In recent years, accountants from all specializations have been seeing a major migration from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. This is especially true for those working in the field of construction accounting. You might be asking yourself, why? Why migrate? What are the benefits behind this? Is it difficult to make the switch? How do I convince my clients to cross over, and how can it be done as seamlessly as possible?
Let’s start with why.
The answer is simple. It allows for more efficiency in the way we work. We don’t have to drive to anyone’s office or kick anybody off a computer, we’re able to work simultaneously and collaborate. It allows us to work faster in real time. Not only that, but for those of us working in construction accounting, the need to have project reporting at your fingertips is a must. Through the QuickBooks Online projects feature, it will allow you to see a project profitability snap shot from one screen. The project feature allows you to see your hourly labor costs associated with each job. Being able to see labor allocations on projects is crucial to understanding your job profitability. The reporting customization feature and spreadsheet sync tools will also be a great resource for getting what you need out of QBO. Oftentimes this can be a big hesitation for people when moving to QBO, the reporting. However, the depth of reporting and customization you have in QuickBooks Online will far outweigh what Desktop offers. The Accountant Toolbox tool is another key feature that can save you time on reviewing account classifications, reclassifying transactions, and easily seeing a client request.
Other Key Benefits.
- No backup required
- Online Banking sync
- Overall look and interface
- Best 3rd party integration/sync
- Multiple users using simultaneously
Convincing your clients to cross over.
Now that you are convinced, let’s talk about how to ease your clients mind and confidently assure them that this is the best move for them. Start by identifying your timeline. Be realistic!! Change doesn’t happen overnight and so preparing the client for what it will look like after the conversion can ensure a good client experience. Plan your timeline around items like payroll processing, bill payment processing and client invoicing so you don’t disrupt any important bookkeeping tasks that can jeopardize the clients reputation.
So, your clients are onboard with migrating, what next?
Once your clients are open to the idea, hold a training PRIOR to converting where they are able to get a navigation crash course in QuickBooks Online and see for themselves what it will look like going forward. Oftentimes we make change seem worse than it actually is, so being able to put a visual to what you can expect can take away some fear of the unknown.
*After you show them around, give them the link to the QBO Test Drive account so they can play around and familiarize themselves with it on their own time.
You’re essentially selling the outcome. It’s changing the entire mindset of staying in the past versus moving towards the future in accounting. Your clients need to realize that you’re the person that they look to as a resource and for advice, and that you will be there to support and guide them through the change.
Time to migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online
Migrating your data from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online isn’t as hard as you may think. In fact, it’s a pretty simple process (as long as you don’t run into any minor hurdles along the way).
Step One:
The first step is to purchase your QBO subscription and identify what level the client will need to meet their expectations. I recommend that whoever is doing the conversion be the one to purchase the QuickBooks Online subscription. Also, do not purchase the subscription too far in advance, you want to purchase it within a week or two of doing the conversion.
Step Two:
Next you will want to retrieve a backup Desktop file to be hosted locally on the computer you are performing the conversion. Then you need to open the file and perform a ‘rebuild’ of data.This will help catch any errors that occur within the downloading and reopening process from your clients computer to yours. Once the rebuild is complete and any errors have been fixed you can now move it to the online file you created. To do this you hit ctrl + 1, and a pop up will appear. Then you hit ctrl + b + q and close the information window. When you close you will have another window pop up that will walk you through the conversion steps. Once all the steps have been completed and the file is converting to online, I like to go in and save reports. Save the P&L, Balance Sheet, AP & AR reports for all dates in accrual forma, these can be used to compare against the same reports out of QBO to verify numb You will also want to save the reconciliation reports for all accounts as these won’t be available in QBO. Next I save the active customer, vendor and chart of account lists. For more migration resources the QuickBooks team offers a migration tool kit to help accountants through the process.
Step Three:
Once the file has been migrated you will get a summary report for the conversion telling you what information did not convert over and any account balance discrepancies that are off from QBD to QBO. Reviewing the spreadsheet and the multiple tabs is the key piece of the conversion. Keep in mind that you will want to make sure you have handled any and all of the discrepancies before you invite the client to the file.
A very common challenge in conversion is handling the billable charges. In QuickBooks Desktop, expenses that are tagged to a customer get automatically marked as billable. You may have never noticed these items before because QBD allows you to still make customers and accounts inactive with billable charges. QBO does not, so therefore any customers or accounts that had billable charges will be made active again in QBO making it difficult to edit your chart of accounts and customer lists. Same goes for the chart of accounts. If the edits are not handled ahead of time, you could have difficulty in the online version.
*There is a link that will allow you to mass remove billable expenses (not billable time) that could assist you with this. But ultimately this can be a very time consuming portion of the process.
With a proper plan, realistic timeline, clear expectations and the ability to handle any adjustments, switching over can be a fairly smooth process! Making the switch for your firm and clients from Desktop to Online will be a game changer for the way you work. No more headache and hassle! You’ll have every client right at your fingertips and be able to start taking advantage of all the great 3rd party apps that integrate with QBO. The tools, resources and support you have with QuickBooks Online will be all you need to get the ball rolling. Start getting your time back so you can work smarter not harder!
