How to Consolidate QuickBooks Companies

You can consolidate QuickBooks companies with transfer file utility software.

Business owners who make the decision to expand by purchasing an existing business or creating a new company may later decide to consolidate the two companies into one. When both companies use QuickBooks for financial accounting, consolidating means combining the company's general ledgers. To consolidate QuickBooks companies, an intermediary data transfer utility program can pull the information from the company you choose as the QuickBooks source company file and insert it into the company you choose as the QuickBooks destination company file.

Things You'll Need

• QuickBooks Pro, Premier, or Enterprise
• Microsoft Access
• Data Transfer software

Instructions

Pre-Transfer Tasks

1. Choose, download and install data transfer software. A good place to start when choosing transfer software is the QuickBooks MarketPlace. This will ensure your software is compatible with QuickBooks.

2. Install Microsoft Access database software as a temporary storage location for data during the file transfer.

3. Back up company files on both the source and destination companies.

4. Open the data transfer software program. Click the icon placed on the desktop during software installation to open the program and view the data transfer utility.

Connecting Data Transfer Software to QuickBooks Company Files

1. Link the QuickBooks source company to the data transfer utility. First, open the source company in QuickBooks, and then connect the company file by clicking "Add/Change Source Company" in the data transfer program.

2. Select the checkboxes that allow the data transfer program to access QuickBooks and to access confidential customer information, such as credit card numbers and contact information. Click "OK" to establish a connection and link the source company file with the data transfer program.

3. Close the QuickBooks source file when the "Connection Complete" message box pops up. View the filename and location in the "Source File" section of the data transfer program.

4. Repeat this process to connect the QuickBooks destination file to the data transfer program.

Transferring List Files

1. Open the "Select Data" window. You'll notice that each file has either a list or a transaction file type. You will first select and transfer all list files. These files transfer first because they are the containers that hold company transactions. Locate and select the "Change" button next to the "Select Type of Data" label. When the "Select Data" window opens, press "Select All Lists" at the bottom of the window to place a checkmark next to all QuickBooks company list files.

2. Remove the checkmark next to any list files you do not want to transfer, then click "Close Form" to close the window. An example of list files you may not want to transfer would be payroll list files if you do not have employees or if you contract with an outside agency to process payroll.

3. Select a beginning and ending date range to determine which list files the transfer should include.

4. Click "View Export Report" to view and verify the information you will transfer. Then click the "Close" button.

5. Click "Open Destination Company," then select "Export Data" to complete the list file transfer. When the "Transfer Complete" message box appears, click "View Import Report" to verify that the transfer of information is complete.

Transferring Transaction Files

1. Repeat the process you used for transferring list files, but do not select the "Select All Files" button. Due to the size of transaction files, data transfer must occur in two steps to prevent data omission errors.

2. Place a checkmark next to all transaction files except "Receive Payment," "Deposit" and "Bill Payment" transactions to complete the data transfer.

3. Select and transfer "Receive Payment," "Deposit" and "Bill Payment" transactions.

Tips & Warnings

• Perform a complete backup of the QuickBooks source and destination company files before and after the transfer.

• If any files are missing from the "View Import Report," repeat the transfer process.

• Make sure the date range you select for transferring transaction data files is the same as the date range selected for transferring list data files.

• This is a time-consuming task; once you start, you should not stop until all information from the source file is in the destination file.

• Do not delete source company files, as you may need to refer to them later.

References

• Q2Q: Data Transfer Strategies
• BigRedConsulting: Transaction & List Copier for QuickBooks

Resources

• QuickBooks MarketPlace: Data Transfer Utility Software
• Microsoft: Microsoft Access
• Q2Q: Data Transfer Utilities How-To Videos