Limitations when converting to Xero

Please understand that it is impossible to make an exact copy of your data in a different accounting system. There will be some information that we can’t convert and some information will look different when converted. You can be confident, however, that your financial data will be accurate overall. Expand any of the topics marked with “+” to read more about them.

Foreign Currency

Converts accurately but in home Currency

Data which includes foreign currencies will have all foreign currency amounts translated to the home currency values.

Data that includes foreign currencies may not convert successfully. We may not be able to fix any unsuccessful conversions.

General

Causes of complications

Please be aware that it may cause complications (we’re unable to fix) with your conversion if your source software contains in excess of any of the following in the conversion period:

  • 40,000 combined invoices, bills and credits
  • 40,000 bank transactions
  • 2,500 credit notes allocated to invoices
  • 10,000 contacts
  • 600 chart of account codes

QuickBooks allows for bills to be paid from suppliers different to that named on the bill itself. When converting to other systems this is not supported and will result in differences we’re unable to fix.

Sage 50 removes the links between invoices/bills and their payments on old transactions. Where this occurs we’re unable to associate and allocate the invoices/bills with their payment. Both should be converted (so the balance is correct) but some invoices/bills will be unpaid in Xero where they were paid in Sage. These will need to be manually allocated.

If you’re converting from QuickBooks then payroll data may cause problems with the conversion.

Also note that due to a limitation with QuickBooks Online, transactions using a Product/Service Stock Assets may not convert with the correct account code.

If there are journals manually entered in Sage Desktop that have the same “Ledger year end” description as the system journals, we may not be able to convert these. Any differences will be displayed once the conversion completes and you may complete the Fix It For Me form but adjusting for these isn’t included in our service unless extremely simple.

What data will be converted?

We will transfer the following data to Xero:

  • Customer Details
  • Supplier Details
  • Chart of accounts
  • Account balances
  • Customer balances
  • Supplier balances
  • Individual transactions in the conversion period

It’s not possible for Movemybooks to provide custom mappings for any fields.

What data won't be converted?

We only currently convert the core accounting information and not the following types of data:

  • Sage archives or backup data that isn’t “open” or “live”
  • QuickBooks Desktop Classes / Locations
  • Sage Projects/Departments
  • Budgets
  • Stock/Inventory Items
  • Product/Service/Sales Items
  • Sub-account structure of the chart of accounts (Xero has no sub-accounts)
  • Fixed Asset Registers
  • Sales and Purchase Orders
  • Quotes/Estimates/Draft invoices or bills
  • Bank statements
  • Memorised Transactions
  • Default nominal codes, payment terms or tax rates
  • Custom tax rates (see workarounds used)
  • Invoice and other Templates
  • Timesheets/Time Records
  • Payroll and Employee Records
  • Accounts that have never had any transactions
  • Tax journals made to non-system accounts
  • Transactions after the “Convert To” date
  • Deleted or cancelled transactions
  • Nil value invoice line items
  • File attachments
  • Unpaid expense claims

Workarounds

Transaction types we can't convert

There are certain transaction types that Xero does not allow us to convert. We try to create transactions in Xero that match as closely as possible the transaction in the original software, although sometimes we have to use a different transaction type. This can result in invoices/bills showing as unpaid in Xero where the original transaction was paid.

Bank and Credit Cards
Credit card charge transactions are converted as transaction type Payment.

Credit Card and PayPal accounts can only be converted as Xero Bank Accounts. Credit card and PayPal bank feeds may not be available.

Taxes
Transactions with custom tax rates or unusual HST/GST/PST/RST/QST transactions will be converted as closely as possible but are likely to be different. We may use a different rate of tax or No Tax and then add an adjustment to correct the tax amount if necessary. This could result in some boxes in Tax Returns being incorrect even if the Balance Sheet amount to be paid or refunded is correct.

System tax accounts are merged to become a single tax account as required by Xero.

For more information please refer to our post-coversion tasks page and also the Tax Returns Don’t Agree page.

Receivables and Payables
If you have multiple Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable accounts in your chart of accounts then these will be merged into one single Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable account in Xero.

If you’re converting from Sage and “Batch invoice” was used to enter invoices, each line will be converted as a separate invoice (irrespective of the reference) as Sage stores the data this way.

No Name Transactions
Some desktop transactions can be entered without contact details that are required for the same transaction in Xero. In these instances we create and use a “No Name” contact in Xero.
Rounding/Decimal places
Xero defaults to rounding up. This may be different to the software system you’re converting from. If the sum of a line in Xero is calculated differently to that in the source then the quantity and unit amount will be dropped from Xero and only the line total will be converted.

As above, transactions with unit amounts to more than two decimal places will be entered as the line item total.

Things you may need to tidy post-conversion

We do provide details of our recommended post-conversion tasks but below is a summary. If performing a foreign currency conversion there may be additional tasks you wish to complete. Please refer to the foreign currency section above for more information.

Reconciling Bank Transactions
We are unable to mark all bank transactions as reconciled during our conversion process. Once your conversion is complete, you may need to mark some bank transactions as reconciled, leaving only the unpresented items as unreconciled and agreeing with the statement balance.
Check the Tax Codes for each of your chart of accounts items
Our software tries to work out what the Tax Codes for each account should be, based on the transactions posted to that account in your data, but you should check and amend them if needed before working in your new Xero company.
Filing Tax Returns
Returns for earlier periods may need to be “Finalised” in Xero, to make sure that old transactions do not appear in the next Tax Return report. You should double check any Tax Return you produce in Xero that contains converted data and that you intend to submit.
Allocating payments to invoices or bills
Due to some of the above mentioned workarounds and restrictions it may be that we’ve been unable to allocate payments to all invoices or bills. Balances owing by customers or owing to suppliers will be correct despite the possibility of some invoices not showing as paid. A transaction with journals equivalent of the payment will have been entered but not allocated.