For accounts, the conversion program looks at the account name and the Category. If both years have the exact same account name in the same Category, it creates a matching account in 9.0. If there is any difference in the account name, or the same name appears in multiple categories (not a good idea), it creates separate accounts.

For Categories (and Groups), the situation is a little different. The Chart of Accounts structure is fixed. It's all based on the position of the Category in the Master Chart of Accounts. There are a lot more Categories in 9.0, but the each of the old 8.2 Categories are pre-mapped to a matching 9.0 Category. So, if there is a difference in the spelling or even a completely different Category name at a certain position in in the Master Chart of Accounts, the conversion program can only assign the 8.2 Categories to a single 9.0 Category. The conversion program uses the Category name from the first data you convert to assign these Category names. We recommend that you convert the newest data first, then convert prior years.

All of this applies to a single entity. When you convert another entity, it gets its own Chart of Accounts with new Category names.

- David
FNI Technical Support
Case #38-10465

• Account number
• Account name & qualifier (exact spelling)
• Account location on chart of accounts (category)

Likewise, the order of the accounts within a Category does not matter. The first year you convert (which should normally be the most recent year) will determine the order of accounts in each Category. If other years have the accounts in a different order, each account will still will match up with the account from the first year in the 9.0 Chart of Accounts.

Note that this is different for Categories. If you have a Category with the same name if different years but the position in the Master Chart of Accounts changes, it will become two different Categories (and different accounts will be created in each Category) in 9.0. You probably don't want this to happen. So see How to make sure Categories are consistent? for instructions how to make Categories match across entities.

- David
FNI Technical Support