Because the Custom Chart of Accounts only shows the Categories that are in use, it could appear that everything is fine. However, there could be unused or renamed Categories hiding in the Master Chart of Accounts that effectively put the Categories in different locations.

Navigator assigns a number to each Category, just as every account has an Account Number. Unlike Account Numbers, Category Numbers are fixed and based on the position of the Category in the Master Chart of Accounts. When you convert to 9.0, the Category Numbers need to match for Categories (and accounts within the Category) to be placed in a single Category in the 9.0 Chart of Accounts.

Category Numbers are not normally displayed. See Categories not matching across entities for ways to view Category Numbers.

See also Converting Chart of Accounts for multiple years for additional considerations when converting 8.2 data to 9.0.

In Navigator 9.0 and Microsoft Access you can do that.

1. Open your Navigator database fn001.mdb in Access.
2. Open the COA table.
3. Select View | Pivot Table (your mileage may vary, depending on your version of Access).
4. Drag Entity_No to the column heading, Group_No to the row heading, and Group_Name to the body.
5. Be amazed.

Note: To avoid problems, we highly recommend that you do not open the fn001.mdb database in Access. Instead make a copy of it (in Windows or using Navigator (File | Backup all entities) and open the copy in Access. That way there is no chance of corrupting your data. Also, don't be tempted to edit the COA or anything in Access. While it seems easy to do, it will probably corrupt your data. Open the database in Navigator for you editing.

You can export this pivot table out of Access into Excel, but only the Category numbers will be displayed—not the Category names. Export the Category table and use the Excel lookup function to insert the names.

- David
FNI Technical Support
Case #38-10678 & 38-10291