Do you use QuickBooks Online and have found several limitations? Are you tired of paying a subscription fee that basically costs the same each year as a new purchase of QuickBooks for the desktop (which can last several years)? Then go ahead and convert! Below are some pre-conversion tips and minor issues to be watchful for if you decide to convert your file:

Generate Reports – QuickBooks Online does not have the option to backup data like with the desktop version, so I suggest exporting reports to Excel to compare with your newly converted file. Unfortunately, QuickBooks Online reports are limiting, such as the number of lines that can show up in a single report. When generating a detailed report, make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page to verify that no error message shows up. It says something like there is too much data. To get around this, change the date range to a smaller size, such as quarterly, and export the information to Excel in multiple exports.

Edit Customer:Jobs – QuickBooks Online allows you to make a “customer” into a job and vice versa. But in the desktop version, once a customer is created you cannot make it a job of another customer. So if you have ever wanted to put customers under a single name, the time to do it is before you convert the file. For example, if you have contracts with several sub-divisions but one company makes the payment, jobs would be handy to use.

Set Aside Time – Once you start the conversion process, QuickBooks lets you know that it may take a couple hours to a couple of days to convert the data. You receive an email with a link to the converted file and must download the new file. The new file takes at least 20 minutes to magically become a QuickBooks desktop file.

Verify Data Post-Conversion – According to the instructions provided by Intuit, if there are duplicate chart of accounts after the conversion, the duplicated account should show up with an OE next to it. However, I have not seen that happen. Instead, I have seen the same exact name appear. This can cause an error with the program and make other functions of the program not work properly. Verify your data after the conversion to see if you receive an error message stating that duplicate list items exist.

Memorized Transactions & Reports – Memorized activities and reports do not come through with the conversion. You have to manually re-create them. If you want to set-up a memorized invoice, do not use a previous invoice as a template. Instead, create the invoice from scratch and then memorize it. For some reason, the first line of the Bill To address does not show up on invoices created in QuickBooks Online that were converted into the desktop version. By creating the invoice from scratch, you will avoid having a truncated address appear on the Bill To section of your invoice.

Bank and Credit Card Reconciliations – Unfortunately, after the conversion all transactions are “uncleared” so it appears as if you never reconciled your bank statement or credit card statement. The good news is that you do not have to reconcile each month again. Instead, you can reconcile it all at one time based on the last reconciliation you completed.

Work With a QuickBooks ProAdvisor – No, I am not saying this because I am a Diamond Level ProAdvisor and want you to use my services. However, if you have a ProAdvisor help you with the conversion, depending on the level of support the ProAdvisor has (I have unlimited phone and chat support at no extra charge), weird issues may be able to be resolved on-site immediately. If you do the conversion by yourself and have strange issues after the conversion, you would have to purchase Intuit support services, which is usually via the telephone and not the best service. Sometimes you have to wait 20 minutes to get a telephone support specialist. The online chat support service available to some ProAdvisors is much more efficient (1-5 minute wait time for an agent), and therefore is the most cost effective.

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