We are aiming to cover all the possible scenarios of your source accounting system when converting it to the new one. Nevertheless, different systems subtly vary in how they handle accounting and so, it is not always possible to convert everything and for all your accounting period. Hence it is important you take your time to understand the limitations of our service.
Learn more about conversion limitations for all systems.
Apart from the limitations listed in the article linked above, Xero also has the following ones:
Multi-currency
We do not support multi-currency conversions for Xero. All data will be converted into the home currency of the company. Learn more about converting from multi-currency here.
Journal Merge
Xero keeps a detailed journal history for all operations. Because of an overabundance of information on Customers/Suppliers level, we merge journals related to Credits, Prepayments and Overpayments to keep an accurate balance on all accounts. This means that older period reports might not represent the correct balance at that time even if all the current and outstanding balances are fine.
Company Information
Dataswitcher can only import the following company information - company email, company phone number, and company address. Other company details can be updated manually after conversion is completed.
Chart of Accounts
Linked Account IDs: Having lots of linked Account IDs in your Xero Chart of Accounts may cause the conversion to fail.
Renaming Account IDs: You may rename normal balance sheet accounts but renaming the system accounts (Retained Earnings, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable etc.) through the transaction history can cause issues such as suspense accounts showing up as Customers or Vendors in QuickBooks Online
For more information, please refer to QuickBooks Online Chart of Accounts.
Categories and Options (Locations and Classes)
Xero uses tracking categories and options instead of department codes or cost centres. These will become Locations and Classes in QuickBooks Online. In QuickBooks Online, it is only possible to allocate one Department/Location per transaction. For this reason, when 'locations and classes' is selected as an additional option, Dataswitcher can only support one Location per invoice or per bill. Hence, invoices and bills migrated over to QuickBooks Online will show only one Location. Classes, on the other hand, will be assigned per transaction line.
Learn more about locations and classes here.
AR (Accounts Receivable) and AP (Accounts Payable) Transactions
Some accounts receivable and payables transactions might not be posted as expected due to the API differences between Xero and QuickBooks Online. During conversion, the pre-check and post-check validation might show Xero contacts (Employees, archived contacts) as QuickBooks Online suspense contacts (zCustomers & zVendors). If this occurs, you might find balances in zCustomers or zVendors.
Paid invoices or bills may also be posted in QuickBooks Online as open or overdue invoices and a post-conversion task will be required to close and match these items. Please note though that the end balance for each customer and supplier will still be correct. Overall, the end result of the migration should be ok.
Furthermore, Dataswitcher will only migrate customer and supplier records for those with whom you have financial transactions within the conversion period. This ensures that your new QuickBooks account will have the contact details of those organizations you have recently done business with. This will also allow Dataswitcher to complete the conversion as quickly as possible and maintain the quality of your data.
Inventory items (Products and Services)
The Dataswitcher conversion wizard supports Xero files with up to 1,000 inventory items. If you have more than this, then you can import or create them manually in QuickBooks Online once your conversion is complete.
Dataswitcher will convert the following data related to inventory items:
- Name
- SKU
- Type
- Sales Description
- Sales price
- Cost
- Qty on Hand
Fiscal Years
The Dataswitcher conversion wizard will only convert two fiscal years of Xero data by default. You can add more years for a fee. If you decide not to purchase additional fiscal years, then any transactions from the remaining years on file will be consolidated into an automatically calculated opening balance.
GST
GST values: GST is converted as a line item. This increases the accuracy of your conversion.
GST/tax default codes: Any default GST/tax codes assigned to customers or suppliers in Xero are not converted.
A GST adjustment is required, of which a detailed instruction can be found on this page.
Transactions posted to Xero after conversion is started
Dataswitcher can only convert transactions that are in Xero at the time the conversion is initiated through the Dataswitcher conversion wizard. After successfully connecting your Xero file for the conversion, you should not enter any new transactions in Xero as they will not be converted. Furthermore, Dataswitcher should not be disconnected from Xero while the conversion is under process and not yet completed.
Transactions posted to QuickBooks Online after conversion is started
Transactions posted to QuickBooks Online after initiating the conversion through the Dataswitcher conversion wizard will likely be deleted and can even cause the conversion to fail. Therefore, you should not use QuickBooks Online until you are notified by email that your conversion is completed and available for review. Dataswitcher should also not be disconnected from QuickBooks Online while the conversion is under process and not yet completed.
Dataswitcher can be disconnected from Xero and QuickBooks Online only after conversion is completed and conversion results are reviewed.
Xero data that will not be converted
The following data types cannot be converted:
- Budgets
- Memorized transactions
- Invoice template and other templates
- Jobs that are not attached to transactions
- File Attachments
- Draft or Unposted Journals
- Sales orders, quotes, and proposals
- Closed or partially closed estimates and purchase orders
- Deleted, memorized, or recurring transactions, if any
- Bank reconciliation history
- Fixed Asset Management, if any
- Payroll Information, if any (employee details, pay calendars, tax information and pension, etc.)
- Project Details, if any (quotes and estimates, tasks and expenses, profitability, etc.)