Getting Started
Moving from Excel to accounting software: a calm guide
Outgrown spreadsheets? Here's how to switch without losing data or your weekend.
Key takeaways
- ▸ Tell-tale signs: broken formulas, version chaos, GST copy-paste marathons.
- ▸ Software enters once and flows to books, stock and GST.
- ▸ Migrate by exporting, importing a template, and cutting over at month-start.
- ▸ Start free — try with real data before you commit.
Spreadsheets are brilliant — until your business outgrows them. The tell-tale signs: formulas breaking, versions multiplying, and that nagging worry that a number is wrong. Here's how to move on, calmly.
When it's time
- You re-type the same sale into billing, then accounts, then a return.
- Stock counts and the sheet never quite agree.
- GST time means a frantic copy-paste marathon.
- More than one person needs to edit, and it's chaos.
What good software gives you over Excel
- Enter once — it flows to books, stock and GST automatically.
- Reports (P&L, balance sheet) build themselves.
- Multiple users with permissions, not emailed files.
- Backups and an audit trail, so nothing silently breaks.
How to switch without pain
- Export your items, customers and opening balances from Excel.
- Import them using the software's template (MGH Books has a sample).
- Keep your old sheet as a reference for a month.
- Start billing in the new system from a clean date (e.g. month start).
The one mistake to avoid
Don't try to import five years of messy history on day one. Bring in your masters (items, parties) and opening balances, then start fresh from a clean date. You get the benefits immediately without importing every old error along with it.
Start free
You don't need to commit money to try this. Start on a genuinely free plan, import a slice of your data, and see how it feels with your real business before you scale up. The worst case is you learn what you need; the best case is you never open that spreadsheet again.