Post-migration checklist for converting Xero data to QuickBooks Online

Haven’t migrated yet? Review our article on Transferring data from Xero.

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.

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• Enter your company information and fiscal start month
• Check your data by comparing reports
• Turn on sales tax
• Reconcile your bank and credit card accounts

Enter your company information and fiscal start month

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

1. Select the Gear icon, then select 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 for your QuickBooks Online subscription. 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.
5. Select Save.

Set the Fiscal Start month:

1. Select the Advanced tab on the left-side menu.
2. Select the first month of your fiscal year from the First month of fiscal year drop-down menu.
3. Select Save in that section, then select Done at the bottom-right.

Check your data by comparing reports

We suggest you compare the following reports in QuickBooks Online and in Xero to ensure that your data was transferred correctly.

To verify your reports, run the following reports via This Fiscal Year or This Year in QuickBooks Online:

• Balance Sheet Report
• Trial Balance
• A/R Aging Summary
• A/P Aging Summary
• Profit and Loss

Turn on sales tax

Note: You can skip these steps if your business isn’t registered for Sales Tax.

It’s important that Sales Tax be turned on in QuickBooks Online with the correct CRA Business Number and filing frequency before you start using it:

1. In QuickBooks Online, select Sales Tax from the left-side menu.
2. Follow the prompts to turn on the Sales Tax for your province. Be sure to correctly select your home province as this cannot be corrected after the fact.
3. Enter your CRA Business number and Filing frequency. Set your Accounting method to Accrual unless your accountant has told you otherwise.

Reconcile your bank and credit card accounts

Note: It is critical that you complete this step before connecting your bank/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 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. Select the Gear icon, then select Reconcile.
2. Choose the relevant bank account from the drop-down menu, then select Reconcile Now. A Start Reconciling window displays.
3. Enter your last reconciliation date in the Statement ending date field and enter the Cleared Balance as it was on your last reconciliation in the Ending Balance field. Leave the rest of the form blank.
4. Select OK. A list of transactions displays.
5. 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.
6. Uncheck transactions that are not yet cleared. When the difference is zero you have completed these steps successfully.
7. Select Finish Now.
8. Repeat the process for all bank and credit card accounts in QuickBooks Online.