Convert MYOB to Xero: Client Migration 2026

You can convert MYOB to Xero through an eligible conversion service or supported manual imports. Match the route to the client’s MYOB edition and required history. Keep the source accessible and reconcile Xero before staff resume posting.

A conversion can bring across accounts, contacts and agreed transaction history. Payroll needs its own review, attachments need separate retention and bank feeds need new authorisation. The work includes preparation and acceptance checks even when a provider handles the transfer.

Choose a Supported Conversion Route

Choose a conversion service when the client needs supported transaction history in Xero. Choose manual imports when opening balances and unpaid items meet the agreed reporting need. Keeping MYOB can be sensible if the move would remove a required function or leave records inaccessible.

Xero’s Australian adviser conversion guidance names AccountRight Live, Standard, Plus and Premier for its Jet Convert route. Jet Convert’s own preparation guidance also distinguishes newer MYOB online products from old Essentials, which it excludes. Confirm the actual edition and destination region before assigning the job.

For Australian desktop uploads, Jet Convert lists MYOB data files with .myo or .myox extensions. Online conversions use authorised access to the source organisation instead. Its preparation guidance excludes multi-currency files and files with negative inventory. Do not assume an accepted filename means every record is eligible.

MYOB to Xero conversion cost has several parts. The Xero subscription is separate from conversion work, staff preparation and post-conversion corrections. More history and additional conversion services can increase the cost. Obtain the selected scope and any reconversion conditions before authorising the work. A subscription discount does not define what data the conversion includes.

If the client is still choosing the destination, settle the bookkeeping software decision before scheduling the transfer. Postpone cutover when payroll, stock management or a required historical record has no agreed destination or retained source.

Prepare the Client’s Source File

Record the client’s authority to move the data and to give the provider access. Identify the legal entity, MYOB edition and file, intended Australian Xero organisation and subscription owner. Name the preparer and authorised reviewer, including who can approve cutover.

Use one inventory for the migration scope:

• Financial year, conversion date, included history and cash or accrual reporting basis.
• Chart of accounts, tax codes and the accounts that need bank reconciliation.
• Contacts, unpaid invoices and bills, credits, overpayments and prepayments.
• Bank and loan balances, outstanding statement items and clearing accounts.
• Payroll balances and reports, inventory quantities and valuation, attachments and connected services.
• Staff access, provider permissions and responsibility for each excluded record or rebuilt setting.

Finish the client’s MYOB bookkeeping reconciliations before taking the comparison reports. Retain the trial balance, bank reconciliations, aged debtors and creditors, tax reports and payroll reports for the agreed boundary.

Preserve an accessible source copy and separate exports. MYOB’s backup guidance limits its offline backup procedure to AccountRight Server Edition. The latest AccountRight PC Edition cannot create or open offline backups. For online files, keep authorised access and export the records and attachments needed for retention. A spreadsheet export is not a restorable company file.

Agree when MYOB entries stop. Assign one person to record invoices, receipts and other transactions arriving during the move in a changeover register. Give each item a source reference and a posting status so staff can account for it once.

Map What Moves to Xero

Use the selected conversion specification to decide what transfers and what staff must rebuild. The matrix below uses Jet Convert’s Australian MYOB online route with transaction history. Desktop files and balances-only packages need their own agreed scope.

MYOB Online Transfer Matrix

Jet Convert’s transaction-history guidance distinguishes a history service from limited-history and balances-only services. Select the required period before upload. Older transactions outside that scope remain in the retained MYOB records, even when the opening balance appears in Xero.

Manual conversion is a different route. Use Xero’s supported imports for the selected objects and enter conversion balances from the source trial balance. Rebuild settings separately. Importing a contact list does not import its transactions, and entering a balance does not recreate its supporting documents.

Prepare Files and Opening Balances

Prepare one agreed source snapshot before the conversion starts. Keep its reports unchanged so later differences can be traced to the same boundary.

1. Reconcile bank accounts and loans to their statements. Match aged debtors and creditors to the trial balance and explain tax-account differences. Resolve duplicate records and incomplete allocations in MYOB before exporting.
2. Review the provider’s preparation checklist for the actual edition. Agree file eligibility, access, history and excluded records. For online extraction, stop source posting at the agreed point.
3. Export the supported objects separately. In AccountRight, MYOB’s export instructions use the Import/Export Assistant. Select the data type, delimiter and fields, then retain an untouched export before preparing an import copy.
4. Match the conversion date and account mapping to the source trial balance. Confirm cash or accrual reporting settings and tax treatment. Use the same basis when comparing reports.
5. For manual setup, enter the conversion balances from the day before the conversion date. A provider-led conversion handles its own balances, so do not add a second opening journal over the converted file.
6. Enter or import unpaid items through the chosen route. Xero requires their totals to match the receivables and payables conversion balances. For part-paid items, its conversion instructions use the unpaid amount.

For example, a fictional client has one original sales invoice for $1,100 including GST. A $440 receipt leaves $660 unpaid at conversion. The opening debtors detail must account for $660, not another $1,100. The receivables conversion balance must agree with all remaining unpaid amounts. Do not add the same debt again through a separate journal.

Use Xero’s unpaid conversion-item instructions for the record dates and treatment. Keep original documents showing the full invoice and payment history in the retained source.

Convert the Records in Order

Complete the destination’s dependencies before staff enter new transactions. A service conversion and a manual import sequence require different actions.

1. Confirm whether the provider creates the Xero organisation or converts into an agreed existing organisation. Record the destination identity and subscriber before granting access. For manual setup, create the Australian organisation and agree its settings first.
2. Load the chart of accounts before dependent transactions. Set up the bank accounts and approve tax-code mapping. For manual imports, use Xero’s templates and preview the mapped records before confirmation.
3. Complete the selected service transfer or manual balance and unpaid-item setup. Keep the completion checklist or import result with the source snapshot. Record accepted and rejected batches separately.
4. Review errors before another upload. Match each rejected row to its source reference. Correct an unmapped account in the mapping or account setup, then retry only through the supported import procedure. Check whether the first batch created records before repeating it.
5. Give staff the permissions required for their jobs. Assign the payroll owner to complete employee settings and the applicable Single Touch Payroll transition steps. Confirm that payroll reports and reporting responsibilities agree before paying staff.
6. Have the authorised bank signatory connect each bank feed. Assign each connected service to a system owner. Confirm the intended organisation receives the first imported record and prevent the old connection from creating duplicates.
7. Rebuild the agreed recurring settings and retain excluded source documents. Keep live posting paused until the reviewer accepts the reconciliations.

Xero’s Conversion Toolbox instructions require separate invoice and bill files. They also require account and tax mapping before the preview. When paid items are imported, the toolbox creates payment transactions, so include those payments in the bank checks.

A missing record needs a scope check before a replacement entry. Establish whether it was excluded, rejected or transferred under a changed reference. Ask the provider to resolve a service-conversion exception before manually recreating it over existing converted data.

Reconcile the Converted Client File

Compare MYOB and Xero for the same period and reporting basis. Require zero unexplained difference in the agreed acceptance balances before the authorised reviewer approves cutover.

Acceptance Checks

Trace a sample invoice, bill, receipt and payment from MYOB into Xero. Compare amounts, tax codes, remaining unpaid status and the required source document. Test a part-paid item because a correct total can hide an incorrect allocation.

In a fictional reconciliation, MYOB debtors total $6,600 while Xero shows $7,260. The $660 difference matches an unpaid invoice entered twice. Correct the identified duplicate through the supported procedure and rerun both the aged report and control-account check. Acceptance requires $6,600 in both files and a recorded explanation for the correction.

Keep a difference register with the source reference, cause, correction and reviewer. Zero unexplained difference is an acceptance rule for the agreed balances. It does not mean every historical field or attachment transfers.

Start Work in Xero After Cutover

Resume live posting only after the client’s authorised reviewer accepts the converted file. Record the first reporting period and the staff instructions for transactions arriving during conversion.

The handover must identify the Xero subscriber, billing responsibility and staff access. Record each bank-feed start date and the last statement line already imported. A manual statement import must stop before feed coverage begins, or exclude the covered lines after checking them individually.

Clear the changeover register once. Match each invoice, bill, receipt and payment to its destination record before marking it posted. During the first reporting period, compare the bank reconciliation with the actual statements and investigate gaps or overlaps. Continue the recurring Xero bookkeeping procedure after that acceptance check.

Keep the MYOB source, exports and attachments accessible for the applicable record retention period. Australian Taxation Office guidance generally requires most business records for five years, with exceptions requiring longer retention. ASIC requires company financial records for at least seven years.

Test that staff can retrieve an older transaction and its source document from the retained archive. Assign responsibility for keeping it readable. Defer cancellation until the client has accepted the archive and understands the access consequences and contract terms for their particular MYOB subscription. Use MYOB’s cancellation guidance to identify the authorised account holder and cancellation route.

Resolve Conversion Differences Safely

Pause posting in an affected destination file while a conversion difference is investigated. Preserve the source snapshot and destination reports before applying a correction. Use the difference register to keep the preparer and reviewer working from the same evidence.

Conversion Difference Actions

Xero’s conversion-balance procedure allows incorrect balances to be corrected and saved again. That is a balance correction, not a reversal of the whole migration. For a provider conversion, send the source file or authorised source access, selected history and package details, batch references, error report and reconciliation evidence.

Keep the retained MYOB file available while support resolves the issue. If the client must temporarily resume work there, record every new entry and agree the next extraction boundary before another conversion. Release the Xero file only when the correction passes the original acceptance checks.