Declutter, Pack, Rebuild: The Accounting Team’s Migration Manual

Every accounting system has an expiration date, and while it may not be printed anywhere obvious, it will reveal itself through subtle signs: month-end closes that stretch longer, reports that take increasingly longer to generate, and workarounds that have become permanent fixtures in your workflow. Once you’ve recognized these signals, it might be time to consider a full-blown system change and an ensuing migration of your accounting data.

Data migration represents a chance to reimagine how your accounting team operates: when executed thoughtfully, strong migration eliminates the inefficiencies that have been quietly draining your team's productivity and creativity and creates a smooth transition to better overall accounting.

The Migration Decision: When "Good Enough" Won’t Cut It

To determine if it's time to migrate, start by identifying where your current system is falling short. Are slow processing speeds delaying month-end close? Do reporting tools fail to provide real-time insights for leadership? Recurring bottlenecks are often clear signs that the system is struggling to keep up with business operations.

Scalability presents another revealing challenge. Your current accounting software may have handled operations beautifully when you were smaller, but now creates a patchwork of workarounds just to keep up. As Dave Wiesneck, Expert in Residence at Ramp states:

“There’s different kinds of break points for why you’d want to move from a V1 accounting system like QuickBooks to a more robust ERP like NetSuite or Intacct. Volume is one factor—if you’re doing a thousand transactions per month, that might start to break QuickBooks. Another factor is if you have six accountants, you’ll be stepping on each other’s toes because QuickBooks doesn’t have robust user controls. And then, of course, if you need multi-subsidiary consolidation within the tool, NetSuite or Intacct can handle that.”

When your team spends more time managing spreadsheet exports than analyzing financial trends, you're witnessing a system that can't scale with your ambitions. If Excel has becomes the backbone of your financial operations, it's definitely time to level up.

At some levels, the decision also boils down to how well-suited your software is for compliance. Modern regulatory requirements demand capabilities many legacy systems simply weren't designed to provide. Think about whether your system is helping or hindering your ability to stay audit-ready and meet industry standards.

The idea of changing systems can feel daunting—similar to considering a move after decades in the same home. There's comfort in familiarity, even with its flaws. But staying with outdated software often presents greater long-term risks than the temporary disruption of switching. Also, consider the cost of missed opportunities. Every day spent working with a system that doesn't support your business needs is a setback. Modern accounting platforms offer faster closes, better insights, and improved efficiency, allowing teams to spend less time fixing discrepancies and more time delivering meaningful financial analysis.

The Transformation Journey: Six Steps to Migration Success

Step 1: Finding Your Perfect Match

Choosing new accounting software is just like dating—compatibility matters. Start by defining your must-haves in a new accounting system, not just what looks impressive in a demo. Consider scalability, functionality, and how the system will integrate with your existing tools. It should also be robust enough to handle your operation's level of complexity.

Take advantage of hands-on trials to see how the new software performs in scenarios that mirror your daily operations. Focus on usability and migration support, while considering the system's growth capacity. Will this partnership still work three years from now, or will you find yourself back in the same situation?

Step 2: Preparing for the Transition

Before any migration begins, securely back up your data to safeguard against unexpected issues. Create comprehensive backups that can be easily restored if needed.

Then comes the satisfying (or at the very least, necessary) part: decluttering. Review your existing data for duplicates and outdated information that no longer serves a purpose. As you organize your data for the new system, imagine arranging furniture for a new space rather than simply recreating your old layout. Standardize account names, codes, and transaction histories to prevent mismatches through proper data mapping.

Also, consider where outside help may play a factor and what data actually needs to transition. Here’s what Parafin’s Head of Accounting, John Quine, said about his team’s transition to NetSuite:

“Our NetSuite migration went smoothly with help from an outside consulting firm. We chose to backfill only a few years of data and focused on monthly trial balances instead of importing every historical detail. That decision saved us time and reduced complexity."

Finally, establish clear success metrics that will tell you the migration is working. What reports need to reconcile? What processes should be faster? Creating a migration checklist and setting these benchmarks builds confidence as you move forward.

Step 3: The Trial Run

Would you move your entire household without first checking if your furniture fits through the new doorways? Similarly, test migrations reveal issues before they become problems.

Move a sample of your imported data to the new system and compare the results. Does everything transfer correctly? Are there formatting issues or integration challenges? This trial gives you invaluable insights for refining your approach before the full migration.

Step 4: Making the Move

With planning complete and lessons learned from testing, it's time for the actual migration. Assign clear responsibilities and maintain open communication about progress.

Be prepared for some disruption during this phase. Having technical support readily available helps address unexpected issues quickly. Just as you might have a handyman on standby during a move, keep your IT team or external consultants accessible.

Automation and AI tools can dramatically simplify the data extraction and loading processes. These tools reduce the chance of errors and save valuable time, especially for larger migrations involving extensive financial data.

Step 5: Verification – Trust but Verify

Once migration completes, verification becomes your priority. Review all critical financial reports immediately. Are the balances correct? Did historical journals transfer properly? This step ensures your financial foundation remains solid.

Run parallel reports in both systems to confirm everything reconciles. Compare trial balances, subledgers, and audit trails meticulously. Address any inconsistencies immediately—they rarely improve with time.

Step 6: The Human Element

Even the most sophisticated system only performs as well as the people using it. Invest in training your team thoroughly on how to operate the new system and leverage its capabilities for better insights.

Use this transition as an opportunity to reexamine your processes. Which manual bookkeeping tasks can now be automated? Which workflows should be redesigned? Document these improvements to promote consistency and help new team members adapt more quickly. Consider creating new templates for recurring processes to streamline the learning curve.

How Numeric Supports Seamless Accounting Data Migration

Migrating accounting data is a complex process, but Numeric's features are purpose-built to help accounting teams maintain accuracy and efficiency throughout the transition. Here's how Numeric empowers teams to navigate the challenges of system changes:

Close Management with Task Dependencies

Clear workflows and defined responsibilities are essential during a migration, and Numeric's close management functionality delivers exactly that. With a customizable close checklist, teams can document every step of the migration process, assign tasks, and track progress in real time. Numeric's task dependency feature ensures that critical tasks, such as reconciling data between systems, are completed in the correct order, minimizing delays.

Comprehensive Audit Trail

Maintaining a detailed record of all migration activities is crucial for compliance and audit readiness. Numeric's audit trail feature automatically tracks every task, comment, and attachment, complete with timestamps. This ensures that teams have a clear and transparent record of the migration process, which can be easily shared with auditors if needed. With Numeric, you'll have all the documentation necessary to demonstrate proper controls and compliance during the transition.

Monitors for Proactive Error Detection

Instead of waiting until month-end to discover migration issues, Numeric's transaction monitors proactively alert teams to potential problems. These real-time alerts flag transactions missing key information or requiring special accounting treatment, allowing teams to address discrepancies as soon as they arise. By shifting issue identification earlier in the month, Numeric reduces the pressure of last-minute fixes, keeping the migration process smooth and stress-free.

The Art of Successful Migration

Migration success follows a clear pattern. Four elements consistently determine whether a migration thrives or struggles: thoughtful planning, clean data, realistic timelines, and effective change management.

Skipping test migrations ensures that you will only discover problems when it's too late. Trial runs identify issues in the data conversion before they escalate into major operational challenges. Similarly, post-migration reconciliation confirms the new system's reliability, building trust among users and stakeholders.

Training often makes the difference between adoption and resistance. Even the most advanced system won't deliver results if people resist using it. Focused training sessions give teams the confidence to work efficiently from day one and discover the system's full potential.

Strong vendor support can transform the experience. A partner offering tools for data preparation, reconciliation, and organization significantly reduces manual effort. This assistance allows accounting teams to focus on higher-value activities instead of migration mechanics.

See how strong vendor support — modeled by an effective collaboration between 15Five + a set of Numeric engineers — helped to shave over 4 days from their close.

Bottom Line

Migrating accounting data may feel overwhelming, but it’s also an opportunity to fix what’s slowing you down. By prioritizing automation, cleaning up your data, and testing rigorously, you can avoid common pitfalls and ensure a smoother transition.

Your new system should do more than just handle today’s complexity—it should be a tool that scales with your growth, reduces manual errors, and provides the financial clarity your team needs to succeed.

IV. FAQs

• What are the biggest risks in accounting data migration?Common risks include losing data, transferring inaccurate information, or experiencing extended downtime. Without careful preparation, businesses may also face compliance problems if the data transfer isn’t conducted properly or completely.
• How long does a typical system migration take?The timeline can vary from a few weeks to several months. Factors like the complexity of the data, the size of the organization, and the systems involved all play a role. However, thorough planning and testing can help avoid delays.
• What’s the best time to perform the data migration process?The best time is usually at the end of a reporting period, such as after closing a fiscal quarter or year. This timing minimizes interruptions to daily operations and provides a clean slate for the new system.

• What’s the difference between cloud-based vs. on-premise migrations?Cloud-based migrations generally provide more flexibility, scalability, and automation, whereas on-premise migrations often require more manual work and infrastructure management. Cloud solutions are becoming more popular due to remote access capabilities and real-time update which provide seamless transition.