Ask the Accountant…
Question: Help! I have been using an industry software that I pay for each month to write orders. I am now switching to another system. How do I get my order history out of the old system?
Answer: Does this software have the capability to export into QuickBooks? If so, your order history may already be in QB, or you can perform the exports into a dummy QB file to use in the future.
Contact the company that owns the software you use, and ask if there is a way to export transactions to QB or to Excel. That would at least give you some reference to your order history. You would want to export into QB Premier, if possible, as that allows for multiple companies to be set up without additional charges.
Minimally, try and export your customer list into an Excel file that can then be mapped into another system like QB or SAGE Online.
Too often, distributors lose their order history when they switch to another system. Once you stop paying the subscription fee, you may lose the ability to access your information. Take care when subscribing to a system that holds all your data. It’s a risk that many distributors don’t realize until it’s too late.
Please email your questions to Harriet at Ask The Accountant.
QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise can be modified to better serve ad specialty distributors. Harriet Gatter is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a former accounting professor and a former ad specialty distributor. She advises ad specialty distributors to use QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise, often in conjunction with other industry-specific software, to manage the complexities of the ad specialty business, with the results being time saved, errors eliminated and an overall accurate accounting of your business. Contact her at [email protected].
