Since it looks like you are using Sage 100, I am going to move this post to that Support Group.

Thanks,
Derek

Just to be clear: you want to copy the data from 5 companies into one company database?

Yes, that is correct....5 companies consolidated into 1 company.

Are you doing this for reporting, or are you in real life combining? I too manage 5 companies, and I consolidate them for financial statements.

We are doing it for financial statements. How are you combining your 5 companies into one for financial statements?

We use F9 for financial reporting, consolidation is easy. You can try Sage Intelligence for reporting, but to be honest we tried it and it was terrible, complex, slow.... tedious comes to mind. This does not require you to copy the data into one company.
Alternatively you can create a consolidation company and export/import GL transactions (summarized or in detail) and report from the consolation company.

I'm an MS Access developer and built my solution in house, however there are enhancements out there for doing this, for example www.acutedata.com/.../

My in house solution is to one at a time copy the tables one company at a time into an access database via ODBC, and report on that database rather than using Sage/Crystal.

You can also look at General Ledger, Utilities, General Ledger Exchange

If we end up creating a consolidated company, just for financial reporting, what all do I need to export from the existing companies to import into the consolidated company?

From GL Exchange you can export/import GL accounts (you will need that) and GL account activity (summarized) or GL transactions (detailed). Decide if you want detailed or summarized transactions in the consolidated company and go with that.