Is it easy to switch to Xero?
For many businesses, making the switch to Xero can make finance simpler, more accessible and easier to manage.
But changing accounting software shouldn't start with:
“How do we migrate?”
It should start with:
“Is Xero actually the right system for us?”
At Migrate My Accounts, we specialise in moving businesses from accounting and ERP systems such as Sage 200, Microsoft Business Central, Access Dimensions, Exchequer, Sage 50, Sage Intacct and others into Xero.
We are a Xero Platinum Partner, but that doesn't mean we believe every business should move to Xero simply because it's popular.
The right answer depends on how your finance team works, what you need to report on, how complex your current system is and what you expect Xero to do after the migration.
A successful move isn't just about getting your accounting data into Xero.
It's about making sure the business will work properly once it gets there.
When Does Switching to Xero Make Sense?
Xero can be an excellent fit for businesses that want to simplify their accounting environment and move away from older or more cumbersome systems.
Some of the most common reasons businesses decide to switch include:
Easier day-to-day accounting
Finance teams often want a system that is easier to navigate and less dependent on specialist knowledge for everyday tasks.
Cloud access
Xero is cloud-based, allowing finance teams, business owners, accountants and advisers to access the same accounting system without relying on an on-premise server or remote desktop environment.
Bank feeds and automation
Bank feeds, bank rules, automated matching and integrations can significantly reduce repetitive finance work.
Better collaboration
Multiple users can work within the organisation, making it easier for internal finance teams and external accountants or advisers to collaborate.
A connected app ecosystem
Instead of expecting one accounting system to perform every operational function, Xero can connect with specialist software for areas such as reporting, expenses, payments, inventory, forecasting and consolidation.
Multi-currency accounting
For businesses operating internationally, Xero can support transactions and reporting across multiple currencies.
Moving away from legacy infrastructure
Some businesses simply reach the point where maintaining their existing accounting software, servers, licences, integrations and manual processes costs more time and money than it should.
But none of those benefits automatically mean that Xero is the right choice for every organisation.
When Might Xero Not Be the Right Answer?
Xero is a very capable accounting platform, but it is not a direct replacement for every feature available within a larger ERP or highly customised accounting system.
Before deciding to switch, we would always look at what your existing software currently does for the business.
Complex inventory or manufacturing
If your existing system manages advanced stock control, warehouses, manufacturing, bill of materials or complex order processing, you may require an additional Xero-connected application.
Moving the accounting ledger to Xero without considering these operational processes first can create problems later.
Very detailed departmental or dimensional reporting
Older ERP systems can support large numbers of departments, cost centres, projects, dimensions or analytical fields.
Xero structures this information differently.
Before migrating, you need to decide which information genuinely needs to exist within Xero and how it should be represented.
High transaction volumes
Large transaction volumes don't automatically mean that Xero isn't suitable.
However, the type and frequency of transactions should be reviewed beforehand.
How invoices, payments, journals, bank transactions and other records are created can be just as important as the overall volume.
Specialist ERP functionality
Your existing accounting system may be doing considerably more than accounting.
Before switching, ask:
What else is this system currently responsible for?
That might include:
- stock management
- purchase order processing
- sales order processing
- project accounting
- fixed assets
- workflow approvals
- consolidation
- management reporting
- bespoke integrations
- industry-specific functionality
Those processes need somewhere to go.
Complex group structures
Xero can work extremely well across groups of companies, and we migrate multi-entity groups regularly.
However, group consolidation, intercompany reporting and central management reporting may require additional applications or a carefully designed Xero structure.
We would rather tell a business that Xero isn't the right fit than successfully migrate its data into the wrong accounting system.
7 Questions to Answer Before Switching to Xero
Before deciding how your migration should work, answer these questions first.
1. What does your current system do that you cannot afford to lose?
Think beyond the nominal ledger.
Which reports, processes, integrations or features does your team rely on every month?
Those requirements should influence the future Xero setup.
2. How much historical data do you actually need?
You may choose to migrate:
- opening balances only
- one or two financial years
- several years of transactions
- your complete historical accounting record
There isn't one correct answer.
The right decision depends on how your business uses historical information.
3. Do you use departments, cost centres, projects or dimensions?
These structures often need to be redesigned rather than simply copied from one accounting system to another.
The migration should reflect how you want to report after moving to Xero, not simply reproduce an old structure because it already exists.
4. Do you transact in multiple currencies?
Foreign currency transactions require particular attention during historical migrations.
You may need to preserve original currency values, exchange rates, base currency values and the way historical balances were originally recorded.
5. Do you rely on stock, manufacturing or specialist operational modules?
If the answer is yes, decide what will replace those functions before switching off the old system.
6. What reports must still work after migration?
Ask your finance team what they actually use.
That might include:
- monthly management accounts
- departmental reporting
- aged receivables
- aged payables
- VAT reporting
- project reporting
- historical comparisons
- group reporting
- audit information
If a report matters after migration, the underlying data needed to produce it needs to be considered beforehand.
7. Will you still have access to the old accounting system?
This is an important question that is often overlooked.
If the old software licence, server or database will disappear after go-live, retaining historical accounting information inside Xero may become much more valuable.
What Happens to Your Historical Data When You Switch to Xero?
One of the biggest decisions when moving accounting systems is how much history to bring with you.
Some businesses only need opening balances.
Others want two or three financial years.
And some organisations want their complete accounting history available within Xero.
Full historical migration can be particularly valuable if your team regularly:
- compares current performance against previous years
- investigates old customer or supplier activity
- reviews historical VAT information
- answers audit queries
- analyses departments or cost centres
- checks historical bank transactions
- needs access to old accounting records after cancelling the previous software
For businesses with long-standing customer relationships or complex historical reporting requirements, keeping this information accessible can be particularly important.
Read more about migrating historical accounting data to Xero.
Don't Design Your New Xero Around Your Old Accounting System
This is one of the most important parts of a migration.
Moving to Xero is an opportunity to ask whether your existing accounting structure still makes sense.
Over time, charts of accounts often become cluttered.
Departments are created and abandoned.
Nominal codes get duplicated.
Processes develop because somebody found a workaround ten years ago and everyone simply carried on using it.
A migration gives you the opportunity to review:
- chart of accounts structure
- account naming
- tracking requirements
- departments
- cost centres
- tax rates
- currencies
- reporting requirements
- customer and supplier records
- historical data requirements
The objective shouldn't always be:
“Make Xero look exactly like the old system.”
Sometimes the better question is:
“How would we design this if we were starting again today?”
What We've Learned From More Than 1,000 Accounting Migrations
We've completed more than 1,000 accounting migrations and transferred more than 30 million transactions across businesses ranging from individual companies to complex multi-entity groups.
And one thing becomes very clear when you work with migrations every day:
The technical migration is rarely the most important decision.
The important decisions normally happen beforehand.
You need to establish:
- what information needs to remain accessible
- how the chart of accounts should work
- how departments and cost centres will be represented
- which old processes should be retained
- which processes should be simplified
- which integrations will be needed
- how historical information should be handled
- what the finance team needs to report on after go-live
We don't only look at whether your data can be moved into Xero.
We look at whether the resulting Xero organisation will actually work for the people using it.
What Can you Switch to Xero?
Depending on the source system and your requirements, a historical migration can include much more than opening balances.
This may include:
- general ledger transactions
- sales invoices
- purchase invoices
- credit notes
- customer records
- supplier records
- bank transactions
- payments
- allocations
- VAT information
- foreign currency transactions
- historical exchange rates
- chart of accounts
- departments and cost centres
- tracking information
- attachments
- historical references and transaction numbers
Not every business needs every item migrated.
The migration scope should be based on what will actually be useful after go-live.
Already Decided to Move to Xero?
If you've already decided that Xero is the right accounting platform, the next question is how to migrate from your existing system.
We have specialist migration processes for a wide range of accounting platforms.
Sage 200 to Xero
We specialise in complex Sage 200 migrations, including historical transactions, multi-company groups, foreign currencies, cost centres, departments and attachments.
Microsoft Business Central to Xero
We migrate historical Business Central and Dynamics NAV accounting data into Xero while preserving the information finance teams still need after go-live.
Access Dimensions to Xero
We handle historical Access Dimensions migrations including departmental and cost centre reporting, complex charts of accounts and multi-entity structures.
Sage 50 to Xero
For businesses moving away from Sage 50, we can migrate historical transactions rather than limiting the move to opening balances.
Exchequer to Xero
We migrate historical Exchequer accounting data into Xero, including complex reporting structures and long accounting histories.
Other accounting systems
We also migrate from Sage Intacct, Sage 300, QuickBooks, Pegasus Opera, Twinfield, Farmplan, SAP, Xledger and other accounting platforms.
What Does the Migration Process Look Like?
Once you've decided that Xero is the right destination, the migration itself should be structured and controlled.
1. Understand the existing accounting system
We review how your existing accounting data is structured and identify anything that may need special treatment.
2. Agree the Xero structure
Before importing historical information, we agree how areas such as the chart of accounts, tracking, currencies and reporting should work.
3. Extract the accounting data
We extract the required historical accounting records directly from the source system wherever possible.
4. Transform and migrate the data
The information is restructured into a format that works correctly within Xero.
5. Reconcile the migration
We reconcile migrated balances back to the source accounting system and investigate discrepancies before the migration is considered complete.
6. Support your finance team after go-live
A migration doesn't end when the final transaction is imported.
Questions often arise once the finance team begins using Xero day to day, which is why post-migration support is an important part of the process.
Frequently Asked Questions About Switching to Xero
Can I switch to Xero in the middle of a financial year?
Yes.
A migration does not necessarily need to happen at year-end.
The best conversion date depends on your accounting timetable, VAT periods, reporting requirements and how much historical data you want to retain.
Can you migrate all of my historical accounting data?
In many cases, yes.
We regularly migrate multiple financial years and can also migrate complete accounting histories when required.
The amount of history worth migrating depends on how your business uses historical information.
Do I need to prepare migration templates?
Usually, no.
For many of the accounting systems we work with, we extract and prepare the migration data ourselves.
Will everything in my existing ERP exist inside Xero?
Not necessarily.
Xero is an accounting platform, not a direct replica of every ERP system.
Specialist functionality may need to be replaced by Xero-connected applications or redesigned processes.
That is why understanding the existing system before migration is so important.
Can departments and cost centres be migrated?
Often, yes, but the structure may need to be redesigned to work properly within Xero.
Simply copying an old reporting structure isn't always the best approach.
What happens if something doesn't reconcile?
We investigate it.
Historical accounting systems aren't always as tidy as businesses expect them to be.
Old data can contain rounding differences, incorrect allocations, historic journals, inconsistent exchange rates and other anomalies.
Identifying those issues is part of the migration process.
How long does a Xero migration take if i decide to switch to Xero?
The timescale depends on the source system, transaction volume, complexity and migration scope.
Many standard migrations can be completed within a few working days, while particularly large or complex projects may require longer.
Still Not Sure Whether You Should Switch to Xero?
You don't need to decide based on a software demonstration or a list of features.
Start with your own finance processes.
Ask what works today, what doesn't work, what information you need to retain and what you want the finance function to look like after the change.
Then decide whether Xero fits that requirement.
If it does, we can help you work out the safest way to get there.
Book a free migration consultation
We can review your existing accounting system, migration requirements and historical data before you commit to the move.
Need help planning the move to Xero?
Tell us what you are moving from, what history needs to remain available and what the finance team needs from the new structure.