Can you still use your accounting records after canceling the software?

The company may need records for tax preparation, an audit or notice, customer questions, or a later migration. List the statements, transaction detail, supporting documents, and schedules needed for those purposes. A folder of monthly PDFs may not preserve the evidence behind an individual balance.

Check the platform's actual export and post-cancellation access terms. Do not assume read-only access will remain forever. Keep the company's record-retention requirements separate from the software provider's storage policy and obtain professional advice on the applicable periods.

Retain the general ledger, trial balance, chart of accounts, customer and vendor detail, reconciliation reports, and relevant supporting schedules. Include attachments and identifiers where the platform supports them. An invoice export without its payment references can make settlement questions much harder to answer.

Record the entity, period, accounting basis, currency, export date, and source system with each dataset. Preserve opening balances and approved adjustments. Avoid combining several entities into one unlabeled file simply to reduce the number of downloads.

First, reproduce a closing bank balance using the statement and reconciliation. Second, follow a customer invoice through payment or credit. Third, explain a noncash balance such as a prepaid contract, loan, or asset. Choose material examples that reflect the business's actual work.

Have someone other than the exporter perform the tests. They should be able to find the evidence without the original software session or the provider's private notes. Record missing attachments, unusable formats, and broken references while subscription access still allows them to be corrected.

Store the final records in company-controlled storage with access appropriate to their sensitivity. Include a readable index and maintain a backup through the company's normal process. A successful export is not useful if the only copy lives in a departing contractor's personal account.

After the archive passes its acceptance checks, complete cancellation and access changes in the agreed sequence. Retain confirmation and an owner for later record requests. Periodically test that the archive remains readable, especially if the company changes its storage system or the software needed to open an export.