Be Aware of “Doing It on Your Own”

Many small businesses don’t have the extra internal resources — either the experience or the required time availability — to perform a smooth transition from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online (QBO). You should consider outsourcing a lot of this task to a firm that has successfully helped other firms make that transition a smooth process. Once you factor in wasted time doing rework and slow progress due to the learning curve of implementing a new system, it is often more cost-effective to partner with a firm on a project management basis.

At P&L Business Solutions, we encourage clients to work with the Intuit/QuickBooks Conversion Team to do the actual conversion from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. This saves the client money since the QuickBooks Team can do that for you as a complimentary service. This conversion process will most likely take hours, if not days, to complete depending on the size of your QuickBooks Desktop file.

Before the Conversion

BEFORE you do the Conversion, you will need to ensure your Desktop data is accurate and relevant. You do not want to carry “garbage” data from one system to the next. P&L Business Solutions can perform a Cleanup on your Desktop data for you before the Conversion. If you are doing the “cleanup” yourself, here are some things to be aware of:

  1. Be sure to manage the expectations of the employees and ensure key stakeholders buy in on the decision before making the change. Keep in mind that QBO will look, feel, and operate differently than Desktop.
  2. Inactivate unused customers, vendors, and accounts.
  3. Make sure all transactions are posted including deposits, checks, and expenses.
  4. Reconcile all bank, credit card, and loan/liability accounts using the most recent statements.
  5. Update Desktop to the most recent version and then create a backup of your Desktop datafile and store it in a safe place.
  6. Make sure your Desktop file is less than 1.2MB in size. Large files will need Desktop’s Condense Data Utility to make the file smaller, or consider using a 3rd party app to make the file smaller for converting to QBO.
  7. Beware that not all data fields will automatically do a one-to-one conversion from Desktop to QBO. For example:
    • Chart of Accounts — The bank numbers and notes will not convert.
    • Attachments — Any attachments in Desktop will not be automatically converted over into QBO.
    • Audit Log History — The audit trail from Desktop does not effectively convert into QBO, but QBO will have its own audit trail going forward.
    • Budgets — Budget capability in QBO requires a Plus or Advanced Subscription, and only Profit and Loss Budgets will be converted in a Desktop to QBO conversion.
    • Customer-Specific Jobs — These will be converted as “sub-customers” and will not have all information transferred (i.e. Ship to Address is placed in the mail address field, and initially the City, State, and Zip fields are left blank but can be edited later).
    • Discounts — They are not automatically calculated, but you have the option to specify them in the terms section of QBO. Discounts for early payments are treated as Credit Memos and applied to the customer’s current outstanding balance. Discounts received in Desktop are treated as a Vendor Credit in QBO, and all addresses on bill payment checks are replaced with the Vendor Address from the Vendor List.
    • Inactive Accounts — Customers and vendors in Desktop that have an open balance will be treated as “active” during the conversion process. This is an example of why having “clean data” prior to the conversion is a best practice.
    • Billable Journal Entries — These do not convert.
    • Memorized Reports — They will not convert but will need to be recreated in QBO the first time. Make sure you have copies on hand to recreate them.
    • Online Banking — All bank and credit card accounts will need to be reconnected in QBO, and any bank rules will need to be set up again post conversion. Having these rules documented and saved will help.
    • Reminders — Those in Desktop are not transferred at conversion into QBO.

QBO is continually being enhanced, so at the time you are reading this article, some of the items mentioned in this article may have been changed and may no longer be applicable to your specific conversion. As you can see, there are a lot of nuances that have to be addressed during a system conversion, and it can be overwhelming for businesses that don’t have the experience, time availability, or knowledge depth on their accounting team.

After the Conversion

Once the new QuickBooks Online account has been set up and the data has been imported into the new account by the QuickBooks Team, you would then need to make sure the balances, open invoices, and accounts have transferred correctly, and that there is no missing data as a result of the conversion. Or you can hire P&L Business Solutions to do this for you.

Ready to talk about your conversion?

If you would like to discuss a potential conversion from Desktop to QBO, please reach out to P&L Business Solutions at 804-561-1600. We would love to be the dedicated expert working with you from end-to-end to ensure your conversion goes smoothly. You can also book a free consult directly.