A Simple Guide on Data Migration to Zoho Books

• Reading Time: 7 Minutes
• Published: January 30, 2023
• Last Updated: February 7, 2025

Every business needs a reliable system for tracking and managing its finances. But what happens when you need to switch from one software to another? How can you ensure that all the important data from your accounting system is efficiently migrated over? These are some of the most common questions that bother business owners while switching from their current accounting software to Zoho Books accounting software. In this blog, we will discuss how to migrate historical accounting data from accounting software to Zoho Books. We will cover the steps involved in doing the migration correctly. Get ready to master your accounting data migration!

Importing historical accounting data into Zoho Books can be daunting, but following the steps outlined in this blog should make it easier. With the help of Zoho Books’ powerful import tools and clear guidelines, you can ensure that all your financial information is imported properly and accurately. If you are unsure about going through the migration process by yourself, you can choose an outsourced accounting services provider to help you with the process.

Steps to Migrate Data from to Zoho Books

The first step to migrating data from your current accounting software to Zoho Books accounting software is to set up your Zoho account. We have already discussed about setting up your Zoho Books account in our previous blog, “A Simple Guide to Migration from QuickBooks to Zoho Books.” Set up your Zoho Books accounting software properly before migrating your historical data from your previous accounting software to Zoho Books, and enjoy the benefits and features of Zoho Books.

We have summarised the list of tasks to be done to migrate your accounting data from your previous accounting software to Zoho Books to keep your accounting books up to date. Let us look at the steps in detail.

• Fix Up Migration date: What is the date from when you start entering the data into Zoho Books? Let us assume you want to start entering the data into your new accounting software from the 1st of April 2022, so your migration date will be the 31st of March 2022. Set up your Zoho account one day before the migration date. Once your Zoho books are set up, you need to start importing accounting data for the historical period into Zoho Books.
• Import Customer invoices: To import your historical accounting data into Zoho Books, you need to import all the customer invoices created in your previous accounting system and transfer them into the new system. Zoho Books provides a couple of options for importing customer invoices. One of the most popular options is through an excel invoice template provided by Zoho Books, through which you can import invoices for the historical period quickly and easily. While importing the invoices using the Zoho template, you need to check that proper inputs are entered, including line item, description of service, invoice date, invoice number, GST amount, type of tax, total invoice value, etc., so that complete information gets imported into Zoho books.
• Import Vendor Bills: Similar to importing customer invoices, you need to import all vendor bills into Zoho Books which were recorded in your previous accounting software. For importing vendor bills, Zoho provides a standardised vendor import template that can be used to import historical vendor bills from your previous accounting system. While importing vendor bills, you need to ensure all the data fields of the import template, including Bill Number, Bill data, description of the bills, Quantity, rate, GST amount, etc., are entered correctly in the import template so that correct data gets imported into Zoho Books.
• Application of Customer and Vendor Payments: Customer and Vendor Invoices for the historical period imported into Zoho books must be applied for payments as per their actual payment data. For importing the vendor and customer payments, you can use the bulk payment import function of Zoho Books to pay off the invoices.
• Import of journal entries: Zoho Books gives you the option to import journal entries posted in your previous accounting software, so you don’t need to post each individual journal entry into the system. You simply need to populate all the journal entries for the historical period into Zoho Books’ importable format and import them.
• Bank & CC Reconciliation: Once you have posted customer and vendor invoices payments and posted the journals entries for the historical period, you need to run the bank reconciliation report monthly in Zoho Books to ensure all the bank payments and receipts are captured correctly and your bank balance at the month end matches the balances as per the bank register in Zoho.
• Reconciliation: Correct customer and vendor balance import from your previous accounting software into Zoho Books is very important. You need to check whether the vendor and customer balances coming in your previous accounting software are like what is coming in the Zoho Books as on the migration date so that the correct account balances are carried forward.
• Review of Financial Statements: Once the complete data for the historical period is transferred from your previous accounting software to Zoho Books, you need to correlate your financial statements, i.e., Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss statement, in both the systems to ensure Zoho Books shows the same result as on the migration date.

The process of importing historical accounting data into Zoho Books can be daunting, but with the right tools and guidance, it is definitely achievable. By following our guidelines, you can easily import your company’s financial data into Zoho Books accounting software so that you have access to accurate records and reports for better decision-making. With the help of this tool, businesses will no longer need to worry about manual entry or wasteful time spent organizing their account books, allowing them to devote more resources towards growth and development.

However, chances are that you find migrating the data on your own a little difficult or too time-consuming. So, to deal with the issue, the best option is to hire help from an expert outsourced accounting services provider. Accounting services providers have experienced Zoho Books accountants who not only help businesses migrate from one accounting software to other but also help them manage their finances with the help of Zoho Books accounting software. If you are looking for a Zoho Books accountant to help you with the migration process or manage your accounting and bookkeeping, you can contact us. At Whiz Consulting, we help businesses from various industries and countries like the USA, the UK, Australia, etc., keep their records in order and stay on top of their finances.

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