Q: What can Aspire MCP do for my books?
Aspire MCP connects your AI assistant, such as Claude, to your Books. Instead of entering everything by hand, you attach a file to a conversation and describe what you want in plain language. You can use it to:
Set your opening balances from a trial balance
Import historical journal entries
You'll always see what's about to be saved before anything is written to your books.
Q: How do I connect Aspire MCP?
Follow the steps in this Aspire MCP FAQ: You only need to connect once. You'll need to reconnect if you switch Aspire accounts, revoke access, or your authorisation expires.
Q: What do I need before I import anything?
Aspire MCP connected to your AI assistant, with the right business selected.
Your accounting start date already set in Books.
Your trial balance or journal entry file, ready to attach.
Q: How do I set my opening balances from a trial balance?
Attach your trial balance file to a message in your AI assistant.
In the same message, ask something like: "Use Aspire MCP to set opening balances for [business name] from the attached trial balance. Review it with me before posting it."
Aspire MCP finds the column for the day before your accounting start date and checks it against your Books settings. If anything is unclear, such as which business or which column to use, it asks you in the conversation.
Review the table it shows you: each account from your file, the Books account it matched to, debit or credit, and the amount. Answer any questions it raises.
Confirm. Nothing is saved until you do.
Q: What should my trial balance file contain?
One row per account, with a column for the balance as at the day before your accounting start date. Each amount should be marked as a debit or a credit. Your account names don't need to match Books exactly.
Q: Which accounts are included in a trial balance import?
Every account in your file, including revenue and expense accounts. The one exception is your Aspire bank accounts: Books calculates their opening balances automatically, and the import doesn't overwrite them.
Q: What gets created when I import a trial balance?
One journal entry, dated the day before your accounting start date. It has one line for each account, plus a balancing line to Opening Balance Equity. Total debits equal total credits.
Q: Why is there an amount in Opening Balance Equity?
If your trial balance doesn't fully balance, the difference is posted to Opening Balance Equity. This is the same balancing account used when you enter opening balances by hand. A large amount here isn't always an error, but check it before you treat the import as done:
Confirm with whoever prepared the trial balance that the figures are for the right date.
Check whether any Aspire bank account balance in your file differs from the balance already in Books.
Q: How do I import journal entries?
Attach your journal entry file to a message in your AI assistant.
In the same message, ask something like: "Use Aspire MCP to import these journal entries into [business name]."
Aspire MCP groups the lines into entries using the Journal ID, and matches each account to your Chart of Accounts. If something is missing, it asks you in the conversation instead of guessing.
Review the entries it shows you.
Confirm. Nothing is posted until you do.
Q: What should my journal entry file contain?
One row per journal line, with the account, debit or credit, amount and a description. Lines that belong to the same entry should share a Journal ID. Your source system may call this a voucher number, reference or entry ID.
Q: Why does my journal entry file need a Journal ID?
Aspire MCP uses the Journal ID to group lines into one balanced entry, and to recognise entries that have already been imported. Without it:
Lines can be posted as separate, unbalanced entries.
Importing the same file again can create duplicate journal entries.
Each entry in your file also needs to balance on its own.
Q: Why was a journal entry rejected?
Check its date. Journal entries dated before your accounting start date can't be imported, because your books start on that date. If you need an amount reflected before your start date, include it in your opening balances instead.
Q: My file uses different account names from Books. Will it still work?
Yes. For each account in your file, Aspire MCP looks for a Books account with a matching code or name and shows you the match to check. If it can't find a clear match, it asks you to either pick an existing account or approve creating a new one. You only need to do this once per account: later lines that use the same account follow the same mapping.
Q: How can I trace an imported journal entry back to my file?
Each imported entry keeps the Journal ID from your file. Find it under "Books" > "Journal entries".
Q: Where do I check what was imported?
Go to "Books" > "Journal entries" to see the posted entries, or to the Opening Balances page to see your opening position by account.
Q: How do I correct an opening balance after importing it?
Update it on the Opening Balances page, the same way as for balances entered by hand. Don't use the Journal entries page. See "Guide to entering your opening balances" under Books settings.
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