Note: Starting fresh in a new accounting system has bookkeeping implications. Confirm the cutover plan with your CPA when you have one.
Vlge supports three onboarding approaches for financials. They cover two kinds of history:
Unit Ledger — charges and payments per property (what residents see).
Bank / vendor transactions — money the association spent or received at the bank.
The decision guide is Financial Imports: Opening Ledger.
Unit Ledger History
If members log in and only see “owing $200,” they will ask where it came from. If you set a starting position and import January–September activity, the balance is usually self-explanatory.
How-to: Importing Unit Ledger History.
Transaction history
For bank and vendor activity:
Post opening balances as of a cutoff (for example January 1).
Import line-item bank transactions since that date (Import Tools → Bank Transactions).
Reconcile statements from that cutoff forward — Bank Reconciliation.
Reconciliation is going-forward. You do not recreate every historical month in Vlge, even if you imported older transactions. Keep prior-system statements as the audit trail. Use catch-up mode for the first statement you close here.
Option 1: Full History Import
Import every historical charge and payment. Vlge posts each row 1:1 to the GL on the original date. Prior-period P&L and A/R aging can then be run in Vlge. You still pick a recent date to start formal bank rec.
Option 2: Opening Balance Only
Post a single balance-sheet journal entry at cutover with Opening Balances. No historical imports. Residents will not see pre-cutover activity, but outstanding balances and cash are correct.
Option 3: Opening Balance + Recent Activity (recommended)
Most associations use this.
Choose a cutoff (example: January 1, 2026 go-live).
Import recent history as real journal entries (example: July 1–December 31, 2025).
Set Opening Balances as of the day before that window (June 30, 2025).
Formally reconcile the imported recent window, then continue monthly. Do not reconcile months before the opening-balance date.