Dealing With "Unexpected" Errors

Occasionally CFOS will return something like this:

CFO Scoreboard has encountered an unexpected error. The Server Administrator has been notified and the error has been logged.

When this happens, you're often left without a hint on how to proceed. Sometimes the data you were trying to import will actually import, and other times it won't. But, here are a few things to try, before you give up:

1. Look for extra sheets in each document. If there's any suspicion that accidental content might have ended up in any sheets other than the ones you wanted to import, then just delete them and try the import again.
2. Look for any hidden cells or columns. Clients who prepare their own spreadsheets with some manual work, rather than exporting direct from an accounting package, are likely to have collapsed parts of the document to make it easier to work with. These are easy to miss, and sometimes they will contain data that totally confuses the CFOS parser. Expand all columns and rows, and look again closely at what you see to make sure it still matches our general requirements.
3. If all else fails, you can try the old favorite: select only the cells in your document that contain useful data to import >> Copy >> Create a new spreadsheet >> Paste (Values Only). This will create a straight copy of all the data but will strip out any weird formulae, exotic formatting or conditionals, and so on. Do this for both the income statement and the balance sheet, and then give the import another shot.

If all these options fail, your next recourse is to contact the CFOS support team. We have access to the server logs, so we can take a better shot at what actually happened!