Moving off QuickBooks,
in the right order.

How do you move from QuickBooks to Bizzle?

1. 1

   Choose the switch date

   A VAT quarter boundary or year end. Splitting a return across two systems is the single most common way a migration turns into an afternoon of reconciliation.

2. 2

   Export from QuickBooks

   Chart of accounts, customers and suppliers, open invoices and bills, and the trial balance at your switch date. Take the attachments too, not only the numbers.

3. 3

   Connect the bank and inbox

   Bizzle reads the feed and your email and rebuilds recent invoices, receipts and payments, which usually covers the last few months without any import at all.

4. 4

   Load contacts and open items

   Anything unpaid on either side has to arrive intact, because it is what you will be chasing and paying next week.

5. 5

   Confirm opening balances

   The trial balance at the switch date becomes your starting position in Bizzle. Worth an hour of your accountant's time to sign off.

6. 6

   Run both for a month

   New activity in Bizzle, QuickBooks kept readable. If the two agree at month end, the migration is done; if not, you have found it early.

7. 7

   Cancel and keep the files

   Close the subscription once the figures agree, and keep the exports — the records outlive the software licence.

What people get wrong

• —If you use the QuickBooks mileage tracker, export the log before you cancel. Mileage records are claimable evidence and are easy to forget.
• —Payroll mid-year is the one migration worth timing carefully — moving payroll between systems part-way through a tax year is possible but fiddly, and a 6 April switch is much cleaner.
• —Your accountant gets a free Bizzle login, so they can watch the switch rather than inherit it.

What it costs you in time

Most small businesses are running within a day. The parallel month afterwards is not work, it is a safety net — you carry on as normal and compare the two at month end.

The step worth paying for is the opening balance. An hour of your accountant's time there saves an unpleasant afternoon later, and they keep a free Bizzle login afterwards.