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Move from Excel

Move your books from Excel to Hesafi: Start from a date. Keep the old sheet.

Spreadsheets are a fine start. As the business grows they quietly break: a SUM that misses a row, a pasted value over a formula, no record of who changed what. Moving takes a start date, your balances and your statements.

Start freeDownload the import template
Send us your sheet's headings
fig. 01A two-hole desk punch beside an open ring-binder ledger: a spreadsheet sheet is punched, slides out and drops onto the binder's rings, which close on it.
The old sheet, filed

Will my sheet import?

Find your sheet. See what moves today.

Three common ways to keep books in Excel. The first two import today with Standard, tabs, totals rows and your own category column included. A monthly summary doesn't import: it has totals, not transactions.

  • Sample sheet with one amount column: date, details, and an amount where money out is a minus.
    DateDetailsAmount
    DateDetailsAmount
    01/10/2026Sales3,200
    02/10/2026KPLC tokens-1,000
    03/10/2026Stock-6,500

    One amount column

    Date, details and one amount, with money out as a minus.

    Imports today.Available nowStandard

  • Sample sheet with money in and money out columns.
    DateDescriptionMoney inMoney out
    DateDescriptionMoney inMoney out
    01/10/2026Sales3,200
    02/10/2026KPLC tokens1,000
    03/10/2026Stock6,500

    Money in and money out columns

    Date and description, then money in and money out, like a bank statement.

    Imports today.Available nowStandard

  • Sample sheet with one row a month and a column per category.
    MonthSalesStockRentTransport
    MonthSalesStockRentTransport
    Aug96,40041,20015,0006,300
    Sep104,10045,90015,0005,800
    Oct99,80043,10015,0006,050

    A monthly summary by category

    One row a month, one column per kind of money.

    Start from a date with your opening balances, then record or import from there.

    Doesn't import yet.Coming soonStandard

Column names don't have to match. If Hesafi can't tell which column is which, you pick them once and it remembers.

fig. 02A notary embosser: a ruled document slides into the jaw, the lever presses the die down onto it, and the page comes back out with a raised seal.

Why move

A sheet accepts anything. Books have rules.

In a spreadsheetIn Hesafi
Any number goes in.An entry that doesn't balance won't save.
Overwrite a cell and the old number is gone.Saved entries can't be edited away. Mistakes are reversed, and Verify books checks the chain.
Reports are formulas you build and keep.Profit and loss, balance sheet and trial balance for any period.
The full comparison: Hesafi vs Excel templates

Step by step

Four steps from sheet to books.

  1. Start date

    Available now

    Pick a start date and enter what you had that day.

    The 1st of a month is easiest. In setup, Hesafi asks when your books should start and how much was in the bank and cash the day before. If you import your M-PESA statement, its balance is used. Older years can stay in your spreadsheet.

    Start
    1 Oct 2026
    Bank
    KES 18,400
    Cash
    KES 6,250
    Sample figures
    A desk adding machine: the M-PESA statement feeds in from a paper roll at the back, the side crank is pulled, the number wheels turn and the printed total tape curls out of the top into a tray.

  2. Import

    Available now

    Import your statements from that date.

    Part of Standard. Your M-PESA statement PDF, your bank's CSV, Excel or OFX export, and any statement-style sheet. Lines from before your start date are left out, so nothing is counted twice.

    How statement import works

    A sheet-fed document converter with no cable: an M-PESA statement page feeds in from the sloped input tray and comes out onto the front tray as a spreadsheet grid.

  3. Check

    Available now

    Check one month against your sheet.

    Then let the sheet rest. Compare the first month's profit in Hesafi with your spreadsheet. If they differ, look for a line that's missing or counted twice.

    Sheet profit
    KES 47,700
    Hesafi profit
    KES 48,200
    Difference
    KES 500
    Sample figures
    A beam balance with one large coin in the left pan and monthly coins dropping into the right pan one by one, until their weight tips the beam toward them.

  4. Keep

    Available now

    Keep your sheet. Export any time.

    No lock-in. Reports export to Excel whenever you need them, and your encrypted backup file is yours. Your old spreadsheet stays exactly as it was.

    A bank of safe-deposit boxes with one drawer slid out on its runners, holding a sealed capsule behind a lock with two keyways and a small dial.
Start free and pick your start date
The import template: three instruction rows, a blank row, then the header row Date, Description, Money in, Money out, ready for your lines.
DateDescriptionMoney inMoney out
One row per payment in or out, from your Hesafi start date.
Dates as day/month/year. Amounts as plain numbers.
In Hesafi: Money → Import statement → choose this file.
DateDescriptionMoney inMoney out

Import template

Starting a fresh sheet? Use ours.

Four columns Hesafi reads straight away. Fill it in Excel or Google Sheets, then import it (Standard).

Download .xlsx9 KBor .csv

Questions

Questions about moving

Free help with your first import

Send us a screenshot of your sheet's headings on WhatsApp, not your figures, and we'll show you how it maps.

Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm EAT. We reply within 1 hour during those hours.

Send your headings

Bring the sheet. Start free today.

Invoices and basic books are free forever. Importing statements and sheets is Standard, KES 3,500 once.

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