# Switching to Rutledge

Moving a firm to new software sounds like a lost season. It does not have to be. Your client records, last year's returns, documents and books come over for you. Your staff checks the work and starts preparing returns within the first month.

## What comes over
Each client's record comes over: names, addresses, family members, the businesses they own and the trusts they serve. So do their documents, last year's returns, their books and any open work. Your staff does not type any of it in again. Each item lands on the right client, and your staff can see where it came from. Anything that could not be matched waits on a short list for a person to place.

## Last year's returns come with them
Bring last year's returns from your old tax software, as its export file or as the PDFs. Each one is read and becomes that client's starting point for this year. Carryovers, depreciation, each owner's basis and last year's estimated payments come along. Next year's organizer is built from it. Your staff checks a few clients first, then approves the rest in a batch.

## Client records and documents
Export your client list from your current portal or CRM, and send it in as a spreadsheet. Upload your document folders as they are. Each file is read, named and filed to the right client and year. Engagement letters and signed forms keep their dates. Your clients get one invitation to the new portal, with their papers already there.

## Books from QuickBooks Online
Connect each bookkeeping client's QuickBooks Online company, with the client's consent. The chart of accounts, the balances and the past activity come across. Bank and card accounts connect next, so new activity comes in each day. Your rules from the old tool can be set up again in minutes. The first month you close here matches the books you left.

## The first month, week by week
Here is how the first month goes for most small firms.

- Week 1: your firm is set up, your staff are added, and your email and phones are connected.
- Week 2: client records and documents come over, and your staff checks them.
- Week 3: last year's returns come over and are checked a few at a time.
- Week 4: clients are invited to the portal, and the first organizers go out.

A person on our team works with you through each week.

## When you see results
Calls, emails and meetings land in each client's record from the first week. Client papers are read onto returns from the day the organizers go out. Most firms prepare their first returns here in the first month. By the end of the first season, the routine work of chasing papers, typing figures and sending reminders mostly runs on its own.

## When to switch
The best time to switch is between May and December. The busy season is over, and organizers have not gone out yet. Firms that switch then start the next season with every client already here. A firm can also switch in the middle of a season. Start new clients and new returns here, and finish the returns already in progress where they are.

## Start small
Try it first with a few clients before you move the whole firm. A one-month trial is set up with a person on our team, who helps move your first clients over. You keep what you move. When you are ready, the rest of the firm follows the same steps. [Try the platform](/try?for=accounting) or [talk with us](/contact) about moving your firm.