Switch to stub from another accounting app

Switching accounting systems sounds like a project, but in stub it's four steps — and if you pick your date well, most of the history stays behind where it belongs. Whether you're coming from another app, a spreadsheet or a shoebox of statements, the moves are the same: pick a date, export, set up, check. Work through them in order and you'll be running your business in stub with numbers you can trust. (The imports and reports this guide leans on are part of premium.)

Step 1: Pick your switch date

Choose a clean cutoff before you export anything. Everything before it stays in your old system; everything after it lives in stub.

• Best dates: the start of your financial year, a new quarter, or a new month.
• Avoid mid-month: a cutoff mid-period makes VAT returns and bank reconciliation harder than they need to be.

Tip: Switching at financial year end means you only bring across closing balances, not years of history.

Step 2: Export from your old system

1. Reconcile your bank accounts. Match your old system's bank balances to your statements to the cent before you export anything.
2. Export your Trial Balance as at your switch date — that's the report listing the closing balance of every account. It becomes your opening balances in stub.
3. Export your unpaid customer invoices — who owes you, how much, and when it is due.
4. Export your unpaid supplier bills.
5. Export your customers and suppliers — names, email addresses, phone numbers and tax numbers.
6. Export your products and services — names, prices and descriptions.
7. File any outstanding VAT returns in your old system so your tax periods don't overlap.

Step 3: Set up stub

1. Check your business details. Go to Settings → Business and confirm your name, registration number and tax numbers. Then go to Settings → Finance and set your Operating currency and Financial year start.
2. Import your customers. Go to Customers, click the ··· menu, click Import, and drop in your file.
3. Import your suppliers. Go to Suppliers, click ··· → Import.
4. Import your products. Go to Products & Services, click ··· → Import.
5. Connect your bank. Go to Settings → Bank Accounts, click Bank account, and choose Connect.
6. Enter your opening balances. Go to Settings → Finance, and click Edit next to Opening balances. Set the date to your switch date and enter the lines from your Trial Balance. See Set opening balances.
7. Add your unpaid invoices and bills. Enter them in Sales and Expenses so you can track and settle them in stub, or record them as a single opening balance per customer and supplier.

Tip: You can also email documents straight in. Your inbound address sits at the top of Files — forward supplier invoices and receipts to it and they land in stub. See Importing your files.

Step 4: Check your numbers

The moment the move pays off — proof your books came across clean.

1. Go to Insights and open the report picker at the top of the page.
2. Run Trial Balance and check it against the one you exported.
3. Check Overdue Invoices and Upcoming Invoices against your list of unpaid customer invoices.
4. Check Overdue Bills and Upcoming Bills against your unpaid supplier bills.
5. Check that your bank balances in stub match your live bank statements.