Switch · From Bench
Switching from Bench: rescue your data, move to books you own.
Bench shut down abruptly on December 27, 2024, was acquired by Employer.com days later, and relaunched in January 2025 under new ownership. If you’ve decided to move on, this page is the rescue: export the data still available from the Bench / Employer.com portal, migrate it into a QuickBooks file you own, clean up any gaps so the books tie out, then ongoing monthly with a named Certified ProAdvisor. Independent firm — not Intuit, and not affiliated with Bench or Employer.com.
Switching from Bench means moving your bookkeeping off the Bench platform — which shut down abruptly on December 27, 2024 and relaunched in January 2025 as an Employer.com subsidiary — and into a QuickBooks file you own outright, maintained by a named Certified ProAdvisor. The rescue is four stages: export everything available from the Bench / Employer.com portal, migrate it into your own QuickBooks file, clean up any gaps so reconciliation ties, then ongoing monthly bookkeeping. Continuity is the point: books you control, in standard software, with a provider you can reach. If you’re still comparing rather than decided, the full side-by-side lives on the TechBrot vs. Bench page.
Reference maintained by the Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team at TechBrot Inc., an independent firm — not Intuit, and not affiliated with Bench or Employer.com. Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
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Switching from Bench, in five questions.
What happened to Bench, and what does switching mean now?
Bench abruptly shut down on December 27, 2024 — its platform became inaccessible immediately, with a data-download deadline of March 7, 2025. It was acquired by Employer.com on December 30, 2024, and relaunched in January 2025 under the Bench brand as an Employer.com subsidiary. “Switching from Bench” means moving your bookkeeping off that platform and into a QuickBooks file you own outright, with a named Certified ProAdvisor who maintains it month to month.
Is my Bench data recoverable?
In most cases the exported financial data is recoverable — the first step is pulling everything available from the Bench / Employer.com portal (financial statements, transaction detail, prior-year records). From there we rebuild it into your own QuickBooks file. Where the export has gaps or a stretch of months is incomplete, a focused cleanup reconstructs the missing period from bank and card records so the books tie out.
How does the switch from Bench actually work?
Four stages: export the available data from the Bench / Employer.com portal; migrate it into a QuickBooks file you own; clean up any gaps so reconciliation ties; then ongoing monthly bookkeeping with a named ProAdvisor. The goal is a stable home that won’t vanish — your file, your data, a provider you can reach.
What does switching from Bench cost?
It starts with a free file review — we look at what you exported before scoping anything. From there the work is fixed-fee: a focused migration plus diagnostic is typically a $1,200–$3,000 scope, a full cleanup runs $1,500–$15,000+ when months are missing, and ongoing monthly bookkeeping is quoted to your volume. Written scope before any work begins; independent firm.
Why are former Bench customers switching now?
After an abrupt shutdown, a Canadian bankruptcy filing, an acquisition, and a relaunch under new ownership inside a few weeks, many former customers want a provider that won’t vanish — books they own, in standard QuickBooks, maintained by a named Certified ProAdvisor they can actually reach. Continuity is the point.
“Switching from Bench,” plainly.
Switching from Bench means taking your bookkeeping out of the Bench platform and putting it somewhere you control: a QuickBooks file registered to your business, on your own subscription, maintained by a named Certified ProAdvisor. It became an urgent question for thousands of small businesses when Bench shut down without warning on December 27, 2024, leaving customers locked out of their own records with a deadline to download what they could before access closed.
The rescue itself is straightforward in shape, even when the data is messy: pull everything still available from the Bench / Employer.com portal, migrate it into your QuickBooks file, reconstruct any months the export is missing, and reconcile until the books tie out — then keep them current month to month. What you end up with is the thing many former customers say they wanted all along: a stable home for the books that can’t disappear under new ownership, in standard software you own. If you’re weighing whether to make the move at all, the side-by-side comparison is the place to start; this page is for when you’ve decided and want to know how the switch works.
Why Bench customers are switching.
The publicly documented sequence of events — reported plainly, in order. No speculation about the people involved; just why former customers are moving their books somewhere stable.
The platform went dark, without warning
Bench abruptly ceased operations on December 27, 2024. The platform became inaccessible to customers effectively immediately — books, statements, and historical records that lived inside Bench were suddenly out of reach, with a stated deadline of March 7, 2025 to download data. For many businesses that was the moment they realized their records lived somewhere they didn’t control.
An acquisition by Employer.com, days later
On December 30, 2024 — three days after the shutdown — Bench was acquired by Employer.com. The brand survived, but ownership changed hands in the span of a long weekend, and customers were left to evaluate a service under entirely new control while still trying to recover their data.
A Canadian bankruptcy filing
The Vancouver-based company entered insolvency proceedings in Canada in January 2025, reported with liabilities exceeding $65 million. A bankruptcy filing behind the brand you trust with your books is, for most owners, the clearest possible signal that it’s time to move the records somewhere stable.
A relaunch under new ownership
Bench relaunched in January 2025 under the Bench brand as an Employer.com subsidiary. The name continued, but the continuity many customers had counted on did not — and a service that can disappear and reappear under new ownership in a matter of weeks is a different risk profile than the one they originally bought.
You don’t own the books you depend on
The deeper lesson former customers draw is structural: when your bookkeeping lives entirely inside one vendor’s proprietary platform, your access to your own financial history is only as durable as that vendor. Moving to a standard QuickBooks file you own removes that single point of failure.
A provider that won’t vanish
Across the former customer base, the request is consistent: a stable home for the books, in software they own, maintained by a named professional they can reach by phone. Not the lowest price — the one that’s still there next quarter. That is exactly what an independent Certified ProAdvisor firm is built to be.
How the switch from Bench works, step by step.
Six steps, in order: export, set up your own file, migrate, clean up the gaps, verify, then go live monthly. We scope it in writing after the free file review — you always know what comes next.
Export everything available from the Bench / Employer.com portal
We start by pulling every record you can still access — financial statements, the transaction-level detail, prior-year filings support, and any chart-of-accounts export the portal offers. The priority is capturing the complete picture before anything else, so nothing recoverable is left behind.
Set up a QuickBooks file you own outright
We provision a QuickBooks Online or Desktop file in your business’s name — your subscription, your data, your access. From the first day forward the books live somewhere you control, not inside a vendor platform you can be locked out of.
Migrate the exported data into your QuickBooks file
The Bench export is mapped into a clean QuickBooks chart of accounts: balances, historical transactions, and opening positions are imported and structured the way an accountant — and your tax preparer — expects to see them. This is where proprietary records become standard, portable books.
Clean up the gaps so the books tie out
Exports from a shut-down platform are rarely complete. Where months are missing, miscategorized, or unreconciled, we reconstruct the period from bank and card statements and reconcile each month until the file ties to reality. This is the step that turns a recovered pile of data into trustworthy books.
Verify prior-period balances and reconciliation
Before going live month to month, we confirm opening balances, run reconciliation against statements, and check that the prior period agrees with what was filed — so the new file is a defensible continuation of your history, not a fresh start that loses it.
Go live with ongoing monthly bookkeeping and a named ProAdvisor
Once the file is clean and tied out, a named Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor maintains it on a monthly cadence — categorization, reconciliation, and statements you can reach a person about. The whole point of the switch: a stable home, owned by you, that won’t vanish.
Signs you should move now.
Your data-download window is closing (or closed)
If you still have access to export from the Bench / Employer.com portal, that access is the asset — pull it now. If the window has already passed, don’t assume the books are lost: a cleanup can often reconstruct the period from bank and card records, but the sooner it starts the cleaner the result.
You no longer trust the platform to be there
After an abrupt shutdown, a bankruptcy filing, and a relaunch under new ownership, many owners simply want out — not because of any one feature, but because they need books that can’t disappear. That instinct is reasonable, and moving to a file you own resolves it permanently.
Tax season is coming and the books are in limbo
If filings are due and your records are stranded between a shut-down platform and an uncertain replacement, the migration becomes time-sensitive. Getting the data into a clean QuickBooks file before the deadline is the difference between a calm filing and a scramble.
Ready to move your books off Bench?
Book a discovery call and a Certified ProAdvisor maps your rescue: export, migrate to a QuickBooks file you own, clean up any gaps, then ongoing monthly. Free file review first, then fixed-fee — $1,200–$3,000 typical migration scope, $1,500–$15,000+ if months need rebuilding. Independent firm.
A named Certified ProAdvisor rescues the data and owns the migration.
The hard part of switching isn’t the export — it’s turning a recovered pile of data from a shut-down platform into trustworthy books, then keeping them that way. A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor with active Online and Desktop certifications maps the Bench export into a clean chart of accounts, reconstructs any missing months from bank and card records, reconciles until the file ties out, and verifies prior-period balances against what was filed — all against a written scope. From there the same named professional maintains the books monthly, so you have someone to reach. Independent firm — not Intuit, not Bench, not Employer.com.
Free
file review first — we look at your export before we scope
$1,200–$3,000
typical fixed-fee migration + diagnostic scope
Independent
Certified ProAdvisor firm — not Intuit, not Bench, not Employer.com
What former Bench customers ask about switching.
Is my Bench data recoverable?
What actually happened to Bench?
Do I have to keep using Bench under its new owner?
How long does switching from Bench take?
What does switching from Bench cost?
Will I own my books after the switch?
Are you affiliated with Bench, Employer.com, or Intuit?
Can you help if I’m mid-year and my filings are due?
Decided to move off Bench?
Start with a free file review of what you exported.
Send us what you pulled from the Bench / Employer.com portal and a Certified ProAdvisor reviews it free — then scopes the move in writing. A focused migration plus diagnostic is typically a $1,200–$3,000 fixed-fee scope; a full cleanup runs $1,500–$15,000+ when months are missing; ongoing monthly bookkeeping is quoted to your volume. Independent firm, written scope before any work begins.