Converting Your Promotional Products Business to QuickBooks Online? Here’s How To Make It Easy

For many who are making a platform change -particularly an accounting platform change- all the worrying and fretting about the change often weighs heavier than the change itself. Many commonsku customers, after making the switch to commonsku+QuickBooks, respond “I wish I would have done this sooner.”

So, we wanted to know, from a QuickBooks expert, how to help eliminate our fears and make the conversion process easy. We interviewed Diane Shoultz, a National Account Manager with Mendelson Consulting, an accounting technology specialist firm and premier Intuit (QuickBooks) partner. (commonsku users now receive an exclusive 30% discount off of a QuickBooks Online subscription for the first year).

Diane, with her incredible energy and optimism, answered all our questions and made it a breeze to talk through. Here are the essential tips she shared to make the process easier.

What’s the most important tool in our toolbelt when it comes to an accounting systems change? 

I'm gonna say something a little unconventional: mindset. I say ‘mindset’ because when people are converting over, sometimes they're converting over and their mindset is, “If it's not broke, why am I trying to fix it?. Everything's working great. This doesn't make any sense to me. Why would I do this? Oh, and by the way, I'm also very busy running this business. So I don't really have the time to do all of this!”

You’ve got to think: why am I making this change?  Some folks are coming over because their current system is broke. And so now, on top of being stressed out and overwhelmed, they’ve got to learn something new too. But for some people, they’re system’s not broke but rather, they are moving over for efficiency, they know “I will be more efficient if I do this change.” 

That’s why I say mindset is the first and most important because the changes that typically help you the most are probably the most uncomfortable as well. You know what your goal is, you know what you’ve got to do. Yes, it was broken. But now you have a new opportunity to save time and money. And initially, the process will be a little uncomfortable, but if we push through, we'll figure it out in the end. Again, the things that make you most uncomfortable are typically the most rewarding.

Regardless of why you’re switching, it's all about that mindset. 

What’s unique for us to remember about the accounting part of this transition?  

Accounting is not everybody's favorite. For most folks in business, their enthusiasm is not behind double-entry accounting. Their enthusiasm and expertise are in what they're actually doing in the business. And so I always try to keep that in mind because the part that I work with is not their favorite. Although they're not experts in accounting, they know that this part has to be successful for their business to succeed. 

What are the four different products offered through Intuit? 

The platform offers four different product selections, like subscription levels: 

• QuickBooks Simple Start

• QuickBooks Online Essentials

• QuickBooks Online Plus

• Quickbooks Online Advanced (what we call “QBO) 

Most commonsku users typically use either QuickBooks Essentials Plus or QuickBooks Online Advanced (QBO Advanced). 

Here are the details on the subscription levels for QuickBooks

Since most commonsku users use Essentials Plus and QBO Advanced, what’s the main difference between the two? 

QBO Advanced has a little bit more reporting, and it's got a couple of different features. It typically works well for folks that have a larger platform.

Why QuickBooks Online versus Desktop? 

My analogy for this is an iPhone and Android user. Someone who started uses an iPhone will say, “Android? I would never, absolutely not!” And on the other side, Android users are like, “iPhone? Never!”

I have found that desktop and QBO biases are the same mindsets. If I -as a user- have a background in desktop, I am a diehard desktop user, on the flip side, if I don't have a desktop background and I start off with QBO, they say, “QBO is great. This is wonderful!” 

Ultimately, both of these products, contrary to popular belief, do the same things. Often, people who use the desktop version don’t even use a third of the features that are available. So coming over to QBO, they feel like, “Hey, I don't have everything I need!” But the reality is you have even more than you need. I think they're both fantastic products. My goal at the end of the day is to get you something that supports the commonsku integration, and that also supports your business. 

We encourage commonsku customers to get Quickbooks online simply because we want them to take full advantage of the efficiency and flexibility to work from anywhere, especially with virtual teams. There's a myth that QuickBooks Online is not as robust as QuickBooks Desktop, but that has changed dramatically over the years, has it not? 

It has. I'm a QBO baby. I actually started working with Intuit back in 2015,  back when QBO was just a baby and had not as many features, so we had to do workarounds for pretty much everything. But since that time, yes, absolutely! The goal was to get better, add more features, and be comparable to the desktop version. And they're definitely there at this point.

What do I need to know to be prepared for this conversion?

1. You first need to remember that you're not in this alone. You've got support, and we're gonna figure out where we need to get to. So number one, don't worry, don't fret. We will take care of you. That's number one.

2. We get started with QuickBooks and get you set up with your QuickBooks account. 

3. Then we make sure that you get in touch with commonsku because then you're gonna do the integration from QBO to commonsku in a process we call mapping. We map your accounts between commonsku and QuickBooks online to make sure they are talking with each other. And then you'll get started!

Note: Follow these steps to connect your QuickBooks Online (QBO) account to commonsku.

The first step to connecting commonsku + QuickBooks Online is to set up your chart of accounts. For us non-accountants, what are the five standard chart of accounts? 

The five standardized chart of accounts applies to any accounting platform, and they are: 

• Assets (what you own)

• Liabilities (what you owe)

• Revenues (cash you’re bringing in)

• Cost of goods sold (how much your products cost

• Operating expenses (rent, utilities, labor, and more)

• Owners’ equity (how much you put into the company)

Your accountant is gonna be the one to support you in making sure you have all the correct chart of accounts that you have. But those chart of accounts are really important for the commonsku integration because mapping your commonsku to your QBO chart of accounts is how you're gonna make that seamless integration happen. 

And now that we have everything mapped correctly, what about converting all our data? 

It depends on the business. Let's say you had QuickBooks Desktop and you were coming over to QuickBooks Online. You actually wanna do the conversion before you do anything. We set you up with a QuickBooks Online account and convert your data before you do anything. The beauty in that is that your chart of accounts is already there. So the conversion is gonna be number one, if you have any data, you're gonna wanna do the conversion first, and then you're gonna connect with commonsku to bring that information over. That is, if you have data coming from somewhere else like from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

If you don't have any data, or maybe this is the beginning of your fiscal year, and you don't wanna bring any of that data over, you want to start fresh, then think of it like this, your history, your past, is in whatever platform you were before but your future is now in QBO and commonsku. 

That's a great point. I was talking to a CFO of a very large company about a $50 million distributorship that made the transition. He mentioned how many legacy businesses have bad data and he suggested starting over clean. Because you don't wanna bring bad, old data (defunct client accounts, or old, irrelevant order history) into your new system. Is that possible?

Absolutely. That's another thing that I think is a common misconception. Often, we're just moving over lists [client lists] and balances. If you are coming from Quickbooks Desktop, for example, you can do a conversion called “lists.” And so you bring over your customer list, your chart of accounts, and things like that. No balances, no transactions, just your meat and potatoes (is what I call it). And your past is in the past, and your future is in QBO. That's another great way to do a conversion and save some time too. 

[Note: Here’s where to find QuickBooks advice on how to move your lists to QuickBooks online].

How long does the process normally take? 

If you hire Mendelson to do the conversion for you, I typically can get it done pretty quickly, but we quote a 2-3 business day timeframe to move everything over.

What's the most common problem that can occur that we should be aware of? 

Typically it's inventory. Again, it's all about that bad data.

You help customers through consulting and you do the process for them. Can you break down –in really rough figures, we won’t hold you to this– what it costs? 

If you hire Mendelson consulting separate from the initial onboarding, it's billable at $200 per hour. So, depending on how big the file is or what the data is, or where we're coming from would depend on what that actual quote looks like. What I love about Mendelson is that you are gonna know exactly what you're getting into, and you’re going to be billed for what we agreed to — no surprises. 

Can you share one last word of encouragement to those about the make the change? 

You are not alone! A lot of people make this change, and you’re very busy, and by the way, you also have a personal life too, not just a business. Right? So you've gotta remember, when you're moving over, and you’re making these decisions, keep your eye on the prize, remember why you started! And then kind of just go all in. 

Somebody once told me that you need to have only 30 seconds of courage to make a decision. Have your 30 seconds of courage and just jump right in and do it.

And we’ll make sure that we support you.