To export Xero to QuickBooks, pick a conversion date, then export the Xero chart of accounts, contacts, trial balance, aged receivables and payables, and open invoices and bills as of that date. Rebuild the accounts in QuickBooks, import contacts, post opening balances from the trial balance, enter open items, and tie every report back to Xero.
Is there a direct way to export Xero to QuickBooks?
A direct export from Xero to QuickBooks means one file or one tool that moves the whole Xero organisation across. Xero has no button that writes a QuickBooks file. Intuit's US help describes a conversion service run by a partner, Dataswitcher. The other route is manual: export reports and lists from Xero, then import or enter them in QuickBooks.
Xero's article Export accounting data out of Xero explains its general ledger export, found under Accounting settings, then Export accounting data. You pick a destination product from a list, a date range and, for some products, a cash basis. The products in that list are tax and practice packages; QuickBooks is not one of them. So the general ledger export does not produce a QuickBooks file.
Intuit's US article Convert from Xero to QuickBooks Online describes the service route. Its stated requirements include a Xero US account, a paid US QuickBooks Online subscription, and a QuickBooks company with no financial transactions or customized chart of accounts, because migrated data can overwrite them. The article lists what converts at no charge for up to two fiscal years: opening balances, receivable and payable invoices and credits, bank account transactions, matched payments, and lists including the chart of accounts, customers, vendors and items. It also lists what does not convert, including budgets, reconciliation history, file attachments, employees, payroll and fixed assets.
Read that list before choosing a route. Payroll history and reconciliation history stay behind either way, so the Xero reports covering them need to be saved. The rest of this post follows the manual route, which a firm can run with Excel and the QuickBooks import screens. The same exports also serve as the audit trail if a service does the conversion.
Which Xero reports and lists to export before the QuickBooks move
The Xero exports for a QuickBooks move are the files that let the firm rebuild the books and prove the rebuild is right. Pull the lists QuickBooks needs to set up (accounts, contacts), the balances it needs on day one (trial balance, open items) and the history the client must keep after Xero is cancelled.
Xero's About exporting data out of Xero article recommends exporting the chart of accounts, contacts, invoices, bills and fixed asset list before a subscription is cancelled. It also recommends these reports: the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss for each year, the Trial Balance including past periods, the Account Transactions report, the Receivable and Payable Invoice Detail reports, sales tax reports for each filed period, Pay Run by Employee for each year, the Fixed Asset Reconciliation, the Inventory Item List and the Bank Reconciliation report.
Three of those exports drive the setup:
- Chart of accounts. Exported as CSV or XLS, per the same article's format table. Each Xero account has a code, name, type and default tax rate, so the export is the starting point for the mapping sheet.
- Contacts. Xero's Export contacts from Xero article says the file is a CSV and its columns match the contact import template. The export can be run per contact group, such as Customers, which helps split customers from vendors before the QuickBooks import.
- Invoices and bills. Xero's Export invoices and bills out of Xero article says each line item is a separate row, the export stops at 500 transactions, and larger sets need batches by status or date.
Reports export from the Reporting menu. Xero's Export and print a report article lists PDF, Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets as formats, and warns that formula amounts may show as 0.00 in Excel until Enable Editing is clicked. Save a PDF of each year-end report too, so the client has a fixed copy after access ends.
Timing matters because access ends. Xero's Cancel your Xero subscription article says users keep access during a one-month notice period, recommends exporting data during that time, and states that Xero has no read-only plan. Finish every export before the notice period runs out.
A cutover checklist ordered by date
This example uses a fictional client, Example Coffee Roasters LLC, moving to QuickBooks Online with a conversion date of January 1, 2027. Dates and checks are illustrations, not a schedule any vendor sets.
| Date (example) | Xero report or list | QuickBooks screen it goes into | Check that proves it landed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2026 | Chart of accounts CSV | Chart of accounts import, then New account for any gaps | Account count matches, less accounts deliberately merged |
| Dec 15, 2026 | Contacts CSV, run per contact group | Customer and vendor imports | Customer and vendor counts match the Xero contact lists |
| Jan 8, 2027 | Bank Reconciliation report as at Dec 31 | Opening balance on each bank account | QuickBooks bank balance equals the reconciled statement balance |
| Jan 8, 2027 | Trial Balance as at Dec 31 | Journal entry import dated Dec 31 | QuickBooks trial balance at Dec 31 equals Xero line for line |
| Jan 8, 2027 | Receivable and Payable Invoice Detail at Dec 31 | Open invoices and bills, or named journal lines | QuickBooks A/R and A/P aging totals equal the Xero totals |
| Jan 10, 2027 | Year-end Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss, Account Transactions | Saved to the client folder, not imported | Files open and cover every year the client used Xero |
| Jan 12, 2027 | Sales tax reports and Pay Run by Employee | Saved to the client folder | One file per filed period and per year |
Mapping the Xero chart of accounts to QuickBooks account types
Mapping the Xero chart of accounts to QuickBooks means giving every Xero account a QuickBooks account type, detail type and name. Account type decides which report an account appears on in both products. The codes do not carry meaning across, so each account is mapped by what it holds.
Xero's Components of an account in your chart of accounts lists its types in five categories. Intuit's How accounts are affected by debits and credits lists fifteen QuickBooks account types. Neither vendor publishes a mapping between the two. The right column below is the firm's starting point, to be confirmed account by account against what each account holds.
| Xero account type | QuickBooks account type (firm's starting point) |
|---|---|
| Bank | Bank, or Credit Card for a card account |
| Current Asset, Prepayment, Inventory | Other Current Asset (Accounts Receivable for the receivables control account) |
| Fixed Asset | Fixed Asset |
| Non-current Asset | Other Asset |
| Current Liability | Other Current Liability (Accounts Payable for the payables control account) |
| Liability, Non-current Liability | Long Term Liability |
| Equity | Equity |
| Revenue, Sales | Income |
| Other Income | Other Income |
| Direct Costs | Cost of Goods Sold |
| Expense, Overhead | Expense |
| Depreciation | Expense or Other Expense |
Intuit's Account type and detail types article says a new account must have both an account type and a detail type, and that detail types do not change accounting behavior. Add a detail type column to the mapping sheet so the import is not stopped by a blank.
Codes need a decision. Xero's components article says each account code runs up to 10 characters and must be unique. QuickBooks can use account numbers, but Intuit's journal import article says to turn them off before importing, so the import matches on account names. Keep the Xero code as the QuickBooks account number if the client wants continuity, and keep a name-to-name column, because the journal import in the next section matches on names.
The QuickBooks account list is also the lookup table for every later import. Using it as the mapping key is covered in why export the chart of accounts before an import, and the full export steps are in how to export the QuickBooks chart of accounts. Which QuickBooks lists take a CSV at all is summarized in which QuickBooks data types accept a CSV import.
Setting QuickBooks opening balances from the Xero trial balance
QuickBooks opening balances from the Xero trial balance means the first QuickBooks entry carries every account's balance on the conversion date. Run the Xero Trial Balance as at the day before the conversion date, map each line to a QuickBooks account, and post it as one journal entry. The QuickBooks trial balance on that date should then match Xero exactly.
Xero's Trial Balance report article says the report shows general ledger balances at a chosen date, that accounts with nil balances do not appear, and that revenue and expense columns show year-to-date movement from the first day of the financial year. So a trial balance run at a year end still carries the full year's income and expense lines next to the balance sheet accounts. Whether those lines post individually, dated the last day of the year, or are collapsed into equity is the firm's decision, and the mapping sheet should record which was chosen. Intuit's conversion article recommends converting right after a reconciled quarter or year.
The journal goes in through Intuit's Import journal entries route; its columns and rules are set out in ledgers and journal entries in a QuickBooks Online export. One rule shapes a Xero conversion: lines on Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable need a customer or vendor in the Name column, so the opening journal carries one line per open customer or vendor balance, not one control total.
Bank accounts can take their balance a second way. Intuit's Enter and manage opening balances article describes an Opening Balance field and an As of date on the New account screen, offset to Opening Balance Equity. It also warns that opening balances do not import with accounts from a spreadsheet, and that re-entering transactions before the As of date counts money twice. Pick one method per account. If a bank balance goes on the New account screen, leave that line out of the trial balance journal and expect an Opening Balance Equity balance to clear against it.
After posting, run the QuickBooks Trial Balance for the conversion date and compare it line for line with the Xero export. A difference usually means a mapping error, a sub-account written without its parent, or a line entered twice. Fix the journal, not the report.
How much Xero history should come across to QuickBooks?
Xero history for QuickBooks comes in three sizes: opening balances only, the current year of transactions, or every year. Opening balances alone are fastest and leave the detail in saved Xero reports. Current-year transactions help when the client wants comparative reports inside QuickBooks. Full history is the most work and still loses some records.
Whatever the size, some records do not cross. Intuit's conversion article lists reconciliation history, file attachments, budgets and payroll among the items that do not convert, and says that years not converted are consolidated into an opening balance. A manual move loses at least as much. So the saved Xero exports are the history of record for those years, whichever route is chosen.
Questions that settle the choice:
- Who reads prior years? If only the firm does, at tax time, saved PDFs and Excel reports cover it.
- Will the client run year-over-year reports in QuickBooks? Then bring the prior year's monthly totals as summary journals, one per month, rather than every transaction.
- Is there a review or audit underway? Then the transaction detail for the period under review should stay available in a usable form, which an Account Transactions export provides.
The choice is the firm's and the client's. It is not a file-format question, and neither vendor's help sets it.
Xero to QuickBooks cutover edge cases: part-paid invoices and unreconciled lines
Cutover edge cases are the items that are half finished on the conversion date. A part-paid invoice, a bank line imported but not reconciled, and a tracking category with no QuickBooks home each break the tie-out if handled like a finished item. Clear what can be cleared in Xero first, then carry the rest across on purpose.
Part-paid invoices and bills. Carry only the amount still owed. The Receivable Invoice Detail and Payable Invoice Detail reports show each item's paid and outstanding amounts. In QuickBooks, either enter the open balance as an invoice or bill dated the original date, or use a named line in the opening journal. Either way, the aging total in QuickBooks should equal the Xero aging total at the conversion date.
Unreconciled bank lines. Intuit's conversion article makes reconciling every Xero bank account a mandatory first step and asks that balances be noted. Items that are genuinely outstanding at the conversion date, such as a check not yet cleared, need a list so the first QuickBooks reconciliation can pick them up. Statement lines imported into Xero and never matched are a different problem: decide each one in Xero before the trial balance is run.
Tracking categories. Xero's Set up tracking categories and options says an organisation can have up to four categories, with two active at a time. Intuit's conversion article notes that classes need QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced and that QuickBooks allows one location per transaction. Decide before the import whether each Xero category becomes a QuickBooks class, a location or nothing.
Contacts after the move. Once customers are in QuickBooks, exporting them back to Excel for review uses the steps in where the customer list export is in QuickBooks Online.
Payroll is its own thread. If the client keeps an outside payroll provider after the move, each pay date still needs posting in QuickBooks; QuickBooks payroll import from Excel covers the journal route. A client moving the other way, into Xero from spreadsheets, is covered in how to import Excel into Xero.
Paper keeps arriving during a conversion: bank statements for the gap months, the last Xero reports, a trial balance sent as a PDF. Schema CPA can turn those trial balances, general ledgers and bank statements into Excel or CSV files for the firm to map and import by hand; it does not connect to QuickBooks or Xero today, and the homepage lists those connections as on the roadmap. The workflow section of the homepage shows each step.