Changing accounting providers: a handoff plan that preserves your records

Before moving providers, establish which month the outgoing team will close and what complete means. Identify statements, reconciliations, schedules, adjustments, and unresolved items. A payment date or contract termination date does not necessarily match the end of accounting responsibility.

Give the incoming team the same cutoff. If both firms post entries for the handoff month, specify who controls the final ledger and review. Overlapping work without an agreed owner can create duplicate adjustments.

Collect the general ledger, chart of accounts, bank and card reconciliations, processor schedules, receivables, payables, payroll support, fixed assets, debt, and owner activity. Add revenue, inventory, and intercompany schedules where relevant.

Keep prior tax returns, filing acknowledgments, elections, notices, and accounting adjustments. The incoming firm needs to distinguish a missing filing from missing evidence of a filing. Request clarification while the outgoing team still has the context.

Confirm administrator access to accounting, billing, payroll, and document systems. Use individual invitations and appropriate permissions instead of transferring a shared password. Record which integrations belong to the company and which belong to the provider.

Plan access removal after the authorized handoff work is complete. Ensure recurring reports and bank feeds do not depend on a departing user's account. The FTC's guidance on sensitive information is relevant when sharing financial and employee records.

Have the incoming reviewer tie the starting ledger to the final package from the outgoing firm. Explain differences and identify any adjustment before routine work resumes. Retain both versions when corrections affect a previously issued period.

Ask the incoming firm to list gaps with owners and expected completion. Historical cleanup should have a defined scope; it should not be hidden inside the first recurring month.

Obtain the final deliverables and confirm outstanding filings, notices, or approvals. Record the new responsibility map and notify internal input owners of the new process.

Remove unnecessary access, save the export package, and check that the next reporting period can be produced. The transition is complete when the company has retained its evidence and the new team can explain the starting position.