What should you look out for if you want to switch accounting software?

There can be many reasons to switch to a different accounting package. Perhaps you are not happy with the quality of your current accounting software. Or perhaps the service is not good enough. For example, your questions are answered too slowly. The costs may also be too high. Or you want to move from an offline to an online accounting system.

If you have decided to switch, there are a few things you need to think about:

1. Choose a good date to switch. The best moment is at the start of a new financial year. If you switch in the middle of the year, you have to transfer all your entries. That can be a lot of work. If you switch at the start of a new financial year, you only have to enter the opening balance. Don't want to wait? Then it is better to switch after closing a tax quarter or month.

2. Back up your records. Every entrepreneur in the Netherlands must keep their financial records for 7 years. This includes the general ledger, the accounts receivable and payable records, the inventory records, the purchase and sales records and the payroll records. You can usually download all your records in one go and store them somewhere safe.

It is often possible to download your records in one go, so that you can store them externally in a safe place.

3. Import old data into the new accounting software. It is a good idea to put old data into the new program. Then you can compare the figures for the new financial year with those of previous years.

4. Take the notice period of your current contract into account. Not all accounting programs can be cancelled every month. If you are not careful, you may have to pay double costs.