Converting Acomba data to QuickBooks Online

In this article, you'll learn about:

• How long the data transfer will take
• How your business data is protected
• Limitations
• Pre-migration checklist
• Post-migration checklist
• What to do after you migrate

The following list provides an overview of the conversion process. Each step will be described in more detail in this article.

1. Prepare your current Acomba file for conversion and ensure your QuickBooks Online file is set up correctly.
2. Fill out the lower section of our migration wizard form to provide consent for the migration of the Acomba data to QuickBooks Online.
3. Select any optional add-ons that you may require. Since Acomba saves only 1 year of data, you will not be able to import additional years.
4. Upload your Acomba file via secure server to the Dataswitcher tool for migration to QuickBooks Online.
5. Once your data is migrated,  review the results and perform some tasks using the post-conversion checklist.
6. Once you confirm the results you can start using your new QuickBooks Online company file.

How long will the data transfer take?

The process of converting your data takes, on average, around 72 hours from the time your data is uploaded in to the Dataswitcher tool. Contact the QuickBooks Online support team if you've waited longer than 72 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, we'll protect your data using industry standard SSL encryption.
• Your data is governed by Intuit’s Data Stewardship Principles (available in English only).

Limitations

We aim to cover all possible scenarios of your source accounting system when converting it to the new one. However, as all systems have subtle variations, it is not always possible to convert everything for all accounting periods. It's important that you take the time to understand the limitations of our service conversion limitations for all systems (From Dataswitcher. English only.)

In addition, Acomba also has the following specific constraints:

Fiscal year

Dataswitcher only supports the conversion of one fiscal year.

The year-end routine must be completed in Acomba before creating the backup file and submitting it for conversion. Accounting periods should also be closed. This will ensure that during final checks financial data converted from Acomba matches that which is brought forward to QuickBooks Online.

Cash refunds and cheque refunds will be posted as journals

QuickBooks Online does not support refunding a cash payment or cheque from a supplier. These entries will be posted as regular journals with no direct link to the customer or supplier.

Reversed journals will not be posted

Reversed journals will not be posted.

Some debtor or creditor transactions may look different in QuickBooks Online

Dataswitcher might need to use a dummy zCustomer or zSupplier account to align your Accounts Receivable (AR) and Accounts Payable (AP) history. AR/AP auto-matching occurs when there are AR/AP transactions not assigned to any customer or supplier.

Dataswitcher will attempt to auto-allocate all customers and suppliers that have a zero amount outstanding on conversion date with a special algorithm. If you have posted directly to your AR or AP system accounts, you will need to correct this post-migration. 

Dataswitcher will attempt to match your historical AP and AR reports at key dates (year-end and conversion date). Between these dates, the reports might show differences. When checking the AR and AP reports, please make sure that the data from Acomba is correct. There are some circumstances where open invoices do not show up in the summary but are shown in the detailed view in Acomba. 

Please ensure you validate your records at one of these dates:

1. Last transaction date in the file
2. Migration date (the date when your data moved to QBO)
3. Year-end

Alignment of AR/AP only takes place on these dates. 

Quickbooks Online does not support multiple AR and AP accounts. When multiple AR/AP accounts are used in Accomba, these will be merged in QBO. The AR/AP accounts with linked records will become the main AR/AP accounts.

Transfers between AR/AP accounts will be treated as journals. If you have purged data from your file, payments and invoices will be posted as journals instead. You might have to allocate debits to credits for customers/suppliers that have an outstanding amount on the migration date.

If your AR/AP accounts do not align with the total outstanding balances on the accounts payable or receivable aged trial balance in Acomba, Dataswitcher will post these discrepancies to dummy zCustomer or zSupplier accounts.

We will copy dates straight from the file

Acomba makes its postings based on the period they were added. However, QuickBooks uses the actual date. Where a transaction is dated outside of the usual range may be displayed differently in QuickBooks.

Example: In the fiscal year ended 31-12-2019, a transaction in Acomba is created dated 30-04-2091 in error. In Acomba, this will be included in the period ended 31-12-2021, but in QuickBooks, it will be a future transaction.

Transactional data and Trial Balance

Dataswitcher will migrate the most recent year of transaction data and the Trial Balance from the previous year. All data is migrated as journal entries. AR/AP aging detail at the migration date will be imported as journal entries.

Foreign data will be converted into home currency

All foreign currency data is converted into home currency. The historical exchange rate in Acomba will be used to do the conversion.

Historical migrations of accounts

Acomba allows you to transfer balances to new accounts at the close of the fiscal year (transferring of opening balances). QuickBooks does not support this, as it does not support fiscal years. Dataswitcher therefore closes the account off at the start of the fiscal year. 

Example: An old account, 1250, was used in 2018, and at the start of 2019, you renumber this account to 1251. 

1. Dataswitcher will close the balance (example 1,500.00) of account 1250 to 0.00.
2. Dataswitcher will open the balance in 2019 of 1251 with 1,500.00.

AR/AP starting and ending balances are not supported in QuickBooks, and may show discrepancies when comparing the Trial Balances. The end balances will be correct. Dataswitcher cannot align end balances with their start balances for these AR/AP accounts. When comparing AR and AP reports in QuickBooks to Acomba, please ensure you are using the "Current" setting.

Financial start date

Acomba allows a start date partway through a month, e.g. 14-01-2020. However, in QuickBooks, it must be the first day of the month, e.g. 01-01-2020. Please keep this in mind when you are checking your Trial Balance, as it can cause a difference. Your retained earnings may also show a difference.

Check your retained earnings

Acomba allows a posting for an opening balance of an account. In some cases, especially for new files, or if a year-end close routine has not been run, Dataswitcher cannot reconstruct the account used (often it is retained earnings). Dataswitcher will create the opening balance transaction and will send the net result to the retained earnings account in QuickBooks.

You will need to review your retained earnings post-migration to validate. In some cases, it will be beneficial for Dataswitcher to use the opening balance equity account. You may wish to create a journal to transfer to Retained Earnings to reconcile the account.

Forward journals (Next Year) will not be posted

Any journals created for future years will not be posted to QuickBooks. 

Items and stock

Dataswitcher will convert code, stock code, location, name and description. Other fields may not be automatically updated. Current stock, purchase and sales price are also posted. Income and asset account are not posted to QuickBooks.

Positions for Chart of Account numbers

QuickBooks does not support Chart of Account numbers that are longer than seven digits. Acomba accounts containing more than seven digits will prevent migration. Multiple linked accounts may also prevent migration.

Renaming of Acomba system accounts

Dataswitcher supports renamed balance sheet accounts; however renaming the system accounts (Retained Earnings, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, etc.) can cause issues. Suspense accounts may be shown as zCustomer or zVendor after the conversion.

What Acomba data will not be transferred?

• Departments
• Projects
• Inventory List (product & services)
• Bank Reconciliations
• Budgets
• Memorized transactions
• Estimates
• Purchase Orders
• Sales Orders
• Custom templates

Pre-migration checklist

These steps are required prior to uploading your file for migration:

General Ledger:

• The Trial Balance must balance.
• The accounts payable sub ledger (auxiliary account) must balance with the balance of the accounts payable found in the general ledger.
• The accounts receivable sub ledger (auxiliary account) must balance with the balance of the accounts receivable found in the general ledger.
• Outstanding cheques must not overlap from the previous fiscal year.
• All transactions are dated for the current fiscal year.
• If you have an existing QuickBooks Online Company file that you have used in any way, it is necessary to cancel your subscription and start a new account. Data cannot be migrated into a QuickBooks Online Company file that has existing data contained within it.

Accounts Receivable:

• In Acomba, all payments have to be applied to the correct invoices. 
• The AR Weekly Report has to be processed for all transactions. If it is not done, there will be a discrepancy with the general ledger.

Accounts Payable:

• In Acomba, all pending payments have to be processed.
• In Acomba, all payments have to be applied to the correct bills. 
• The AP Weekly Report has to be processed for all transactions. If it is not done, there will be a discrepancy with the general ledger.

General:

• The QuickBooks Online account you are migrating into must be an Essentials or Plus subscription. You cannot migrate into an Easy Start subscription.
• Create a backup of your Acomba file. Save the backup file in a location that is easy to locate, as it will be used for upload in a later step.
• Reconcile all your bank and credit card accounts to the most recent statement possible. After reconciling, make a note of the balances on your bank account, as it will be used when preparing the post conversion reconciliation in your QuickBooks Online company file.
• File your quarterly Sales Tax return for the remaining quarter. If you use Cash-based accounting, it is advised to migrate directly after the close (and reconciliation) of a tax period. Otherwise, the post-conversion work in QuickBooks Online can be significant (considering partial paid invoices).

To start this process:

1. Select Reports (Take me there) from the Accounting menu.
2. Choose the Tax Return option.
3. Select View under Looking to see VAT/GST Transactions for your own date range?
4. Select the data range. This is the start of the quarter until the current date (i.e., the conversion date).
5. Select Display.
6. Export the report to PDF.

After the conversion, this information will be used to make a full report. This is done by adding the amounts in the boxes together in the old and new software.

Extract the following reports to check your data after the conversion:

• Profit and loss until conversion date
• Trial balance until conversion date
• Balances on your bank accounts
• Print a list of outstanding invoices of your customers and suppliers per conversion date

Extract the following data for auditing purposes:

• Sales Tax report
• Purchase Tax report
• Account Transactions

Check your file:

• Check your Acomba file via Maintenance > Check Data Integrity. If there are any inconsistencies, these need to be resolved before posting the file to Dataswitcher.

Requirements for Receivable and Payable accounts:

It’s possible to set up multiple AR and AP accounts within Acomba. However, QuickBooks Online uses only a single AR/AP account. This causes an error if there are no linked AR and AP accounts in your file. It’s recommended that you check your settings before submission. In Acomba, go to Setup > Wizards > Linked Accounts.

If you have more than one in your Acomba file, these accounts will be merged in your QuickBooks Online file during the conversion process.

It is also recommended that you run an Integrity Summary check on the file is highly recommended.

Take particular note of any AR/AP accounts versus unpaid receivables/payables, as such items will generate an exception during conversion.

If there are manual journals using the AR and AP accounts, these transactions will be displayed to suspense Customer/ Supplier accounts.

Post-migration checklist

Although we try to make the data conversion 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

Step 1: Enter company information:

1. Select the Gear icon, then choose Account and Settings.
2. On the Company tab, enter your company and contact information.
3. Update or verify the email addresses to ensure billing communications 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 from Intuit for your QuickBooks Online subscription.
5. If you do not 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.
6. Select Save.

Step 2: Set the fiscal start month:

1. Select the Advanced Tab.
2. In the Accounting section in the dropdown menu to the right of First month of fiscal year select the first month of your fiscal year.
3. Select Save in that section, then select Done at the bottom right.

Check your data by comparing reports

We suggest you compare the below reports in QuickBooks Online and in Acomba to ensure that your data was transferred correctly. To verify your reports, run the reports by This Fiscal Year or This Year in QuickBooks Online:

•  Balance Sheet Report - Select This Fiscal Year or This Year
• Trial Balance – Select This Fiscal Year or This Year
• A/R Aging Summary - Select This Fiscal Year or This Year
• A/P Aging Summary - Select This Fiscal Year or This Year
• Profit and Loss - Select This Fiscal Year or This Year

Turn on Sales Tax

It’s important that Sales Tax be turned on in QuickBooks Online and is set up with the correct CRA business number and filing frequency before you start using it. You can skip these steps if your business isn’t registered for sales tax:

Consolidate Sales Tax into the default QuickBooks Online Sales Tax Account

Acomba Canada uses two accounts (four in Québec) to track sales tax and post-migration steps to consolidate sales tax into the single GST/HST payable account in QuickBooks are required. Reconcile discrepancies to your accounts receivable (customers) and accounts payable (suppliers) that may exist after the conversion.

Reconcile your Bank Accounts and Credit Card Accounts

Note: It is critical that you complete this step before connecting your bank and/or credit card accounts to online banking. Since you have not yet performed a bank reconciliation in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online assumes that no bank transactions have been reconciled. You need QuickBooks Online to mark all transactions up to the conversion date as reconciled, so that it only considers future transactions for reconciliation:

1. Select the Gear icon, then select Reconcile.
2. Choose the relevant bank account from the dropdown, then select Reconcile Now.
3. A Start Reconciling box opens. Enter your last reconciliation date in Statement ending date and put cleared Balance as it was on your last reconciliation in the Ending Balance field.
4. Leave the rest of the form blank and select OK.
5. You will see a list of transactions. Select the top checkmark boxes to select all transactions in the list. If the data is in two columns, make sure you’ve selected all transactions in both columns. Then find and uncheck transactions that are still unclear. When the difference is zero that means you have completed these steps successfully.
6. Select Finish Now.
7. It's important to repeat this process for all bank and credit card accounts in QuickBooks Online.

After you migrate

Review your migration

Following the migration, you’ll find a report inside of your QuickBooks Online file that provides details on the success of your migration. The report compares the Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss, and AR and AP Aging summary reports for both your source file and QuickBooks Online. It includes a detailed account list for all accounts in the file along with their balance in the source file and QuickBooks Online. It also has information about any discrepancies that occurred during the migration that you may want to manually edit.

This report is located within the Expenses tab under a supplier named Dataswitcher. Click on the gear icon, then select Attachments to find the Report.pdf attachment.

Start using QuickBooks Online

Once you’ve performed the tasks described in this document, you can start using QuickBooks Online. If you have questions about any of these tasks, contact the QuickBooks Online support team.