What happens when I need to change my accounting software?
Over time, you may come to a point where you need to change the way you do things. Naturally these things happen as your business needs change as well. One of these changes may involve switching your accounting software package. Lightyear can support your transition between softwares so it becomes one less thing to worry about.
Please read the full article before proceeding to understand the end to end process. This will make the transition easier for you moving forward.
Note: If you are upgrading between MYOB Desktop / MYOB AccountRight / MYOB Essentials however, this upgrade will create duplicated Supplier Cards and GL codes. Please reach out to our Support Team to coordinate this so we are able to provide support through this transition.
Best practices
For ease of reference, I will refer to the OLD software as the one you have been using vs the NEW software as the one you will be changing to. e.g. If I am switching from Xero to QBO, then Xero would be my OLD software whilst QBO will be my NEW software.
- Agree on a cut off date for bills that will be processed via the OLD software. e.g. if I want to process everything until end of the current month.
- Before you disconnect from your OLD software, ensure all bills in Lightyear that need to be processed up to the cut off date, have been exported to the OLD software. This will then make for clean reporting for end of month transactions and a smoother switch.
DO NOT SWITCH BETWEEN OLD AND NEW ACCOUNTING SOFTWARES BACK AND FORTH REPEATEDLY DURING THIS PERIOD. WE ADVISE THAT YOU EXPORT ALL BILLS REQUIRED TO CUT OFF DATE AND THEN MAKE A CLEAN SWITCH OVER TO THE NEW SOFTWARE AS THIS MAY CORRUPT YOUR DATA.
Special Notes
If you're migrating files from the same brand of software, e.g. a version of MYOB Desktop to MYOB AccountRight/Essentials, or Xero to another Xero file for a clean start - take note in this section! If you're changing software packages completely e.g. Xero to Netsuite, you can skip to the next section >> Back in Lightyear below.
Because you are essentially importing records from the same software, Lightyear retains the old and new records, thus appearing to create duplicated records. If you are planning to use the same GL code list (or even similar), you can update your old GL Codes list with a "z." at the start of the Description to differentiate between the old and new set of records. This can be seen as an indicator this GL code is to be retired and no longer used. As a safety step, you can head to Settings > Accounting Software > Supplier Cards, GL Codes, Tax rates, Categories (if in use) to mark your existing accounting software records as "not in use" to disable these as options for coding moving forward > Save
That way, when you import the new list of GL Codes, they will default to in use so they appear in your coding list as expected from the new file. Read on to begin...
Back in Lightyear
- Mark your existing accounting software records as not in use, i.e. your Supplier Cards, GL Codes, Tax rates, Categories (if in use).
- Disconnect your OLD software - Settings > Accounting Software > "Disconnect" and refresh your page.
- Connect to your NEW software and import your Supplier Cards, GL Codes, Tax Rates, Categories etc.. See our Accounting Software Integrations for your relevant connection guide
- At this stage, don't forget to set your default tax rates for your NEW software
- Head over to Suppliers (truck icon). Here you will see your existing Lightyear Supplier Profiles, but the supplier defaults would have been linked to your OLD software. You will now need to update the supplier defaults to your NEW software i.e. Accounting Supplier Card, GL codes, Tax Rates, Categories etc.
- If there are any bills sitting in your Approvals workflow, you can now select "More > Reapply map" to apply the new supplier settings. Any new incoming bills moving forward will flow straight through to your Approvals tab as you have come to know and expect.
- For those with Product Settings, you will also need to review Products for line item default settings. Head to Suppliers > Products to import new GL codes or you can code these as they come through in the Approvals tab.
With a bit of refresher training for the team whilst managing the transition, this means a few less things for you to worry about:
- You'll still keep all your documents in one place - in the Lightyear Archive
- No need to create new accounts just because you're changing softwares
- No need to send out new communications to Suppliers about change of email addresses
If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact our support team.
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