Transferring MYOB Account Right data to QuickBooks Online

You can move your MYOB Account Right (MYOB AR) data over to QuickBooks Online using Dataswitcher, Intuit's partner in data conversion.

This article will cover the following topics on converting your data:

• How the transfer process works
• Limitations
• Pre-migration checklist
• Start transferring your data to QuickBooks Online
• Post-migration checklist

How does the transfer process work?

How long will it take to transfer my data?

The process of transferring data takes, on average, about 1 hour from the time you begin your data transfer.

While most migrations are completed within a few hours or even minutes, some may take up to 24 hours. Reach out to batch@dataswitcher.com if the transfer has been longer than 24 hours.

How will my business data be protected?

Your business data is protected in the following ways:

• As long as you use the online form to upload, your data is protected using industry-standard SSL encryption
• Your data is governed by Intuit's Data Stewardship Principles

Limitations

What MYOB AR Data won't be transferred?

The following data types can't be transferred at this time:

• Budgets
• Memorised transactions
• Invoice template and other templates
• Jobs that aren't attached to transactions
• File attachments
• Draft or unposted journals
• Sales orders, quotes, and proposals
• Closed or partially closed estimates and purchase orders
• Deleted, memorised, or recurring transactions
• Bank reconciliation history
• Fixed asset management
• Payroll information (employee details, pay calendars, tax information, and pension, etc)
• Project Details (quotes and estimates, tasks and expenses, profitability, etc)

Transfer limitations

We're aiming to cover all the possible scenarios of your source accounting system when converting it to the new one. Nevertheless, different systems subtly vary in how they handle accounting, and so, it isn't always possible to convert everything and for all your accounting period. Hence, it's important you take your time to understand the limitations of our service.

Versions Supported

Dataswitcher currently supports AccountRight v2020.1 (released March 2020) and above. To check your current AccountRight version, select the Help menu and select About AccountRight. For v19 and below, there's an upgrade available. If you're interested, you can learn more about upgrading to the new AccountRight.

Company Data Auditor

To ensure a cleaner conversion, we recommend running the ‘Company Data Auditor,” to check the accuracy of the records in your company file prior to conversion. For more information regarding this feature, please check auditing your records. For versions prior to AccountRight 2011, file verification and optimisation checks are also recommended.

Rolled-over files

For MYOB AccountRight version 19 and older, we recommend using our Simple and Standard Packages for files that have been rolled over to the current financial year. The reason for this is, when rolling over a company file to a new financial year, the closed and reconciled entries from the previous financial year are purged from the database. For more information, please check end of year rollover and transaction purging

Recurring Transactions

Conversion of ‘Recurring Transactions’ in MYOB is still in development. Hence, we recommend customers create templates for their recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online after conversion. A useful guide to read is create recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Locations and Categories/Cost Centre

MYOB AccountRight has Locations and Categories/Cost Centre, while QBO has Locations and Classes. 

MYOB AccountRight can have multiple locations per invoice/bill, but QBO can only have one location per invoice/bill. 

MYOB AccountRight can have one category/cost centre per invoice/bill but QBO can have multiple classes per invoice/bill. 

Note: Locations are only available in AccountRight Premier.

To know more about “Locations and Classes” in QuickBooks Online, and how to use them, please check out get started with class tracking in QuickBooks Online.

Multi-currency

Dataswitcher doesn't support multi-currency conversions. All transactions, regardless of the currency, are converted into the home currency. This can cause discrepancies in accounts like Accounts Receivable (AR), Accounts Payable (AP), bank accounts with multi-currency transactions, Unrealised Gain or Loss, and Bank Revaluations. For more details on multi-currency, please check out post Conversion Tasks: Multi-currency.

Chart of Accounts

Accounting systems handle Chart of Accounts differently, with varying account settings.For example - account types, sub-types, and detail types. Furthermore, QuickBooks Online doesn't allow duplicate names in the Chart of Accounts. Hence, you might find in your conversion results accounts with suffixes or accounts with different settings. This won't impact the account balances and can be modified as per your preference post-conversion. For more details on Chart of Accounts, please check out QuickBooks Online: Chart of Accounts.

AR (Accounts Receivable) and AP (Accounts Payable) Transactions

Some accounts receivable and payables transactions might not be posted as expected due to the API differences between MYOB AccountRight and QuickBooks Online. During conversion, the pre-check and post-check validation might show MYOB AccountRight contacts (employees, archived contacts) as suspense contacts (zCustomers & zVendors) in QuickBooks Online. If this occurs, you might find balances in zCustomers or zVendors.

Paid invoices or bills may also be posted in QuickBooks Online as open or overdue invoices and a post-conversion task will be required to close and match these items. Please note though that the end balance for each customer and supplier will still be correct. Overall, the end result of the migration should be OK.

Furthermore, Dataswitcher will only migrate customer and supplier records for those with whom you have financial transactions within the conversion period. This ensures that your new QuickBooks Online account will have the contact details of those organisations you have recently done business with. This will also allow Dataswitcher to complete the conversion as quickly as possible and maintain the quality of your data.

Inventory items (Products and Services)

QuickBooks Online API can only import products and services with a maximum of 1,000 rows at a time. Hence, Dataswitcher can only support MYOB AccountRight files with up to 1,000 inventory items. If you have more than this, please choose the migration without option 'Inventory.' Then, you can import or add them manually in QuickBooks Online once your conversion is complete.

Dataswitcher will convert the following data related to inventory items, if available in MYOB AccountRight:

• Item Number
• Name
• Type
• Sales Price
• Cost
• Qty on Hand

GST

If the conversion is submitted without enabling taxes, GST is converted as a line item and a GST adjustment may be required. Learn more detailed instruction on GST adjustment on our page. To include GST in the conversion, ‘Enable taxes’ should be selected from the optional extras. Dataswitcher converts GST codes based on Simpler BAS.

Transactions entered in MYOB AccountRight after backup is created

Dataswitcher can only convert transactions included in the MYOB AccountRight backup file that is uploaded in the Dataswitcher conversion wizard.

Transactions posted to QuickBooks Online after conversion has started

Transactions posted to QuickBooks Online after initiating the conversion through the Dataswitcher conversion wizard will likely be deleted and can even cause the conversion to fail.

Dataswitcher can't be paused, and can only be disconnected from QuickBooks Online after conversion is completed and conversion results are reviewed.

Dataswitcher should also not be disconnected from the My Apps section of QuickBooks Online while the conversion is under process and not yet completed.

Pre-migration checklist

We expect that you have already covered the general pre-conversion steps and you can simply go ahead with the remaining ones on this list. Click here for the general pre-conversion checklist.

Step 1: Do your GST reports and reconciliations 

If you use Cash-basis accounting, we advise you to migrate directly after the close and reconciliation of a GST period. Otherwise, the post-conversion work in QuickBooks Online can be a lot of work (considering partially paid invoices). Whether you are using either accrual or cash-basis GST reporting, please do take note of the following:

1. Ensure all GST reports and reconciliations are updated before migration.
2. Check GST Closing balance is correct for that period.
3. Export GST Reports at the date of migration, as well as Receivables w/ Tax, Payables w/ Tax, Sales-Customer Summary, and Purchases-Supplier Summary, for post-migration checks.

Step 2: Extract post-conversion check data

After the conversion is completed, you should be able to verify the results. Ensure that the following reports are available in MYOB AR.

1. Profit and loss for the period ending at conversion date.
2. Balance Sheet as of conversion date.
3. Trial balance for the period ending at conversion date.
4. Bank Account balances as of conversion date.
5. A list of outstanding invoices of your customers and suppliers as per conversion date (AR Ageing Summary and AP Ageing Summary).

For your guidance, reports to check and compare include but are not limited to the following.

It'd be useful to have the reports listed above for either the current financial year or all financial years covered by the conversion period. This information can greatly help in verifying the conversion results.

Step 3: Make a backup of your MYOB AccountRight

Next, you need to make a backup of your  MYOB AccountRight. A backup includes all company information and transactions at the time the backup was made. It is created and saved as a compressed file (.ZIP file) and can be stored in a safe location, which can be an online drive or an external storage device. 

Before starting with the pre-conversion checklist, we suggest that a new backup should be created. Furthermore, backup files should be upgraded to MYOB’s current version to avoid conversion issues like backup files failing to read or extract data. We recommend you doing a backup before cleanup, and advise that you give this backup the name PRE_CONVERSION.ZIP. In case you are doing a backup to upload to Dataswitcher - we advise you to give this backup the name DS_CONVERSION.ZIP.

To create a new backup in MYOB AccountRight, please refer to the following steps:

1. Open MYOB AccountRight and login to your company.
2. Select Backup from the File Menu.
3. Select the location where you want to save the backup and provide a name. Please keep the password blank so Dataswitcher can access your zip file seamlessly.
4. Select Back Up.
5. The backup file should now be available in your selected location.
6. The backup is a Compressed Folder type, with extension ZIP.

If your MYOB AccountRight company file contains Administrator credentials, please provide this information when uploading the file in the Dataswitcher wizard.

Start transferring your data to QuickBooks Online

Visit the Dataswitcher migration wizard to get started.

1. Prepare your current MYOB file for conversion, ensuring your QuickBooks Online file is set up correctly.
2. Enter the required information and select Next or select Sign in with Intuit.
3. Select the Dataswitcher package that suits your needs.
4. Select how many extra years of MYOB data you wish to have transferred, as well as any optional add-ons you wish to purchase.
5. Confirm you've done each of the following
   1. Reconcile all accounts.
   2. Complete tax reporting.
   3. Extract all open invoices and credits.
   4. Extract reports.
6. Select the Backup File of your MYOB AccountRight file you downloaded.
7. Click Connect to QuickBooks Online 2.0 and select your company and file you set up on the pre-migration checklist, then click Connect.
8. Resolve any issues, then click Start conversion and the data transfer will begin.
9. You'll receive a link so you can follow the process of your data transfer. Make sure you don’t use QuickBooks Online before you receive an email confirming that your data has been successfully transferred.

Transfer data for more than one QuickBooks Online file

Once your first migration is complete, you can repeat above steps with the conversion wizard for each of your remaining files in bulk.

You will receive a progress tracking link once the conversion of each file begins. Most migrations complete within a few hours. Some may take up to 24 hours depending on file size and complexity. Reach out to batch@dataswitcher.com if the transfer has been longer than 24 hours.

Start using QuickBooks Online

Important: Make sure you don’t use QuickBooks Online before you receive an email confirming that your data has been successfully transferred. Otherwise, your data may not migrate properly.

Once you’ve received a confirmation email letting you know you data has been transferred, you can start using QuickBooks Online. You may reach out to our support team if you have questions about any of these tasks.

Post-migration checklist

Although we try to make data conversions as comprehensive as possible, there are still a few tasks you'll need to perform before you start using QuickBooks Online. It's best to complete these as soon as possible before you make any changes to the data or enter new transactions.

Enter your company information and fiscal start month

Company information includes elements such as address, phone, email, and more.

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Account and settings.
2. In the Company tab, enter your company and contact information.
3. Update or verify the email addresses to ensure billing and customer communications are handled correctly.
4. Enter the email address in the Company email box where you would like to receive the monthly invoices for your QuickBooks Online subscription.
   Note: If you don't want to use the company email address for your customers to contact you, enter the email address in the Customer-facing email box that you want your customers to associate with your business.
5. Select Save.

Set the Fiscal Start month:

1. Select the Advanced tab.
2. Select the first month of your financial year from the First month of financial year ▼ dropdown.
3. Select Save, then select Done.

Check your data by comparing reports

We suggest you compare the following reports in QuickBooks Online and in MYOB to ensure that your data was transferred correctly. To verify your reports, run the following reports via This Year in QuickBooks Online:

• Balance Sheet.
• Trial Balance.
• A/R Ageing Summary.
• A/P Ageing Summary.
• Profit and Loss.
• GST/Sales tax report.

Reconcile your bank and credit card accounts

Note: It is critical that you complete this step before connecting your bank and credit card accounts to online banking.

Since you haven't yet performed a bank reconciliation in QuickBooks Online, it assumes that no bank transactions have been reconciled. You need to tell QuickBooks Online to mark all transactions up to the conversion date as reconciled, so that it only considers future transactions for reconciliation:

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Reconcile.
2. Select a relevant bank account from the Account ▼ dropdown.
3. Enter an Ending balance, and an Ending date.
4. Enter any other information as required depending upon the bank account you've selected.
5. Select Start reconciling. A list of transactions displays.
6. Tick the box in the header row to select all transactions in the list.
7. Untick the transactions that aren't yet cleared. When the difference is zero you have completed these steps successfully.
8. Select Finish now, then select Done.
9. Repeat the above steps for all bank and credit card accounts in QuickBooks Online.