Move Your Data Between Wave Accounts

This guide will give you detailed steps to recreate the beginning balances of your accounts so you can pick up your bookkeeping in a new Wave account. Once you create a new Wave account, repeat the steps in this guide for each business profile.

Part 1: Open a new account

To get started, create a new Wave account. You must use a different email than the one you use for your existing account.

Part 2: Set up your business in the new account

  1. Add sales taxes.
  2. Add your accounts, including:
    1. Cash and Bank accounts, and Income and Expense accounts.
    2. If you have Cash and Bank accounts in a foreign currency, add a revaluation account for every foreign currency bank account. Create this account under the Cash and Bank category, in your home currency.
    3. Add an Equity account to use to move over the account balances from the old business. Select the Business Owner Contribution and Drawing category. This represents your old company balances.

      You don't need to add any of the accounts that were created by Wave automatically.

  3. If your fiscal year-end is on a different date than December 31st, change your fiscal year-end.
  4. If you have users on your current account, invite them to your new Wave account.
  5. Customize your invoices.

Part 3: Download your existing data

  1. Download your Trial Balance report from your old business as of the date that you'll be moving your data. To download this report:
    1. Log in to your existing Wave account at waveapps.com
    2. On the left-side menu, click Reports.
    3. Select Trial Balance.
    4. Click Export in the top-right, then select CSV or PDF.
  2. To export and import data between your Wave accounts, you can use Wave’s Google Sheets integration Wave Connect. Set it up for both accounts. If you prefer not to use Wave Connect, skip to step 4.
  3. Download your customers and products using Wave Connect. Create a new sheet for each dataset.
  4. To export your transactions and receipts, follow the steps in Export your data.

We recommend exporting your data in CSV format, as you can use this file format to upload transactions to Wave.

Part 4: Import your customers and products

  1. Log in to your new Wave account.
  2. If you used Wave Connect to download your customers and products, in the same sheet, choose Upload from the Wave Connect menu, then Customers. Then, follow on from step 3 under Upload data, and skip step 5.

  3. If you have a CSV file with your customers, follow these steps to upload your data.
  4. Repeat step 2, selecting Products instead, to import your products. If you're not using Wave Connect, add each product individually.

You can also import customers on the Customers page using a CSV file. Follow the instructions in Import a customer list.

This data doesn’t include your customers’ credit card information. Re-enter this manually, or your customers can select the checkbox to save their information when they make their next payment.

Part 5: Manage your Stripe integration

If you use Stripe, disconnect your Stripe account from your old Wave account, and reconnect it to your new one:

  1. Log in to your old Wave account.
  2. On the left-side menu, click Sales & Payments > Credit Card Payments.
  3. Select Manage Connection.
  4. Click Disconnect.
  5. Log in to your new Wave account.
  6. On the left-side menu click Sales & Payments > Credit Card Payments.
  7. You should see a prompt to Get started with Stripe. Enter the same email you used previously to set up the connection to an existing Stripe account.
  8. Click Continue and follow the prompts.

Part 6: Enter all outstanding invoices and bills

To input your Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable balances into your new Wave account, recreate any outstanding invoices or bills.

For outstanding invoices that have already been sent, mark them as sent after creating the new copy.

In your old Wave account, end any recurring invoices. Then, set up the recurring invoices in your new account. Select the next billing date so you don't send the same invoice to a customer twice.

If you have bills and invoices in foreign currencies, record these in your home currency in your new account. Record any payments in the home currency to ensure the amounts are recorded accurately.

Unless you made manual entries to your Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable account, the balances for these accounts should now match between your old and new Wave account.

Part 7: Enter your sales tax balances

If you don't remit sales tax, skip to part 8.

  1. In your old Wave account, find the balance due for each sales tax you collect as of your migration date.

    In your Trial Balance Report, for your sales tax accounts, a credit is a balance payable and a debit is a balance receivable.

  2. If any of these taxes are recoverable, determine how much is due from collection on sales, and how much is due to you for payment on purchases.
  3. In your new account, open the Reports page, then select the Sales Tax Report. Select a date range which includes all the invoices and bills you entered previously. Select the Accrual report type.
  4. For each sales tax you collect or pay:
    1. Compare the amounts in the Tax amount on Sales column to the amount of sales tax payable in your old records. Note any differences in the amount of tax between them.
    2. Compare the amounts in the Tax Amount on Purchases column to the amount of sales tax receivable in your old records. Note any differences in the amount of tax between them.
  5. Open the Accounting > Transactions page. Select Add transaction, then Add journal entry. Select the date that matches the trial balance report from your old accounting records.
  6. Add a journal transaction to adjust the balances for sales taxes you collect:

    1. To increase the amount of the tax on the sales tax report, in the debit column, select the Old company balances account you added earlier, and enter the difference you calculated in step 4a. In the credit column, select the Sales tax name Tax collected (Liability) account, and enter the same amount.
    2. To decrease the amount of the tax on the sales tax report, in the debit column, select the Sales tax name Tax collected (Liability) account, and enter the amount you calculated in step 4a. In the credit column, select the Old company balances account you added earlier, and enter the same amount.
  7. Add a journal transaction to adjust the balances for recoverable sales taxes you pay on purchases, and can claim as a credit on your return:

    1. To increase the amount of the tax on the sales tax report, in the debit column, select the Sales tax name Tax paid (Asset) account, and enter the amount you calculated in step 4b. In the credit column, select the Old account balances account, and enter the same amount.
    2. To decrease the amount of the tax on the sales tax report, in the debit column, select the Old account balances account, and enter the amount you calculated in step 4b. In the credit column, select the Sales tax name Tax paid (Asset) account, and enter the same amount.
  8. Enter balance adjustments for all taxes you need to, and click Save.
  9. Open your sales tax report, and select the same start date from step 3 and the date of the journal transaction you just entered. Select the Accrual report type.
  10. Compare the amounts of sales taxes on sales and purchases in the sales tax report to the ending balance on your old trial balance report. If they match, you’re done. If they don’t, go back to the journal transaction and adjust the numbers for the sales tax(es) that don’t match.

Part 8: Enter starting balances for your new Wave account

Find the balance of your bank accounts, loans, and lines of credit as of your migration date. If you have bank accounts in a foreign currency, enter these first.

If you have a Pro Plan subscription, connect your bank and select to import transactions as of the day you’re moving your data over. Wave automatically creates starting balance transactions, so skip the steps below and only edit the category of these transactions to the Old balance account.

  1. On the left side menu, select Accounting > Transactions.
  2. Click Add transaction.
  3. If entering a bank or asset starting balance, click Add deposit. If you’re entering a liability account starting balance, click Add withdrawal.
  4. Select the Account.
  5. Enter the balance of the account in the Amount field.
  6. Under Category, select the Old account balance account.
  7. Click Save.

Repeat these steps to add a starting balance transaction for all asset and liability accounts.

Next, download a copy of your trial balance report from both Wave accounts, selecting the date you’re moving your data. Then, compare the balances of all accounts between these two reports and note any differences. You’ll account for foreign currency accounts later.

  1. On the left-side menu, click Accounting > Transactions.
  2. Click Add transaction, then Add journal entry.
  3. Enter the rest of your account balances, and use the old company balances account to balance the transaction.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Download the trial balance report from your new account again, and compare it to the old company balances account. If you don't have any foreign currency accounts, this should balance to zero.

If you have foreign currency bank accounts, Wave approximates the home currency balance of this account on your balance sheet using the mid-market rate from XE.com. Use a revaluation account to ensure the balance sheet value of the account matches the real-world value.

If there is an estimated gain or loss balance on your Wave balance sheet:

  1. Look at the value of your bank account on the date you're moving accounts, and the value on the old Trial Balance. Note the difference between that value, and the value that Wave reflects on the balance sheet. Note the difference for each foreign currency bank account.
  2. Open the Accounting > Transactions page.
  3. Click Add transaction.
  4. If the amount that Wave estimates is less than the amount on the old Trial Balance, select Add deposit. If it is more, select Add withdrawal.
  5. Enter the difference between the estimated account balance and the balance as of the migration date in your home currency.
  6. Select the Foreign currency bank account revaluation account that you created in Part 2.
  7. Select the Category the Old company balances account.