Will reconciled transactions stay reconciled after converting from Sage 50 to QuickBooks?
It depends on the file and the method; where cleared status cannot carry over, a starting balance and a first QuickBooks reconciliation restore it.
It depends on the file and on how the conversion is run. The reconciled marker is the fragile part of the move. On some files it carries across intact; on others, every bank item arrives as unreconciled even though the history itself came over. Where the marker cannot carry, you restore it with a starting balance and one carefully dated reconciliation, and the books end up in the same place.
What happens to cleared status?
Sage marks a transaction as reconciled against a statement. QuickBooks keeps a beginning balance for each account, and that balance is built from cleared items, so a conversion has to translate one scheme into the other. When the marker does not survive the trip, nothing is missing. The history is intact; QuickBooks simply treats it as uncleared until you tell it otherwise.
Our engineers check this on every file before planning the conversion, because the right approach follows from the data rather than from a fixed rule. If you are still weighing the move, our Sage 50 to QuickBooks conversion service page describes how we handle bank history during the transfer.
What becomes an opening balance?
Before the cutover, note the last statement balance and statement date for every bank and credit card account in Sage. After the conversion, that figure becomes the starting balance for the matching account in QuickBooks. Everything dated before the cutover is then treated as already cleared, and everything after is reconciled the normal way. When full history converts, the starting balance is often the only new number you enter.
Finishing the first reconciliation
Date the first reconciliation for the first new statement after the conversion. Mark every pre-cutover item as cleared in one pass; QuickBooks lets you select them together. If the starting balance was right, the difference comes to zero and the account is caught up. From then on, reconcile each month as it arrives.
If the difference is not zero, do not force it. A gap at this point usually means something in the history converted unevenly, and that is worth having the file examined rather than plugged. For the wider routine, Ledger Clinic’s guidance on bank reconciliations and the month-end close is a sound reference once the first one is behind you.
Next step: send us the file for a free evaluation. We will confirm whether cleared status carries on your data, set the starting balances if it does not, and quote the conversion before any work begins.