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Hero ACMA CGMA · CIMA chartered since 2013

Systems · Fixed price · 1 to 5 days

Accounting system migration,reconciled to the penny

In short

Accounting system migration for UK small businesses moving between Sage, QuickBooks, Xero and FreeAgent, or off spreadsheets: chart of accounts mapped, opening balances, open invoices and bills, bank balances, VAT position and history carried across, and the old system's closing trial balance agreed to the new one's opening balance, to the penny. From £995 fixed, delivered in one to five days at a VAT quarter end, by onboarding form and email.

Software vendors' conversion tools move data. They do not check that what arrived agrees to your bank statements, your last VAT return and your fixed-asset register, and they do not fix the coding that was wrong in the old system. I do, and I give you the reconciliation pack to prove it. Finance-data migration for an ERP project is from £2,495.
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Stuart Wilson, ACMA CGMA
Stuart Wilson, ACMA CGMA Chartered Management Accountant · CIMA since 2013

What moves, and what it costs

Fixed prices, excluding VAT, agreed in writing before work starts. Menu checked 19 October 2026.
MigrationPriceScopeDelivery
Sage, QuickBooks, Xero or FreeAgent to any of the othersfrom £995One company, one currency, opening balances, open items, bank balances, VAT position, current year in detail, prior year as monthly balances1 to 5 days, cut-over at a VAT quarter end
Spreadsheets to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreeAgentfrom £995Chart of accounts built, balances and open items loaded, current year brought in, reconciled to the bank statements1 to 5 days
Several companies, several currencies or longer historyquotedPriced per company and per year of detail, in writing, before startingagreed in the quote
Finance-data migration for an ERP projectfrom £2,495Ledgers, open items, fixed assets and history extracted, cleaned, mapped, loaded and reconciled to the project plan. Not the implementation.to the project's cut-over dates

Specific routes with their own notes: QuickBooks to Xero and Sage to Xero.

What "reconciled to the penny" covers

Trial balance

The old system's closing trial balance on the cut-over date agrees line by line to the new system's opening trial balance, after the chart of accounts mapping.

Bank

Every bank, card and payment-platform balance agrees to the statement on the cut-over date, with unpresented items listed.

Debtors and creditors

The open sales invoices and supplier bills loaded into the new system add up to the control accounts, customer by customer and supplier by supplier.

VAT

The VAT control account agrees to the last return filed, so the first return from the new system starts clean under Making Tax Digital.

Fixed assets and payroll

The asset register and accumulated depreciation are carried across; payroll year-to-date figures are brought over if payroll moves in the same tax year.

The pack

A reconciliation pack showing each of the above, plus a recorded walkthrough of what changed in the chart of accounts and why.

How it works

  1. Send your details. Which system you are on, which you are moving to, how many companies and currencies, and when your VAT quarter ends. I reply within one working day with a fixed price in writing.
  2. Onboarding form and access. Read-only access to the old system, admin access to the new one, and the last VAT return, bank statements and fixed-asset register.
  3. Map and clean before loading. The chart of accounts is mapped, duplicate contacts merged and miscoded items corrected in the extract, so the mess does not move with the data.
  4. Load and reconcile. Opening balances, open items and history are loaded; the trial balance, bank, debtors, creditors and VAT are reconciled and the pack is written.
  5. Cut over at the quarter end, with the new software connected to HMRC for the next VAT return, and a recorded walkthrough so you know where everything is.

Where this credential comes from

Earlier in my career I moved fund accounting off manual spreadsheets and onto the Linedata and Thomson Reuters fund-accounting platforms, and I have done other accounting-software migrations since. For seven years as Group Finance Director for a portfolio of SMEs I set up the accounting for businesses as they joined the group. The migrations here are the same discipline at small-business scale: map, clean, load, reconcile, and do not go live until it agrees.

Not sure whether to move at all? The Finance Systems Audit (£1,995) answers that first, and its fee is credited against monthly work.

Questions people ask

How much does an accounting system migration cost?

From £995, fixed in writing after a short scoping form: one company, one currency, up to two years of history and the current open items. Several companies, several currencies or longer history are quoted on top. Finance-data migration for an ERP project is from £2,495. Prices exclude VAT.

How long does it take?

One to five days of work once I have access to the old system and the new one is set up, timed so the cut-over falls at a VAT quarter end. The calendar time depends on when the quarter ends and how quickly the old system's exports can be run.

What does 'reconciled to the penny' mean?

The closing trial balance of the old system agrees exactly to the opening trial balance of the new one; every bank account agrees to the statement on the cut-over date; the debtors and creditors ledgers agree to the lists of open invoices and bills; and the VAT control account agrees to the last return. You get a reconciliation pack showing each of those.

Should I move all my history?

Usually opening balances, open invoices and bills, and the detail of the current financial year, with monthly balances for the year before. Keep a full export or read-only access to the old system, because HMRC expects records to be kept for six years from the end of the financial year they relate to.

When in the year should I switch?

At a period end, ideally the end of a VAT quarter, so each VAT return comes from one system. The new software must be connected to HMRC for Making Tax Digital before the first return it files, and payroll year-to-date figures must be carried over if you move payroll in the same tax year.

Can you move us off spreadsheets?

Yes. A spreadsheet migration starts the same way: I build the chart of accounts, load the opening balances and open items, bring in the current year's transactions, and reconcile to the bank statements. Earlier in my career I moved fund accounting off manual spreadsheets onto the Linedata and Thomson Reuters platforms, which is the same job at a larger scale.

Do you implement ERP systems?

No. For an ERP project I do the finance data: extracting, cleaning, mapping, loading and reconciling the ledgers, open items, fixed assets and history to the project's cut-over plan. The implementation itself, the modules and the training are the ERP partner's job.

Get a fixed price for your business

Send your details in a five-minute form. I reply by email within one working day with the price and scope in writing. No call needed.

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