How to Convert Quicken to Quickbooks 2008

Quicken and QuickBooks are two completely different programs from the same company.

Intuit is the company that created both the personal finance software for individuals called Quicken and the small business accounting software called QuickBooks. Both of these programs perform somewhat similar functions. The differences between the two and the difficulties of conversion have to do with those functions within the personal finance that are not compatible with functions in small business accounting. Since Quicken is a lot cheaper for purchase than QuickBooks is, a number of individuals who have purchased Quicken use it for both their personal income, investments and debt as well as using it for a small business.

Things You'll Need

• Quicken software
• Quicken file

Instructions

Preparing Quicken Data for Conversion

1. Make a backup copy of your Quicken file prior to conversion. It is this copy you will prepare for conversion ensuring that you will have both the Quicken file and the QuickBooks file. To create the backup file, go up to the "File" tab on the top menu bar and find the "Make Backup Copy" button. When you are prompted by the Quicken program on where to save the backup copy to, choose the Desktop and change the name of the file to distinguish the file you want to convert to the file you want to keep using in Quicken.

2. Delete the Quicken accounts you won't use in QuickBooks. QuickBooks is strictly for business accounting. You must delete all personal accounts from the Quicken backup file. Open the account in the Quicken file and choose "Delete". QuickBooks will not allow the deletion of accounts with transactions in them, so these will all have to be deleted before conversion.

   Delete the investment account as the QuickBooks program does not have the ability to track investments. If you do not delete the investment account, QuickBooks will automatically place it into an "Other Current Asset" account.

3. Review all memorized and scheduled transactions. If the Quicken file has any overdue scheduled transactions, they must be recorded, the checks need to be printed and/or online payments need to be sent. Next, turn on the memorizing transactions option in Quicken if it isn't on already. Use the "Help" tab for instructions on Quicken's memorized transactions.

   Organize all transactions you want converted over to QuickBooks into transaction groups. The classification of these groups depend on what kind of transactions these are. Use your Quicken documentation to determine which transaction to put with which transaction group. There are too many possibilites to list all of them here.

   It is after the conversion that you will have to recreate any recurring invoices in QuickBooks using the Memorized Transactions List. This is found in the "Lists" tab in the top menu bar.

4. Make Customer Names Consistent. In the conversion, any name listed in the Accounts Receivable register become customers and transactions become invoices and payments. If there are similar names in the Quicken file for the same customer or business, QuickBooks will create a customer for each of those and will not allow the deletion if there are transactions with the customer. For example, if you have a customer named 'Thomas Kornegay' and elsewhere he is entered as 'Tom Kornegay' and yet again, 'T.E. Kornegay,' each one of those names will be entered as a separate customer. Choose the form of the name you wish to keep and merge the other two into that customer. Use the 'Help' feature of Quicken for more information on merging.

5. Prepare online accounts for conversion. Quicken's feature of being able to download bank statements into it's file is not compatible with the same feature in QuickBooks. Some of the financial institutions that are compatible with Quicken are not compatible with QuickBooks. Call your financial institution, bank or brokerage and inquire about this issue. You may continue to use Quicken for these features and simply enter in appropriate transactions separately into QuickBooks.

6. Open the QuickBooks program. Go to the 'File' menu on the top menu bar, Click on "Utilities" and choose "Convert," then click "From Quicken." Choose the file you re-named and prepared on the desktop, and the QuickBooks program will guide you through the rest of the process.

Tips & Warnings

• Older versions of Quicken will not convert successfully to newer versions of QuickBooks. Make sure that you are converting either same version years of both products or years within one year of each other.

• Conversion from a Mac version of Quicken to a PC version of QuickBooks requires a different set of instructions; consult the Intuit Community to find more information on that process.

References

• Intuit: QuickBooks Support: Convert Quicken Data to QuickBooks
• Intuit: QuickBooks Support: Prepare Quicken Data for Conversion
• Intuit: QuickBooks Support: Converting Procedure
• Intuit QuickBooks Support: Open your Quicken File in QuickBooks
• Intuit QuickBooks Support: Fine Tuning your data after converting from Quicken