Converting QuickBooks Self-Employed to QBO

by

A while back, I wrote an article discussing that I had started trying QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) at the request of a client. After a few short weeks of using QBSE, the client decided to go ahead and use QuickBooks Online because the additional functionality better fits his business needs.

So my client's question was, "Can we convert my QBSE data to QBO Essentials?"

My only answer was, "Yes and No."  Let me explain.

Currently, there's no way to automatically upgrade or migrate a QBSE account to a QBO account. That means you must export data from QBSE and import it into a QBO version.

After doing a little research and testing, I figured out you can use the following process for conversion:

Export QuickBooks Self-Employed Data

Step 1 - Start in QBSE, then select Transactions from the Navigation bar

Step 2 - Select the option to Download Transaction into a CSV file

Step 3 - Name and Save the CSV file

Import Data and Map Appropriately into QuickBooks Online

Step 1 – Open a new QBO Essentials or Plus company

Step 2 – Select Banking from the Navigation Bar

Step 3 – Choose Upload File

Step 4 – Browse to the location of your saved CSV file of downloaded QBSE transactions

Step 5 – Map the CSV Data from QBSE into QBO, confirm mapping of column names for import

Step 6 – Perform the necessary Account Mapping to map the transactions into the QBO Chart of Accounts. QBSE uses “categories” instead of a real Chart of accounts. These “categories” do not convert, so just like when using bank feeds, you'll need to map the transactions to the appropriate Chart of Accounts in QBO.

Follow-thru and Take-away

Don’t forget to cancel the paid or trail subscription of QBSE. Billing information can be accessed through the Gear icon of the QBSE data file.

So what's my takeaway from my QBSE client experience?

It's really hard to say how I feel about QBSE, but I recognize it really was too light on features for my client.

I also can say I'm not thrilled by the fact that converting a QBSE client to QBO is not seamless, but requires exporting, importing and a lot of mapping to make the transition. Still, it's possible to convert a client from the QBSE platform to QBO without loosing all their data.

As a result, I think I’m back to my original thoughts on QuickBooks Self-Employed. If the user is not using any type of accounting system, QBSE is at least a start. But for the money and time saved, your clients probably are better getting the online version, which will satisfy all their needs.

It’s like, why eat Jell-O when you know you want cake?