Measure information. If you make use of Units of Measure feature, then follow the Option 1 method above
  • Create a blank brand new destination data file-Import the Lists into the destination data file
  • Use the figures from the original source file for Customer Balance and Supplier Balance summaries to create a summary journal that covers each customer/supplier outstanding value (for each customer or supplier a single summary total)
  • Alternatively, use the transaction details from the original source file to re-create any transaction that is outstanding for each customer or supplier. (individual invoices and bills)
  • Use the figures from the original source file to create the opening balance journals of the accounts-Create inventory adjustment transactions-Keep the original source data file as a historical record
  • Start new data entry in the destination data file for transactions in the new month onwards

Option 3: Remove older transactions from the current data file by sending your file to the Reckon Data Recovery Team

  • You will need to decide on what date you want the new data file to begin from, such as the end of a specific financial year or a calendar year

Example: I want to remove all transactions older than 1st July 2019

-Generate the necessary reports to acquire the summary balance figures for the Trial Balance, outstanding Customer Balance, Supplier Balance, Inventory Quantity On Hand, Employee Leave accrued, etc as at the end of the financial year period you want to cut-off

Example: Using 1st July 2019 as the cut-off date

  • You can keep the original source data file as a historical record for comparison
  • In your original source file you can generate some reports such as the Customer Balance Summary / Supplier Balance Summary, Trial Balance report, Balance Sheet reports, Inventory Quantity-on-hand report, etc with the date set to the end of the financial year period you want to cut-off (30/06/2019).
  • Keep these reports handy by generating/printing to PDF or export to Excel / CSV.
  • We will make a copy of the original source data file which we work on as the basis for creating a new reduced size file.
  • We will delete all of the transactions with a date older than the cut-off date.
  • It is important to note that the Data Recovery Team will only perform the removal of transactions. We will not create any adjustments or journals.
  • Once the transactions are removed, the file then needs to go through a sequence of file rebuild and file verifications.
  • If all goes well, we would be able to provide you with a reconstructed file that is much smaller that you can review (sample test reduced size data file for review).
  • You can then compare those reports you generated from the original file with those you create from the sample test reduced size data file, to see which Customers/Suppliers have been affected by the removal of transactions that are older than the cut-off date, which are linked to transactions dated after the cut-off date.
  • Example:
  • The removal of bills/invoices dated on or earlier than 30/06/2019 that are linked to payments dated on or after 01/07/2019 will result in those payments appearing as unapplied payments in the resulting reduced size file.
  • The removal of payments dated on or earlier than 30/06/2019 that are linked to invoices/bills dated on or after 01/07/2019 will result in those bills/invoices appearing as unpaid in the resulting reduced size file.
  • The removal of payments dated on or earlier than 30/06/2019 that are linked to deposits dated on or after 01/07/2019 will result in those deposits no longer having the ability to view the History about the payment that make up that deposit.
  • Any inventory items will have their quantities on hand affected, since any transactions in which they are referenced that dated on or earlier than 30/06/2019 now no longer exist, which can also affect their Average Cost.

If after reviewing the sample reduced size data file, you decide to proceed with a file size reduction service, then we would ask you to send a more up-to-date copy of the data file.

In the reconstructed file we return to you, you create an journals dated 30/06/2019 to represent an outstanding balance (as a summary journal) for each affected Customer or Supplier and re-apply payments any outstanding payments.

You can create journals representing the payments dated 30/06/2019 to be applied against any Open Invoices / Unpaid Bills dated on or after 01/07/2019.

If you do want slightly more detailed information, instead of creating journals, you can create individual invoices/bills dated 30/06/2019 for each Customer or Supplier that represents a summary of all the deleted invoices/bills then re-apply the payments dated on or after 01/07/2019 to them

If you want very detailed information, you can use the transaction details from the original source file to manually re-create in full the transactions that is outstanding for each customer or supplier. (individual invoices and bills) then re-apply any unassigned payments 

You can create inventory adjustment transactions as at the cut-off date to bring all quantities back to normal as shown on the Inventory Quantity-on-hand report from the original data file

You will need to use the figures from the original source file Trial Balance report to create the opening balance journals to represent the account balances as at 30/06/2019 so that the trial balance in the reconstructed file matches those from the original source file.

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