Free tool · Desktop → Online

How complex is your QuickBooks Desktop migration?

Ten questions about your file — version, history, accounts, inventory, payroll, sales tax, integrations, entities, and the reports you rely on — scored into a Low, Medium, or High complexity read, with the reason. It is a readiness screen, not a migration quote: a Certified ProAdvisor reviews the actual file before any scope or price. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is sent.

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TL;DR

This is a complexity screen, not a price. Migration cost depends on what is inside the company file, and a ten-question form cannot see the condition of your chart of accounts or whether prior reconciliations were done correctly — so this tool deliberately returns Low, Medium or High complexity and the reason, rather than a figure. The ten drivers are Desktop version, years of history, bank and card accounts, unreconciled periods, inventory depth, payroll, sales tax, connected apps, number of entities, and reliance on custom reports. Complexity comes from these stacking, not from any one of them. The most common mistake it is designed to catch: converting first and cleaning up afterwards, when cleanup belongs before the migration.

TechBrot Inc. · independent Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm — not affiliated with Intuit Inc. Nothing entered here is transmitted or stored.

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Migration readiness, in five questions.

What does a QuickBooks migration-readiness check do?

It scores ten drivers that determine how hard a QuickBooks Desktop to Online migration will be — version, years of history, accounts, unreconciled periods, inventory, payroll, sales tax, connected apps, number of entities, and reliance on custom reports — and returns a Low, Medium, or High complexity reading. It is a screen, not a quote.

Why does it not give a price?

Because migration cost depends on what is inside the file, and a ten-question form cannot see that. Two businesses with identical answers can be a week apart in effort once the file is opened. Anyone giving you a migration price before opening the file is guessing.

What makes a migration complex?

Stacking, more than any single factor. Years of history, deep inventory, multi-state payroll or sales tax, several connected apps, multiple or commingled entities, and unreconciled periods each add work — and combined, they change the order of operations rather than just the hours.

What is the most common migration mistake?

Converting first and fixing afterwards. If the file has unreconciled periods or a broken chart of accounts, conversion carries those problems across and makes them harder to find. Cleanup belongs before the migration, not after it.

Does everything come across?

No, and expecting it to is the second most common mistake. Custom reports, memorized transactions, some custom fields, and certain integrations do not transfer and have to be rebuilt on the other side. Knowing which ones matter to you before you start is what keeps the first month afterwards calm.

§The readiness check

Score your file in ten questions.

Pick the option that fits in each row. The reading updates as you go. Everything stays in your browser — nothing is sent, and no result is recorded.

A readiness screen — not a migration quote.

Which QuickBooks Desktop are you on?

How many years of history must come across? not just what you would like to keep

Bank & credit-card accounts in the file

Are there unreconciled periods?

Do you track inventory?

Payroll inside QuickBooks Desktop?

Sales tax

Connected apps and integrations POS, e-commerce, payments, time tracking, bill pay

How many company files / entities?

Custom reports, memorized transactions, or custom fields?

Migration complexity

Low complexity

Straightforward

A clean, current, single-entity file with little history and few moving parts.

This is a readiness screen, not a migration quote. Complexity is not price: two files with identical answers can be a week apart in effort once opened. A Certified ProAdvisor reviews the actual file before any scope or price, and the fixed fee is confirmed in writing within 3 business days of a free discovery call.

Get the free file review

The live readiness check needs JavaScript. You can still read what drives migration complexity on the QuickBooks migration page, or get a free file review where a ProAdvisor looks at the actual file.

§No black box

How this reading is calculated.

Each answer carries a weight from 0 to 3, and the ten are added into a score from 0 to 21 that maps to one of four bands. The weights are not evenly spread, because the drivers are not equally hard: Advanced Inventory, more than three entities or commingled files, and more than seven years of history each carry the maximum, because each one changes the order of operations rather than just adding hours. A newer Desktop version and a fully reconciled file carry zero.

Complexity comes from stacking. Any single driver on its own is usually manageable. Multi-state payroll and deep inventory and a year of unreconciled history together is a different project, because each one constrains when the others can be done. That is why the bands move on the total rather than on a worst-single-answer rule.

Why there is no price here. The two cost tools on this site publish ranges because bookkeeping and cleanup pricing is driven by things you can count. Migration is not: the cost is driven by the condition of the chart of accounts, whether prior reconciliations were done properly, and what a previous bookkeeper left behind — none of which a form can see. Anyone quoting a migration price before opening the file is guessing, and we would rather say that than publish a number we would have to walk back.

The one thing worth acting on regardless of your reading: cleanup belongs before the migration, not after. Converting a file with unreconciled periods carries the problems across and makes them harder to trace, because you then cannot tell whether an error came from the original file or from the conversion. See balances wrong after conversion for what that looks like when it has already happened.

§Next

Where to go next.

QuickBooks migration

How a Desktop-to-Online migration is actually run — the Migration Integrity Protocol, and what breaks when it is skipped.

QuickBooks Desktop

The dated support-end table, what stops working on each date, and whether staying on Desktop is still the right call.

Balances wrong after conversion

If a migration already happened and the numbers do not tie out, start here.

Free file review

A ProAdvisor opens the actual file and tells you what it will really take. This is the step this screen cannot do.

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Questions about the readiness check.

How accurate is this readiness check?

It is directionally accurate and deliberately nothing more. It tells you which category of migration you are looking at and what is likely to drive the effort, so you can plan and ask better questions. It cannot see the condition of your chart of accounts, whether prior reconciliations were done correctly, or what a previous bookkeeper left behind — and those routinely move a migration between categories.

How do I find my QuickBooks Desktop version?

Open QuickBooks Desktop and press F2 (or Ctrl+1). The Product Information window shows the exact product, year-version, and release number. That is worth checking rather than guessing, because support dates are set per year-version and Enterprise follows a different path from Pro, Premier, and Mac.

Should I clean up before migrating or after?

Before, almost always. Conversion carries existing problems across and makes them harder to trace, because you then have to work out whether an error came from the original file or from the conversion. Reconciling and correcting the chart of accounts first means the post-migration verification actually proves something.

Does a high complexity result mean I should not migrate?

No. It means the migration should be scoped and sequenced rather than run as a single step. Most high-complexity files migrate perfectly well; what separates a good outcome from a bad one is deciding in advance what carries across, what gets rebuilt, and in what order.

What happens after this screen?

If it is useful, the next step is a free file review, where a Certified ProAdvisor opens the actual file and tells you what it will really take — what converts cleanly, what needs rebuilding, and what should be fixed first. The written fixed-fee scope follows that, not this form.

Is my information stored?

No. Everything on this page runs in your browser and nothing is transmitted. There is no form submission and no result is recorded — if you close the tab, it is gone.

From screen to scope

Find out what your file will actually take.

The screen tells you the category. A free file review tells you the answer — a Certified ProAdvisor opens the actual file, confirms what converts cleanly, what needs rebuilding, and what should be fixed first, then puts the fixed fee in writing within 3 business days.

Get the free file review Call (877) 751-5575