The moving checklist

• Pick a cut-over date

  The end of a month or quarter is easiest. Everything up to that date stays in QuickBooks as history; new work starts in AcboBooks the day after.

• Reconcile every bank and credit-card account through that date

  Moving reconciled balances means your first reconciliation in AcboBooks starts clean.

• Run Verify Data in QuickBooks

  File → Utilities → Verify Data. If it reports problems, run Rebuild Data and verify again before you export anything.

• Make a QuickBooks backup and keep it

  File → Back Up Company → Create Local Backup. Keep the .qbb file somewhere other than this computer. AcboBooks never writes to your QuickBooks file, but a backup costs nothing.

• Note your QuickBooks version

  Press F2 in QuickBooks to see the product and year. The live pull needs QuickBooks Desktop 2019 or later; the IIF export works with any year.

As of your cut-over date. You will compare against them after the import.

• Trial Balance as of the cut-over date

• Balance Sheet as of the cut-over date

• A/R Aging Summary and A/P Aging Summary

  Your open invoices and unpaid bills.

• Sales Tax Liability

  If you collect sales tax, GST/HST, PST or QST.

• Inventory Valuation Summary

  If you track inventory.

• Payroll Summary for the year to date, per employee

  If you move mid-year: year-to-date wages come into AcboBooks as opening balances.

A. IIF export (any QuickBooks Desktop edition, any year)

• In QuickBooks: File → Utilities → Export → Lists to IIF Files

• Tick every list: accounts, customers, vendors, employees, items, classes, terms

• In AcboBooks: File → Import from QuickBooks, and choose the .iif file

• IIF brings lists and opening balances, not open invoices and bills

  AcboBooks warns you if QuickBooks shows receivables or payables the file did not bring. Use the live pull (B) for those.

B. Live pull (QuickBooks Desktop 2019 or later, same PC)

• Open your company file in QuickBooks Desktop 2019 or later, on the same PC, and leave it open

• In AcboBooks: File → Import from QuickBooks → Pull from QuickBooks

• Approve the connection when QuickBooks asks (once)

  AcboBooks reads lists, balances, open invoices, unpaid bills and credit memos through Intuit's on-device SDK.

• Run both programs at the same privilege level

  If QuickBooks runs "as administrator", run AcboBooks as administrator too.

Compare with the reports you saved in step 2.

• Trial balance

  Run it in both programs as of the same date. Totals must match to the cent.

• A/R and A/P aging

  Compare the open-invoice and unpaid-bill totals, then spot-check three customers and three vendors.

• Bank and credit-card balances

  Each account should show the same balance as of your cut-over date.

• Inventory quantities on hand

  If you track inventory.

• Sales tax payable

  Confirm the liability balance carried across.

• If anything differs

  The import screen shows what it skipped and why. Fix it in QuickBooks and run the import again: it updates in place and never duplicates.

• Bank history you still want to search

  Import bank statements (OFX/QFX) into AcboBooks.

• Bank feeds

  Connections do not transfer; reconnect each account in AcboBooks.

• Payroll

  Enter year-to-date totals per employee if you move mid-year, then run new payroll in AcboBooks.

• Things that stay in QuickBooks

  Memorised reports, custom form templates, attachments and the QuickBooks audit trail. Keep your QuickBooks backup and the PDFs you saved for your records.

• Back up your new AcboBooks file

  Company → Company Settings → Back up now, to a USB drive or another computer. AcboBooks also makes its own backup before every import. More on backups.