To merge multiple company files, the chart of accounts in both files cannot have the same account name with different types. For example, if one company file has an account with name 'Accounts Receivable' of type AccountsReceivable, the second company cannot have an account name with the name 'Accounts Receivable' of another type. To resolve this issue, rename one of the accounts to 'Accounts Receivable1'.
Also, only one company file can have Payroll transactions. If both company files have payroll, the payroll transactions cannot be merged. Other than that, all transactions types can be merged.
What data cannot be merged?
Payroll checks are merged as regular checks and won't appear in payroll reports or W2 calculations. This is because QuickBooks does not allow payroll checks to be transferred from one file to another. Also time activities are not merged.
Bank Reconciliations cannot be merged because QuickBooks does not support the transfer of Bank Reconciliations. You will need to do a single reconciliation for each bank account after the merge.
Data files with negative inventory and assembly builds do not merge correctly because there is insufficient quantity on hand to build the assemblies and they transfer over as pending builds.
Data files with sales tax items and sales tax groups that were modified after their initial use may not be transferred correctly since QuickBooks does not store historical rate changes.
Data files with group items that were modified after their initial use may not be transferred correctly since QuickBooks does not store historical group modification data.
Templates cannot be transferred from secondary files to the primary file as QuickBooks does not support the transfer of templates. (However, you can manually export templates and import them into the merged file after the merge).
Attachments are not transferred because QuickBooks does not support the transfer of attachments.
Customer Notes and To-Do lists are NOT merged.
Custom fields in transactions are NOT merged from the secondary file(s) to the primary file.
Memorized Transaction definitions from secondary files are not transferred, and will need to be memorized again.
Memorized Reports from secondary files are not transferred, and will need to be memorized again.
Budgets/Forecasts from secondary files are not transferred, and will need to be memorized again.
Users from secondary files are not transferred and will need to be re-entered.
Why reports may differ after a merge?
Financial reports in the merged file may be different from the source files i.e. you cannot add two reports from the original files together and expect them to match the same report in the merged file for any merge that involves files with items. The accounts on items in a secondary file can be changed after they are used without changing prior transactions. When they are imported they all post to the account currently selected on the item. Items can also have the same name in two different files but post to different accounts.
How Lists are Merged?
ALL Lists (customers, vendors, accounts, items, employees, other names) with the same name are merged. For example, if the Primary file has a Bank Account with the name 'Chase Bank' and the Secondary file also has a Bank Account with the name 'Chase Bank', the merged file will have a single Bank Account with the name 'Chase Bank' regardless of if the account numbers were different.
Lists with different names are retained in the merged file. For example, if the Primary file has a Bank Account with the name 'Chase Bank #1' and the Secondary file has a Bank Account with the name 'Chase Bank #2', the merged file will have both Bank accounts regardless of if the account numbers were the same.
If a list name in the secondary file clashes with a list name in the primary file, the name in the secondary file will be made unique for the merge. For example, if there was a customer in the Primary file with the name 'ACME Inc', and a vendor in the secondary file with the name 'ACME Inc', the name from the secondary file will be renamed to 'ACME Inc-V' for the merge.
Assigning Classes
Classes can be assigned to the primary and secondary files prior to the merge. You can then run financials (P&L by class, Balance Sheet by class, etc.) in the merged file, and the reports will exactly match the original files. Note that if classes are added, all transactions in each file will be overwritten by a single class for each data file. For example, all transactions in the Primary file will be assigned a class 'PRIMARY', transactions in secondary file 1 will be 'SECONDARY 1', etc.
