How to Switch Bookkeeping Services Without Losing Data

Before you give notice

Export and save these while you still have full access:

• Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow for every closed month and year.
• The general ledger, in a spreadsheet format.
• Bank, card and loan reconciliation reports.
• Payroll reports, 1099 records and sales tax filings.
• Receipts and documents the old service stored for you.
• Last year's tax return and the year-end reports it was prepared from.

If the books are on the provider's own platform

Some services keep your books in their own software rather than yours. Ask for a full general ledger export and year-end statements before you cancel. The new bookkeeper will rebuild the books in QuickBooks Online or Xero from that export and your bank statements, which may need some cleanup work.

The IRS asks businesses to keep records for three years in most cases, and longer in some: six years if income was under-reported by more than 25%, seven for bad-debt claims, and four for employment tax records. Losing your bookkeeper does not change those rules.

The handover, step by step

Do these in order, so there is no gap in the books:

• Choose a cut-over date, usually the end of a month.
• Give the new bookkeeper a user login to your accounting file.
• Have them reconcile every account at the cut-over date and confirm opening balances.
• Remove the old service's login and any app connections they added.
• Tell your tax preparer who to contact from now on, unless the new firm will prepare and file the return.

When to switch

The cleanest switch is at a month-end, and the cleanest month-end is the end of your tax year, because the old service closes a full year and the new one starts fresh. If you cannot wait that long, any month-end works as long as the old service closes that month first.

Avoid switching in the weeks before a tax deadline. Whoever prepares the return needs a stable set of books and one person to ask. Tell your payroll provider and any app you connected to the books about the change too, so their data keeps flowing to the right place.

Choosing a Bench alternative

Bench is operating again under Employer.com, with plans from $199 a month as of September 2026. Some customers moved anyway after the shutdown notice. If you are comparing replacements, look for books kept in your own file and a stated close date.

SF Business Solutions works in your QuickBooks Online or Xero file, closes between the 5th and 15th of the following month, depending on when documents arrive, starts at $250 a month, and prepares and files the tax return from the same books. If the last months before you switched are incomplete, cleanup starts at $250.