Can I transfer my data to a new accounting program?

Data Transfer

The process of transferring financial data from one accounting program into a different program is called [simple_tooltip content=’Data migration is the process of selecting, preparing, extracting, and transforming data and permanently transferring it from one computer storage system to another.’]data migration[/simple_tooltip]. The detailed steps for migrating financial data into a new accounting program are as follows:^[1]^[2]

Pick a cut off date – a date before which you will not make any further changes
Decide whether you want to transfer your cleared transactions, your historical data, into the new accounting program (most bookkeepers and accountants recommend that you leave the historical data in the old system or in a backup file and only transfer the uncleared transactions to the new system^[3])
Reconcile all of your accounts up to the cut off date
Back up your data in your old system
Export all uncleared transactions from your old system into a [simple_tooltip content=’A comma-separated values file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. A CSV file stores tabular data in plain text. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas.’]CSV file[/simple_tooltip]
Create a map, a key, by matching each column in the [simple_tooltip content=’A comma-separated values file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. A CSV file stores tabular data in plain text. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas.’]CSV file[/simple_tooltip] to a specific field found in the new accounting program ([simple_tooltip content=’In computing and data management, data mapping is the process of creating data element mappings between two distinct data models.’]data mapping[/simple_tooltip]). If this is done properly, the data will import quickly, and accurately into the new system
Verify the accuracy of the data in the [simple_tooltip content=’A comma-separated values file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. A CSV file stores tabular data in plain text. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas.’]CSV file[/simple_tooltip] and remove any duplicate entries
Upload the [simple_tooltip content=’A comma-separated values file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. A CSV file stores tabular data in plain text. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas.’]CSV file[/simple_tooltip] into the new accounting program
Print the trial balance from the old accounting program as of the cut-off date, and use journal entries to enter the balances from each general ledger account into the new system (keep in mind that the new program may require you to enter the client trust liability accounts in a different way than you did in your old accounting program).^[4]