Moving from QuickBooks Desktop to Intuit Enterprise Suite

By Scott Engler · Averan Advisors · Updated 3 October 2026

Intuit assigns an implementation consultant to each company moving from QuickBooks Desktop to Intuit Enterprise Suite. The migration is included in the subscription, and Intuit values it at $9,000. Intuit says most Desktop migrations finish within 72 hours, and its FAQ says most finish in under a week.

The three ways to bring your data

Option	What moves	What you keep in Desktop
Clean slate	Nothing. You set up the new company from scratch.	All of your history. You keep the Desktop file to look up old transactions.
Lists and balances	Your customers, vendors, items and chart of accounts, plus the balance of each account on the cutover date.	The individual transactions before the cutover date.
Data conversion tool	Your lists and most of your transaction history.	Anything the tool cannot convert, which the consultant identifies in the data assessment.

The cutover date is the day the old system stops and the new one starts. A month-end date keeps the first month in IES complete.

What Intuit's team does

The consultant asks what you run today and scopes the move.
Intuit's tools standardize the chart of accounts, line up the entities and move the records.
A customer success manager handles onboarding after you go live.

What is still yours to do

The migration copies the Desktop file as it is. An account that was not reconciled in Desktop arrives unreconciled in IES. These are the jobs to finish before the cutover date.

Reconcile every bank and credit card account through the last full month.
Clear undeposited funds so each deposit in the books matches a deposit on the bank statement.
Write off invoices you will not collect and close bills you will not pay.
Merge accounts in the chart of accounts that record the same thing.
Check that payroll liabilities match what was actually paid to the IRS and the state.
Decide which dimensions you will use in IES, such as location or department, so the new chart of accounts does not repeat them as separate accounts.
Run and save the trial balance, balance sheet, A/R aging and A/P aging in Desktop on the cutover date.

Checks after the move

Run the same four reports in IES for the cutover date and compare each line with the Desktop copy. The trial balance should match account by account. The A/R aging and A/P aging should list the same open invoices and bills. Bank balances should match the statements. Payroll year-to-date totals should match for each employee.

Desktop Enterprise features to check first

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise Platinum tracks items by serial and lot number, scans barcodes and builds products from parts. TechnologyAdvice's June 2026 review says IES has none of these. A company that uses them should confirm how it will handle inventory before it moves. The IES and Desktop Enterprise comparison lists the differences.

Common questions

How long does a QuickBooks Desktop to IES migration take?

Intuit says most Desktop migrations finish within 72 hours. Its FAQ says most finish in under a week. The cleanup before the move takes longer when accounts have not been reconciled for months.

Does the migration cost extra?

No. Intuit includes it for QuickBooks Desktop customers and values it at $9,000.

Can I keep my QuickBooks Desktop file?

Yes. The file stays on your computer. Desktop 2024 has no announced end date. Desktop 2023 and older versions still open and run reports, but their bank feeds, payroll updates and security updates have stopped.

Which data option should I pick?

A clean slate brings no history. Lists and balances bring the opening balances on the cutover date. The data conversion tool brings most of the transaction history. Companies that need to look up old transactions in the new system use the conversion tool.

Moving systems with Averan Advisors

Averan Advisors keeps the books for companies on QuickBooks Online and Intuit Enterprise Suite. Our team includes Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors. Before a move, we reconcile the accounts and fix the chart of accounts so the new system starts from correct balances. After the move, we compare the reports in the old and new systems line by line and close the first month in the new one.

See our setup and migration service

Sources

Prices, dates and features are as of 3 October 2026 and can change. Averan Advisors is not affiliated with Intuit, Oracle, Sage or Microsoft. This page is an educational summary and is not legal or tax advice.

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