Moving from Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreeAgent: bringing your records in from a CSV

Most of the work in moving to a new system happens before you import anything. If the export is right and the file is clean, the import itself is the easy part. If you skip the checks, you find the problems later, when an invoice number is missing or a customer appears twice.

This guide walks through the steps for moving records from Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreeAgent into BizHub365 using CSV files. It is written for owners who run the business day to day and want to know what to do, in what order, and what to look for.

What to export from your current package

Every package in this list can export data to CSV, though the menu names differ. Look for the export or report options in the section that holds the list you want, such as customers, suppliers, invoices or bank transactions. You will usually find them under a reports, lists or settings menu.

Work out what you need before you click anything. For most small businesses that means your customer list, your invoices and quotes, and your bank transactions if you want them matched against invoices once they are in BizHub365. If you run payroll, you will need your employee details and pay records as well, and those should be exported and checked separately.

Export a full financial year where you can, so that the history makes sense when you look back at it. A single month will leave gaps in your invoice numbering and make it harder to compare totals with your old package later.

Before you import, save a copy of every original file somewhere safe and label it with the date. Keep the original export as it came out of your package, not the version you tidied up. If something goes wrong, you can always go back to it.

Checking the CSV before you import

Open each file in a spreadsheet and look at it properly. Five minutes here saves a lot of tidying later.

Start with the headers. Check that the column names make sense and that each column holds one kind of information. A column called 'Amount' should contain numbers, not a mix of numbers and text such as 'approx' or 'see note'.

Next, check the dates. Some packages export dates as day-month-year and others as month-day-year, and a mix of the two in one file causes real trouble. Pick one format, make sure every row follows it, and check that no dates have been turned into something a spreadsheet has guessed at.

Then look at names and reference numbers. The same customer may appear as 'Smith Garage Ltd', 'Smith Garage' and 'SMITH GARAGE' across different invoices. Decide which version is correct and make the rest match, or you will end up with three customers where you had one. Check that invoice numbers are unique and that nothing is duplicated.

Remove any total rows, subtotal rows and blank lines that the export has added for display. Many reports include a totals line at the bottom, and if it reaches the import it will be read as a record.

Finally, check the currency symbols and decimal points. A figure of 1,250.00 and a figure of 1.250,00 look similar on screen and mean very different things to a import process. Make sure every figure uses the same format.

What comes across and what to check by hand

The import brings across what is in your file, so the quality of the file sets the quality of the result. Which record types the import accepts, and the exact column layout it expects, are set out on the import page in BizHub365. Read that page before you export, so you know what to ask your old package for.

Once the import has run, do not assume everything is correct. Check it against your old package on the same date. Compare the number of customers, the number of invoices, and the total value of invoices in a given period. If the totals do not match, look for the cause before you carry on. A missing row is usually an export problem or a formatting problem, and it is much easier to find now than in three months' time.

Check the things a file cannot always carry across cleanly. Confirm that invoice numbering picks up where your old system left off, so you do not end up issuing a number that has already been used. Look at payment status on open invoices, and check that any partly paid invoices show the right balance. Look at the VAT or tax rates on a sample of invoices and compare them with your old package. Whether a rate is correct for your business is a question for your accountant, not something to settle from a software screen.

If something does not come across as expected, write it down. Keep a short list of what you checked, what you fixed and what you still need to look at. It will be useful if you need to ask for help, and it gives your accountant a clear picture later.

Keeping the old system until you are happy

Do not cancel your old package on the day you import. Keep it running for a set period, long enough to cover at least one full set of invoices, payments and bank activity. This lets you check that new transactions behave the same way in both systems, and it gives you a fallback if you find a gap.

A good way to do this is to pick a cut-off date. Up to that date, the old package is the record. From that date, you issue invoices and record payments in BizHub365, and you check the two against each other at the end of each week. When the totals agree and you have seen the system handle your normal work, you can stop using the old package for new work.

This is a sensible point to try the import properly. The 14-day free trial lets you run a real import with your own files and see how it looks in the day-to-day screens. 14-day free trial. We take your card when you sign up and charge it when the trial ends, so cancel before then to pay nothing. Then 19 pounds a month or 190 pounds a year; the payroll add-on is extra and is not part of the trial. You can start it here: Start your free 14-day trial.

Do not rush the decision to cancel the old package. Once you do, getting back to a clean copy of the records can take time, so keep your exports and copies until you are fully satisfied with the new system.

Telling your accountant

Your accountant or bookkeeper should hear about the move before the import, not after. They will want to know which package you are leaving, when the cut-off date is, and where the records will live from then on.

Send them the original export files, the cleaned versions if you made changes, and a short note of what you checked. Ask them to look at the opening position, meaning the balances and totals you are carrying into BizHub365, and to tell you if anything looks wrong to them. They know your year-end and your filing deadlines, and they can spot a gap that is easy to miss from inside the business.

Agree who does what. You might keep entering invoices and recording payments while your accountant reviews the reports from BizHub365 each month. Or they might prefer to take a copy of the records and work from that. Either way, settle it before the cut-off date, so nobody is working from a different set of numbers.

BizHub365 is software for keeping the records in one place. It does not replace the judgement your accountant brings to the figures, and it is much easier for both of you if the records are clear, consistent and checked from the start.

Moving from one package to another takes some care, but it does not need to be a big project. Export properly, check the files, compare the totals, and keep the old system until you are sure. Then you can get on with running the business.