---
title: "Switching & onboarding — moving your books without losing your history"
description: "Guided imports from QuickBooks Online, CSV/XLSX charts of accounts, bank statements, funds, donor-system ledgers and opening balances — then a four-week onboarding with your first close run in parallel."
url: "https://rationara.com/switching"
source: "https://rationara.com/switching.md"
route: "/switching"
site: "Rationara"
updated: "2026-08-19"
---

# Moving your books without losing your history

*Switching & onboarding*

The reason organizations stay on a system they’ve outgrown is rarely love — it’s the fear of the move. Years of history, a chart of accounts nobody fully remembers building, restricted funds tracked in a side spreadsheet, and no appetite for a quarter of parallel data entry.

So we built the migration path into the platform itself. Every import below is a real, guided tool our onboarding team runs on your files — validated and previewed before anything is created, deduplicated on re-upload, and landing on the same audited ledger as everything else. You gather exports; we do the rest.

## What we can import directly

These are the migration tools as they exist in the product — not a services brochure.

- **QuickBooks Online — the whole file (Guided)** — Two exports, in order: your chart of accounts, then a Journal report for the history. Everything is previewed before anything is created, and accounts you already have are reused rather than duplicated.
- **Chart of accounts & classes (CSV · XLSX)** — The QuickBooks export lands with types mapped, missing account numbers generated, and sub-accounts linked. Classes come along on the same sheet.
- **Bank & credit card statements (CSV · OFX · QBO · XLSX)** — For history that predates a bank feed, or catch-up work: columns auto-detected, duplicates flagged, transactions dropped into the review inbox like any other work.
- **Funds (XLSX)** — Your restricted funds move in as structured records — code, name, restriction type, purpose, donor designation — not as a memo field. Validated and previewed first.
- **Donor system general ledger (XLSX)** — Gift exports from donor software (e.g. DonorView) post as real transactions: split gifts grouped into one entry, donors matched or created, re-uploads deduplicated.
- **Opening balances (Guided)** — A trial-balance grid of starting balances as of your conversion date — editable, then posted as one balanced entry. Your history and your new books tie out from day one.

## The first four weeks

A typical onboarding, week by week. Larger histories or a catch-up project stretch the middle; the shape stays the same.

- **Week 1: Kickoff & connections** — One call: your funds, programs, grants, fiscal year, and what your board expects to see. Then bank and card feeds are connected — read-only — and receipts start flowing to your intake email.
- **Week 2: History moves over** — We run the imports: chart of accounts, funds and classes, ledger history, and donor gift history if you have it. Opening balances are set to your last reconciled period.
- **Week 3: Structure review** — You see your own books in the new shape — fund balances, program classes, grant records — and we adjust names and mappings while it's cheap to do.
- **Week 4: First close, in parallel** — We run a full month alongside your old system: categorize, reconcile, close, publish. You compare the two packages before anything is switched off.

## Behind on your books? Start there.

If you’re months — or years — behind, catch-up comes before the monthly rhythm. We import the backlog from statements, categorize it with the same review process as live work, reconcile each month in order, and close them one by one until you’re current.

Catch-up is quoted as a one-time project before you commit, based on how far back the backlog goes and what records exist. Missing paperwork is normal; we work from bank data first and chase documents second.

## What we’ll ask you for

- Your QuickBooks exports (we send exact instructions, or do it with you on a screen share)
- Online access to bank and card accounts, to authorize the read-only feed
- Your last reconciled statements — the anchor for opening balances
- Grant agreements and any restricted-gift letters, so restrictions are recorded from the source
- Your current budget, if you want budget vs. actual from month one

## Tell us what you're moving from

QuickBooks, a spreadsheet, a departed treasurer's system — on the call we'll map your situation to the imports above and give you an honest timeline.