When Bench.co abruptly shut down on December 27, 2024, tens of thousands of small businesses needed to find a new bookkeeping solution fast. Although Employer.com acquired Bench and temporarily restored data access, the experience convinced many business owners to migrate to an established platform they control directly. QuickBooks Online has become the most popular destination for former Bench customers, with the largest ecosystem of integrations, accountant support, and training resources of any small business accounting platform.

Whether you have already exported your Bench data or are starting from scratch, this guide walks you through every step of migrating to QuickBooks Online.

Why Former Bench Customers Choose QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is the most widely used small business accounting software in the United States, with over 7 million subscribers. For former Bench customers, it offers several advantages that address the risks the Bench shutdown highlighted.

QuickBooks is backed by Intuit, a publicly traded company with decades of operating history, providing financial stability that a venture-backed startup could not guarantee. The platform supports a massive ecosystem of over 750 third-party integrations including payment processors, e-commerce platforms, payroll services, and industry-specific tools. Because QuickBooks is the most commonly used platform among CPAs and bookkeepers, finding professional support is straightforward. And your data is always exportable—you are never locked into the platform.

For businesses that relied on Bench’s done-for-you model, QuickBooks Online can be paired with an outsourced bookkeeping service that handles the day-to-day work within QBO on your behalf, replicating the hands-off experience Bench provided.

Before You Begin: Gathering Your Bench Data

If you downloaded your financial records from Bench before access closed in early 2025, locate the following files: your general ledger or chart of accounts export in CSV or Excel format, bank transaction history for all connected accounts, year-end financial statements including profit and loss reports and balance sheets, receipts and supporting documents you uploaded to Bench, and any tax returns or tax packages Bench prepared.

If you no longer have access to your Bench data, your bank and credit card statements serve as the foundation for rebuilding your books. A professional bookkeeper can reconstruct your records from these primary source documents, often more quickly than you might expect.

Step 1: Set Up Your QuickBooks Online Account

Create a QuickBooks Online account and select the plan that matches your business needs. QBO offers four tiers: Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced. Most small businesses migrating from Bench find that the Essentials or Plus plan provides equivalent functionality. The Plus plan is particularly relevant if you need to track inventory, manage projects, or create purchase orders.

During setup, configure your company details including legal business name, tax ID, fiscal year end, and industry. Set your chart of accounts to align with the categories you used in Bench. QuickBooks includes a default chart of accounts that works for most businesses, but customizing it to match your Bench categories ensures consistency in your historical reporting and makes the transition easier for your tax preparer.

Step 2: Connect Your Bank Accounts

QuickBooks Online connects directly to over 14,000 financial institutions. Link each business bank account, credit card, and line of credit. Once connected, QBO automatically imports transactions daily. Depending on your bank, you may receive up to 90 days of historical transactions through the direct feed.

For older transactions, use the manual import feature to upload the CSV files you exported from Bench. Navigate to Banking, select the account, and use the File Upload option to bring in historical data.

Step 3: Import Your Historical Data

QuickBooks Online provides import tools for several data types. You can import your chart of accounts, customer lists, vendor lists, products and services, and bank transactions via CSV files. For each import, QBO walks you through mapping your file’s columns to the correct QuickBooks fields.

Pay attention to date formats and ensure your CSV files use the format QBO expects (typically MM/DD/YYYY). Duplicate transactions are the most common import issue—if you import historical transactions from a CSV while your bank feed is also pulling in recent data, you may end up with duplicates that need to be merged or deleted.

For complex migrations involving multiple years of data, consider importing in stages—one quarter or one year at a time—so you can verify accuracy before moving to the next batch.

Step 4: Reconcile Your Accounts

After importing, reconcile each account by going to Settings, then Reconcile. Select the account, enter the ending date and ending balance from your bank statement, and work through matching each transaction. QuickBooks highlights suggested matches to speed up the process.

Compare your QBO balances against the last known good balances from your Bench records. Common issues include duplicate transactions from overlapping imports, miscategorized expenses that carried over incorrect categories from Bench’s export, and missing transactions from gaps between your Bench export date and your QBO bank feed start date.

Do not skip reconciliation—it is the single most important step in ensuring your migrated data is accurate and your financial statements are reliable going forward.

Step 5: Customize Your Workflow

With your data imported and reconciled, configure the features that will make QBO work for your business. Set up invoice templates with your company branding. Create recurring invoices for regular clients. Configure sales tax settings if applicable. Connect third-party apps such as your payment processor, e-commerce platform, or CRM.

Set up bank rules to automatically categorize recurring transactions. For example, if your monthly software subscription always comes through as the same vendor, create a rule that categorizes it automatically. Over time, QBO learns your categorization patterns and suggests matches with increasing accuracy.

If Bench handled your tax preparation, establish a relationship with a CPA who uses QuickBooks. You can invite your accountant directly from QBO under Manage Users, giving them appropriate access to your books without sharing login credentials.

QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop

Former Bench customers sometimes ask whether they should use QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop. For most small businesses, QBO is the better choice: it is cloud-based, accessible from anywhere, receives automatic updates, and integrates with bank feeds natively. QuickBooks Desktop is being phased out by Intuit and is best suited only for businesses with very specific industry needs such as manufacturing or construction that require desktop-only features. Our separate guide on QuickBooks Desktop vs. QuickBooks Online covers the differences in detail.

When to Hire Professional Help

The migration process is straightforward for businesses with clean data and simple account structures. Consider professional help if your Bench data exports are incomplete or poorly formatted, you have more than two years of historical data to migrate, you have multiple bank accounts and credit cards to reconcile, you need to file back taxes using data from your Bench account, or you simply want the migration done right the first time without spending your own time learning a new platform.

How Maxim Liberty Can Help

At Maxim Liberty, we are certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors who have helped numerous former Bench customers transition to QBO. Our team handles the entire migration—data cleanup, import, reconciliation, and ongoing monthly bookkeeping—so you get the same done-for-you experience Bench provided, built on a platform you control.

Contact us today to discuss your migration needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still access my Bench data to migrate to QuickBooks?

Employer.com acquired Bench in late December 2024 and temporarily restored data access, but the download window has since closed for most accounts. If you did not export your data, your bank and credit card statements can be used to reconstruct your books in QuickBooks.

Which QuickBooks Online plan should I choose?

The Essentials plan works well for most small service-based businesses. If you need inventory tracking, project profitability, or purchase orders, upgrade to Plus. The Simple Start plan is sufficient for freelancers and sole proprietors with basic needs.

How long does the migration take?

A straightforward migration with one or two bank accounts and a couple years of history typically takes one to two weeks when handled by a professional. Complex migrations with multiple accounts and several years of data may take longer.

Is QuickBooks Online better than Xero for former Bench users?

Both are excellent platforms. QuickBooks Online has a larger user base in the U.S., more CPA support, and more third-party integrations. Xero is often praised for its cleaner interface and unlimited users on all plans. The best choice depends on your preferences and your accountant’s recommendation.