Import/Export Chart of Accounts

Kalellis44 · ‎March 07, 2025

Trying to export chart of accounts from one company file to another. Online Instructions on website don't work. I am using standalone QuickBooks 2013. I go to File--Utilities--IIF Files, but files are not transferred. What's wrong?

BigRedConsulting

@Kalellis44 RE: I go to File--Utilities--IIF Files, but files are not transferred. What's wrong?

I think because that's describing only 1/2 the process.

Export your Chart of accounts by going to File | Utilities | Export | Lists to IIF files... Then pick the Chart of Accounts (and any other lists you want to export) and then export them to a file. Note the location and name of the file.

Then, to import them, in open the company where you want to import them and pick File | Utilities | Import | IIF files... and pick the file you just created to import it.

View solution in original post

JeraldR

I appreciate the efforts in trying to export your chart of accounts, @Kalellis44.

Make sure you check the Chart of Accounts tick box and click OK to export your IIF files successfully. See screenshot below:

You should be able to see the "Your data has been exported successfully" prompt once done.

If you already tried this, perform the Verify and Rebuild troubleshooting steps. This helps find possible data issues and fix them:

On the upper right, go to Window then select Close All.
Click File, then select Utilities.
Choose Verify Data. If you see QuickBooks detected no problems with your data your data is clean, and you don’t need to do anything else.
If it says Your data has lost integrity, data damage was found in the file. Rebuild your data to fix it.

Once everything is all set, you can now import your IIF file.

If you have any more questions or need help with importing and exporting, feel free to ask here in the Community forum. We're here to assist you.

BigRedConsulting

@JeraldR RE: The reason why data like charts of accounts are not transferred in the other company file is that there is no option to export them from QuickBooks. We can only import them.

That's absolutely wrong. Astoundingly wrong.

BigRedConsulting

@Kalellis44 RE: I go to File--Utilities--IIF Files, but files are not transferred. What's wrong?

I think because that's describing only 1/2 the process.

Export your Chart of accounts by going to File | Utilities | Export | Lists to IIF files... Then pick the Chart of Accounts (and any other lists you want to export) and then export them to a file. Note the location and name of the file.

Then, to import them, in open the company where you want to import them and pick File | Utilities | Import | IIF files... and pick the file you just created to import it.

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Import/Export Chart of Accounts