QuickBooks Online → Kick Migration Checklist

Phase 1: Pre-migration

The QuickBooks migration feature is currently in beta and available to select firms. Reach out to your Kick contact if you don't see it in your workspace.

• If migrating accrual data: Enable the accrual ledger in Kick before starting — go to Settings (your profile icon on the top right of the workspace, or CMD+K) → Accounting → Accrual Ledger → Create Accrual Ledger for each relevant client. This must be done before migration begins; once a cash basis migration is complete, you can't start a new migration — the only option is to remove the existing migration entirely and restart.

Phase 2: Scope the migration

• Confirm how far the books are closed in QuickBooks (see Migration for timing guidance)
  • Migrate when you're done with bulk workflows for the period. Minor cleanup can happen post-migration via edits to migration entries or manual JEs.
  • Migrated transactions come over as individual journal entries — bulk categorization workflows on that historical data won't carry over
  • To check how far back your QBO data goes: open P&L in QBO → toggle Display columns by Year with All Dates
• Agree on a migration start date. Everything before this date comes from QBO; Kick takes over from that date forward (the bookkeeping start date in Kick will be set to the day after your migration end date)

Phase 3: Start the migration in Kick

Full reference: Migration

Option A: New client (not yet in Kick)

• From the Clients tab, click Add client (top right). You'll land on the How would you like to set up your Chart of Accounts? screen.
• Select QuickBooks Online and connect to the client's QBO account.
• Fill in client details, entity type, bookkeeping start date, and plan.
• Set the migration date range and confirm client details to kick off the migration.

Option B: Client already exists in Kick

• Confirm the Kick start date matches the agreed takeover date (set during client setup, viewable in the Clients tab; see Editing Entity Start and End Dates)

• Open Settings for the workspace → select Accounting in the left sidebar.

• In the Accounting migration section, click New migration → select QuickBooks Online.

• Select your firm → select the client.

• Click Next → Connect (read-only, one-way sync).

• Enter the migration end date → click Continue and wait for the page to load.

During Quickbooks Online authorization, do NOT click "Install for your firm". This is a common mistake. Select your firm first, then select the specific client only.

Phase 4: Map the chart of accounts

Reference: Chart of Accounts · Add, Edit & Delete Accounts

• After migration completes, Kick automatically generates a set of tasks. Go to the Tasks tab to see them. Tip: switch the group-by filter to Group type to stay organized.
• Open the Map Accounts task → click Map Accounts at the bottom.
• Walk through the COA list (QBO on left, Kick on right):
  • Bank and credit card accounts will show "task created"; skip these for now, they'll be connected in Phase 6.
  • For custom accounts: hover the row → click Create Account on the right side.
  • To undo a custom mapping: click the undo icon on that row.
• Pay extra attention to equity accounts: multi-owner entities often need custom mapping (e.g. splitting contributions vs. distributions per owner).
• Click Accept Mapping (bottom right) to confirm.

This is a good opportunity to clean up the chart of accounts. You can create new accounts, adjust types and subtypes, and leave accounts with no data unmapped; they won't bring anything over.

Phase 5: Verify the migration

Reference: Profit & Loss · Balance Sheet

• Go to Accounting → Profit and Loss.
• Confirm the P&L ties to QuickBooks for the migrated period.
• Note: beginning balances for reconciliation are auto-calculated, so no manual entry is needed (see Import Opening Balances if adjustments are ever needed).

Phase 6: Connect live accounts

Full reference: Connect Accounts

• Go to the Tasks tab. Individual Connect Account tasks are auto-generated for each bank and credit card account identified during migration. Open each task to connect that account.
• Alternatively, go to the Accounts tab (top of the page) to connect accounts directly.
• Connect bank accounts and credit cards via Plaid. The client can do this directly, or together if you have the logins (for unsupported banks, use the Universal Importer).
• Rename accounts if needed: hover the row → 3 dots → Settings → Edit name (see Manage Integrations).

Phase 7: Map migrated accounts to live feeds

Reference: Tasks

• Go to the Tasks tab → find Map migrated data under To Do and open it.
• For each migrated bank/CC account, map it to the matching live integration account; this creates one continuous transaction feed.
• For any accounts that are no longer active: click Mark as closed to complete that step.

Phase 8: Important things to know

• Migration is static. It does not auto-refresh. If your QBO data changes after migration or you want to extend the date range, reach out to the Kick team to resync (see Migration).
• Need to redo the migration? Go to Settings → Accounting → Accounting migration and remove and restart the QuickBooks migration from there. This deletes the migration so you can start completely fresh.

Common gotchas: quick reference