Switching from another tool: a checklist

A tick-list for moving from another bookkeeping tool, a spreadsheet or paper, from what to download before you leave to the day you turn client emails on.

Use this list alongside Bringing your books in. Tick each item off as you go.

In your old tool, before you leave

• Decide your start date (ideally the first day of your financial year).
• Run and save a profit and loss and a balance sheet up to the day before your start date. You will use the balance sheet for your opening balances, and your accountant will want both.
• Run and save your GST/HST figures for the last period you filed from the old tool.
• Export or print your client list and supplier list with addresses and emails.
• Export or print every invoice and bill still unpaid on the start date.
• Write down your last invoice number and last quote number.
• Save PDFs of anything you may need to show later: past invoices, receipts. Keep them with your records.
• Check how long your old tool keeps your data after you cancel.

In Todah

• Settings → Business: name, address, logo, phone.
• Settings → Books & Tax: sales taxes for your province; Fiscal Year Starts In; GST/HST Registration Number; invoice and quote numbering.
• Settings → Payments: card payments, if you want clients to pay online.
• Clients, Vendors and Expense Categories.
• Products for things you sell often.
• Unpaid bills, then unpaid invoices, with their original dates.
• Journal Entries → Enter Opening Balances: bank balance and owners' contributions as at the day before your start date.
• Bank statements from the start date (or connect a bank on Business and Enterprise), matched to invoices and bills.
• Team members invited, each with the right role.
• Reports checked: receivables and payables match your old lists, and the Balance Sheet as at the day before your start date matches your old one.
• Client emails turned on: reminders and receipts.

After the switch

• File your next GST/HST return from Reports → Accounting & Tax → Sales Tax, for the period starting on your start date.
• Give your accountant your old tool's year-end reports plus Todah's from the start date.
• Cancel your old tool only once you have saved everything above.