Open Collective → ERPNext migration: decisions and status
Open Collective → ERPNext migration: decisions and status
Owner: Aaron Tushabe · Last reviewed: 29 Oct 2026 · Part of the Finance book · Company in ERPNext: Watt Works Foundation Limited (base currency UGX, financial year 1 Jul – 30 Jun)
This page records how NFE's accounting history moved from Open Collective (opencollective.com/nfe) into ERPNext, and every accounting decision made along the way. Check here before changing any of the migrated entries.
Where things stand
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| Migrated history | 140 journal entries submitted, ACC-JV-2026-00001 to 00140 |
| Watt Works UGX bank account (1220) | 1,531,613 UGX at 12 Oct 2026, matching the bank statement exactly |
| Open Collective Funds clearing account (1210) | 0 USD / 0 UGX, cleared at cut-over on 13 Jul 2026 |
| Owner's Capital – Aaron Tushabe (3110) | 44,141,363.38 UGX |
| Owner's Capital – Hillary Arinda (3120) | 3,588,210 UGX |
| Equipment capitalised as fixed assets | 14 reclassification entries (ACC-JV-2026-00141 to 00154) and 4 asset records (29 Oct 2026) |
Still open:
- VAT: the accountant is reviewing how VAT payments are treated against output VAT. VAT payments are currently debited to the VAT account.
- Depreciation for FY 2025–26 (30 Jun 2026): ERPNext's daily scheduled job should post this. It hadn't posted by 29 Oct 2026. Check Journal Entry → type "Depreciation Entry". If nothing appears, the scheduler may be switched off on the server.
- Bank reconciliation: clearance dates haven't been set in ERPNext yet.
- Generator deposit: chase the supplier for the refund (see decision 4).
Finding a migrated entry
Every migrated journal entry's User Remark starts with its source:
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
[OC-<id>] |
An Open Collective transaction (its Open Collective ID) |
[BANK-<line>] |
A UGX bank-statement line with no Open Collective entry |
[OWNER-n] |
Paid personally by Aaron, in neither Open Collective nor the bank |
[CUTOVER-n] |
The two 13 Jul 2026 entries that cleared the Open Collective account |
[RECLASS-<entry>] |
Moves an original expense entry into fixed assets, a deposit or work in progress |
ACC-JV-2026-00001 to 00006 were the approved test batch. Their remarks say "TEST" instead of a key.
Source files
These stay with the finance files in Aaron's Accounting folder (Nearly Free Energy drive, Accounting/migration/):
- OC to ERPNext mapping.xlsx: every transaction with its account, cost centre, BoU rate and UGX amount, plus the bank reconciliation check and the cut-over sheet.
- bou_usd_ugx_rates.csv: the 54 daily Bank of Uganda rates used.
- The Open Collective all-time CSV export and the UGX bank statement CSV (19 Apr – 12 Oct 2026).
Decisions
1. Real money accounts and the Open Collective clearing account
- Watt Works UGX bank account (1220): the company's local account. All company cash now sits here.
- Wise USD account (1230): stays in use from now on, starting at zero. Before the migration it also carried other business, so its history wasn't used.
- Open Collective Funds (USD) (1210): a temporary clearing account. All Open Collective history before 19 Apr 2026 was posted against it. It stood for company money wherever it actually sat.
- 19 Apr 2026, when the bank statement starts: the bank's opening balance of 3,661,171 UGX moved from the clearing account into the bank account. After that date, anything on the bank statement was posted to the bank at the bank's actual UGX amount, with Open Collective supplying the description and category.
- Cut-over, 13 Jul 2026. The Open Collective balance turned out to be in the UGX bank, so the USD 211.75 left in the clearing account didn't correspond to cash anywhere. Two entries cleared it:
- USD 211.75 (780,043 UGX at BoU 3,683.79) to 5228 Research and Prototyping, NFE Operations. This is probably testing hardware such as Raspberry Pis that was never recorded in Open Collective.
- 787,587 UGX to 5219 Exchange Gain/Loss. This difference built up because USD flows were converted at different daily rates.
- Expenses Aaron paid personally that Open Collective already counted as part of his contributions went through the clearing account like everything else. Posting them again against equity would count them twice.
2. Transactions found only on the bank statement
These May–June 2026 payments aren't in Open Collective:
| Date | UGX | What | Party | Cost centre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 May | 5,001 | Refund of a test "customer" payment (the test inflow is in the 19 Apr opening balance) | Aaron Tushabe | Main (posted to owner's capital) |
| 5 Jun | 88,500 | UEDCL inspection, new three-phase grid connection | UEDCL | Kyanja Town Homes |
| 6 Jun | 1,000,000 | Battery/inverter shelter civil works (part payment) | MOTECH Constructions Solutions Limited | Sezibwa Homes |
| 7 Jun | 80,000 | Electrician's wiring certificate | Hats Engineering Works Limited | Kyanja Town Homes |
| 9 Jun | 118,000 | UEDCL inspection, new three-phase grid connection | UEDCL | Pearl Marina |
| 11 Jun | 500,000 | Battery/inverter shelter civil works (final payment) | MOTECH Constructions Solutions Limited | Sezibwa Homes |
Other rules for bank-only lines:
- Transfer charges and fees: each payment's mobile-money transfer charge and excise duty go to 5221 Bank Charges, under the same cost centre as the payment. The monthly 25,000 UGX management fee and its excise go to NFE Operations.
- "Contributions from NFE Business" (Oct 2025 – Jan 2026 in Open Collective) and the bank's monthly inward RTGS deposits are electricity sales from the Sezibwa Rentals pilot, NFE's only sales so far. They post to 4110 Sales, Sezibwa.
- Daphine Nabwami's stipend: Daphine was the onsite microgrid manager, paid 50,000 UGX/month from Sep 2025 to about Jun 2026, when the onsite work was largely automated. The Sep and Oct 2025 stipends were paid from Aaron's personal account and aren't in Open Collective. They're posted as expense against Aaron's owner's capital.
3. Owner contributions are owner's equity
These go to owner's equity, never to income and never to be repaid:
- Aaron Tushabe (3110): the $10,000 contribution (Dec 2024), the $1,782.86 contribution (Oct 2025), the $35 monthly Stripe contributions, and expenses Aaron paid personally that aren't in Open Collective. The 5,001 UGX test refund reduces it.
- Hillary Arinda (3120): a $1,000 contribution (Jul 2025), in a separate account.
Contributions from anyone else, such as Energy IoT Open Source ($2,800, Apr 2026), are grant/donation income (4230 Grants and Donations).
4. Equipment is capitalised and depreciated on URA rates
Decided 29 Oct 2026. This replaced an earlier decision to expense all pilot-site equipment.
What's capitalised. Everything first posted to 5130 Microgrid Equipment and Installation, about 28.7M UGX, has moved out of expenses. That includes installation labour, inspection fees and certificates, because they were needed to get the equipment working. The original entries are unchanged, and a dated [RECLASS-…] entry moves each one:
| Asset (ERPNext) | Cost (UGX) | In use from | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACC-ASS-2026-00001-1 Sezibwa Phase 1 | 9,883,771.96 | 30 Sep 2025 | Microgrid Equipment (URA Class 3) |
| ACC-ASS-2026-00005 Phase 1 Calin meter installation labour (scrapped 31 Mar 2026) | 2,001,841.38 | 30 Sep 2025 | Microgrid Equipment (URA Class 3) |
| ACC-ASS-2026-00002-1 Sezibwa Phase 2: inverter and batteries | 9,209,385.83 | 31 Jul 2026 | Microgrid Equipment (URA Class 3) |
| ACC-ASS-2026-00003-1 Sezibwa battery/inverter shelter (MOTECH) | 1,500,000 | 31 Jul 2026 | Buildings and Shelters (5% straight-line) |
| ACC-ASS-2026-00004-1 Sezibwa tenant meters (2) DDSU666, Green Volta INV-000057 | 348,926.03 | 21 Jan 2026 | Microgrid Equipment (URA Class 3) |
Changes on 30 Oct 2026. Records 00001–00004 were cancelled and re-issued with -1 names. Phase 2 and the shelter moved from 30 Jun to 31 Jul 2026, when Phase 2 went live. The INV-000057 meters turned out to be tenant meters, so they stay assets and moved to Sezibwa from 31 Mar 2026. The Calin meter installation labour came out of Phase 1: see Write-off of the Calin meter installation labour (31 Mar 2026).
Not assets:
- Kyanja (168,500) and Pearl Marina (118,000): those sites aren't live yet, so these costs sit in 1790 Capital Work in Progress. When a site goes live, move its balance into a new asset record.
- Perkins 60kVA generator + 10 Wi-Fi smart meters (5,467,711 UGX, Jun 2025): a partial deposit of about 10%. Nothing was delivered, because NFE dropped diesel to focus on solar, and the supplier hasn't refunded it. It's tracked as money owed to NFE in 1652 Supplier Deposits Recoverable. Write it off to expense only if recovery is abandoned.
- Metering samples and testing hardware (Raspberry Pis, etc.) stay as expenses (5228 Research and Prototyping).
The rules (what's capitalised, URA-based rates, recording new site equipment) are in the Fixed assets and depreciation policy.
5. Exchange rates
- Before 19 Apr 2026: USD transactions were converted at the daily Bank of Uganda official mid rate for the transaction date. On weekends and holidays, the last rate published before that date was used. The rates came from the BoU Data Portal (bou.or.ug → Data → BoU Data Portal → Exchange Rates → Daily).
- From 19 Apr 2026: entries that went through the bank use the bank's actual UGX amounts.
ERPNext setup created for the migration
Accounts, cost centres, remark keys and their change log are in Chart of accounts and cost centres. VAT questions are tracked in VAT treatment decisions.