Step #1 – Convert the Xero Chart of Accounts Also, it is a good idea to lock the Xero file for dates before the conversion date so that no one makes changes after you begin. These will be used to verify the conversion after completion. Before converting, save a copy of the balance sheet and income statement reports (Xero’s and most of the accounting world’s name for the profit and loss report) for all dates, using both cash and accrual methods and also the detailed Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable reports. Unless the conversion is being done at the beginning of the fiscal year, there will undoubtedly be some transactions to convert from the Xero file to QBO. Only someone with experience in converting the kinds of transactions in a company file can advise about these issues.
How much additional work and cost depends on many factors like the number and variety of transactions, number of accounts with cash transactions, tracking of inventory, payroll, and so on. However, including them also increases the cost and effort required to achieve the conversion. It is certainly convenient to have historical transactions in the file in case a question comes up, rather than having to search an archived record, scanned documents, or worse, paper records. When converting a company file from Xero to QuickBooks Online, the first thing to decide is whether the historical transactions will be part of the new file and if so, how far back to go with them. Whether or not it is the right thing to do is a discussion for another day. The only purpose of this article is to discuss the basics of doing the conversion.
I have done many of these conversions, as I have also done in the opposite direction. I will make no attempt here to discuss the possible reasons for or against doing so. There are many reasons a company or its bookkeeper or tax preparer/accountant may want to convert a set of accounting books from the Xero platform to the QuickBooks Online (QBO) platform.