I’m a big fan of quotes. Great and inspiring quotes. They constantly help me shape my purview everytime we partner with an aspiring entrepreneur somewhere around the US through our cloud-based accounting firm called AdvisorFi. In maintaining best practices when converting business owners into Xero, one superb quote comes to mind by Jack LaLanne, “you put junk in, junk comes out. You put good in, good comes out.” Implementing best practices during the initial conversion of anyone’s accounting and business data will be one the greatest victories of your long-lasting relationship with clients. Anyone will agree, getting off to the wrong start spoils the moment. But with anything in life, the fear of spoiling the moment makes it hard to get started. So, fears aside where do we begin?
The best place to start in implementing best practices during conversion is to take a step back and ask yourself three key questions, (1) how knowledgeable am I in the software I’m converting to, (2) how confident am I about the quality and accuracy of the data I’m about to work with, and (3) what tools do I have handy to make that conversion as frictionless, yet accurate, as possible. In order for a successful conversion to take place, knowing the software you are converting to with confidence in the data being migrated powered by complimentary conversion tools can make the world of difference.
A great way to tackle your first question is by going through Xero’s Migration Certification self-paced online course exclusively offered to all Xero US partners. You’ll want to ensure you have successfully completed the Xero Advisor Certification in order to get the most out of the Xero Migration Certification. Through this migration certification course, you will be empowered with the knowledge to know which clients are ideal for conversion, setting client expectations for Xero conversion, review post-conversion data inside Xero and troubleshoot common conversion pitfalls. This is an excellent way start your best practices by knowing what you are working with.
Secondly, confidence in the quality and accuracy of the business and accounting data can be achieved rolling out two approaches. The first approach is to put your skillset to use to reviewing the data entirely for reasonableness. Ensure the financial statements are reasonable and things look reasonably stated and bank balances from the data match the financial institutions. Next, lean on the community of amazing accounting applications and talent to help you review the quality of the data with amazing Xero Add-On’s like JetConvert. JetConvert has an amazing team of accounting professionals you can access through their premium options. They can also assist with in determining the best time to convert.
Lastly, when you are ready for conversion there are an amazing amount of partnerships you can keep at your side to make the conversion as frictionless and accurate as possible. One you can’t beat the price of is JetConvert who provides free basic migration work from accounting softwares such as Sage 50, QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) and QuickBooks Online (QBO). In addition, Xero itself provides free conversion services when the data is coming from a QBD to Xero approach. Paid for support in converting from QuickBooks Desktop to Xero can found with C2Convert, who provide a deep level of support during the conversion process. Needless to say, if you are in a pinch of trying to sort out what resources you can use during conversion Xero’s Add-On Marketplace is the place to go when in need of handy partners to do some heavy lifting conversion work. Below is a useful chart of app partners you can use to convert certain accounting platforms over to Xero Accounting.
accounting software being converted xero
What’s interesting to realize in Jack LaLanne’s quote is that in the Xero ecosystem “putting good in” is a community event. A community of dedicated professionals who have been-there-done-that and provide those learnings through Xero’s free certification courses. A community of innovative app partners wanting to help convert data in a frictionless manner found on Xero’s Add-On Marketplace. So, as you are evaluating your best practices in how to convert clients from current accounting software over to better cloud-based solutions found in Xero, look no further than the community of professionals and resources around you.
Will Lopz Xero
Author Bio: Will Lopez is Founder of AdvisorFi.com, an online accounting firm for the next generation of business owners. We provide accounting and consulting services that help unify the entrepreneurial endeavor and empower that endeavor to be universally accessible and useful. We also release entertaining YouTube videos on a regular basis to provide business owners learn tough ideas in a fun way. Twitter Handle: @advisorfi