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 QuickBooks, or you can perform the exports into a dummy QuickBooks 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 QuickBooks or to Excel. That would at least give you some reference to your order history. You would want to export into QuickBooks 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 QuickBooks 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 accounting questions you would like considered for the column to HGatter@AccountingSupportLLC.com with the subject line of "Ask the Accountant.”
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Harriet Gatter, owner of Accounting Support LLC, was an ad specialty distributor for 23 years and an adjunct professor of accounting at Neumann University. She sold her ad specialty business in 2012, became certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and now works exclusively with ad specialty distributors nationwide on their QuickBooks, order management and accounting needs.





