Switching a client from QuickBooks Online, step by step

Guide · updated 2026-09-10

An afternoon per client, no conversion service. The imports read the Excel reports QuickBooks and Xero already produce.

Before you start

• Pick the cut-over date, normally the first day of a fiscal year or a quarter, and reconcile every bank and card account in QuickBooks up to the day before.
• In ApexLedger, create the company with the same fiscal year end and HST filing frequency.

Export from QuickBooks Online

• Reports, Account List: export to Excel. This is the chart of accounts.
• Reports, General Ledger (or Journal) for the period you want to bring across: export to Excel.
• Xero: Accounting, Chart of accounts, Export; and Reporting, Account Transactions, Export.

Import

• File, Import Data (QuickBooks / Xero), choose the source, and pick the Excel file; accounts first, then transactions. Map any account the importer could not match.
• Customers, vendors and balances arrive with the transactions. QuickBooks Desktop users import the IIF file instead.

Check and go

• Compare the trial balance at the cut-over date with QuickBooks: it should agree to the cent.
• Import the first bank statement (PDF or CSV) and reconcile; set up recurring invoices and bills; add the people on their seats.
• Keep QuickBooks read-only for the period you must retain, then let the subscription lapse.

Every firm's files are different; the Help & Tutor inside ApexLedger walks through each import screen, and the Feedback button reaches us directly if a file will not map.