QuickBooks to Xero, done properly.
Converting a QuickBooks file is not an import button. The chart of accounts, the GST codes and the payroll year-to-date figures all need deciding rather than copying - and those are exactly the three that show up months later as a BAS that will not reconcile. Fixed quote before we start, timed around your BAS cycle.
Rated 4.9 from 510+ Google reviews · Chartered Accountants · Xero Platinum Partner
Which QuickBooks are you on?
It matters more than people expect. The three products hold their data differently, and the conversion work is genuinely different for each.
QuickBooks Online
The common case, and the more straightforward of the two. The data is already in the cloud and structured, so the work is in the mapping rather than the extraction - your chart, your GST codes and your payroll settings need deciding, not just copying.
QuickBooks Desktop
Including the Australian Reckon-lineage files. The data comes to us as a company file rather than a login, and we tell you exactly how to prepare one. More history, more customisation, and a longer conversation about what is worth bringing.
QuickBooks Self-Employed
Usually a sign the business has outgrown a sole-trader tool. There is little to migrate, so this is really a fresh Xero setup with your history brought in as opening figures - and a good moment to ask whether the structure is still right.
What comes across.
Customers, suppliers and the chart
Rebuilt with you rather than copied. A conversion is the one free chance to fix a chart of accounts that has grown by accident for eight years, and we take it.
Open invoices and bills
Every unpaid invoice and unpaid bill, with its date and its balance, so your debtors and creditors on day one in Xero match the day before, to the cent.
GST and BAS position
QuickBooks tax codes do not map one-to-one onto Xero's. This is the step that most often goes wrong in a cheap conversion, and it is the one that shows up later as a BAS that does not reconcile.
Payroll year to date
Employees, entitlements, super and STP year-to-date figures set so a mid-year switch still produces correct income statements at 30 June. Your staff should notice nothing.
Comparative history
Enough prior-year history to make Xero's reports meaningful from day one, rather than a file that cannot show you last year until next year.
Bank feeds and rules
Feeds reconnected - they do not transfer, they get re-established - and coding rules rebuilt so reconciliation takes minutes.
How the switch runs.
Four steps, and you are told which one you are in the whole way through.
- 01
Look at the file
We go through your QuickBooks file before quoting - size, payroll, inventory, how bad the chart is, what is integrated. The quote comes after that, not before, which is why it can be fixed.
- 02
Pick the date
Almost always the start of a BAS period. One quarter is lodged out of QuickBooks, the next out of Xero, and nothing lands in the gap between the two.
- 03
Convert and reconcile
The data moves, the chart is rebuilt with you, GST codes are mapped deliberately, and both sides are reconciled against each other before anyone signs off.
- 04
Hand over and train
Feeds connected, rules built, templates branded, and your team shown how to actually use it. Then an advisor a phone call away, not a support ticket.
Coming from something else?
QuickBooks is one of several. The group converts from all of them every week.
From MYOB
Run by LINK Books, our bookkeeping business, which has the detail on AccountRight, MYOB Business and AccountEdge - including how payroll categories map across and what happens to jobs, tax codes and undeposited funds.
MYOB to XeroStill deciding whether to move at all
Worth reading before you commit to the work. We are a Xero Platinum Partner and we will still tell you where the other product is the better choice, and when the software is not what is holding you back.
MYOB vs Xero, honestlyFrequently asked questions.
How long does a QuickBooks to Xero conversion take?
One to two weeks for a straightforward QuickBooks Online file, timed around your BAS cycle so nothing falls between systems. Desktop files, large payrolls and files with inventory take longer, and we tell you which one you are before we quote rather than after.
What does it cost?
A fixed quote based on which QuickBooks product you are on, file size and payroll complexity. Our published range for a Xero setup or conversion sits on the fees page with every other one-off job, so you can see the number before you speak to anyone.
What does not come across?
Deep transactional history beyond the comparatives, attachments in most cases, custom report layouts, and anything built on a QuickBooks-only app. That is why we do not cancel your QuickBooks subscription on day one - you keep it readable while the new file beds in.
Can we convert mid-year, or should we wait for 1 July?
Mid-year is fine and often better. Payroll year-to-date figures are set so STP and end-of-year statements still work, and you are not doing a software change and a year-end in the same fortnight. Waiting for 1 July is tidier if nothing is forcing your hand.
Do we have to tell Intuit, or get permission?
No on both. It is your data and you can leave whenever you like. Just do not cancel the subscription the moment the new file goes live - keep it running until the changeover is finished and anything odd has been chased down.
Will our BAS be affected?
It should not be, and getting that right is most of the work. We time the conversion date around your lodgement cycle and reconcile the GST position on both sides before we hand over, so one BAS is lodged from one system and the next from the other, with nothing falling in the gap.
We are on QuickBooks because our old accountant put us there. Is moving worth it?
Only if something is actually better afterwards. If your file is clean, your bookkeeper is fast in it and nothing you need fails to integrate, staying is a perfectly good answer and we will say so. Where it usually is worth it: you need more people in the file than you are paying seats for, an industry app you want does not integrate, or you are changing accountants anyway and would rather do one disruption than two.
Do you also convert from MYOB?
Yes - that one is run by LINK Books, our bookkeeping business, which has a dedicated page covering all three MYOB products. Same group, same building, same conversion process.
Get a fixed quote on your QuickBooks conversion.
Send us the file details and we'll tell you what it costs and how long it takes - before you commit to anything.
Or call 07 3899 8311.