Migrating 10 Years of Spreadsheet History to Beancount—How Deep to Go?

General
1

i’ve got 10 years of spreadsheet history—12K transactions across 8 accounts. the idea of moving to Beancount is appealing (version control, audit trail, queries), but migration terrifies me.

main worries: (1) opening balances. how do i establish correct starting point in Beancount when i’ve been reconciling manually for years? (2) p&l continuity. if i cut over mid-year, does year-end P&L match what i already reported to accountant? (3) historical queries. do i lose ability to query “all spending in 2020” if i only import 2024 forward?

should i migrate all 10 years, or start fresh from cutover date? if i start fresh, how do i verify opening balances without importing full history?

2

don’t migrate it all. you don’t need 10 years in Beancount. pick a cutover date (start of this year), reconcile opening balances to that date, import going forward. historical queries? you’ve got spreadsheets for that. Beancount is about moving forward with better structure. :+1:

3

for audit purposes: you need opening balances documented. Run both systems in parallel during first year (spreadsheets continue, Beancount mirrors). At year-end, reconcile both against tax return. Once confident, abandon spreadsheets. Audit trail matters more than historical data in Beancount.