Editor’s note: Dear Addy is a new advice column on using QuickBooks we are launching here on Little Square. This is a place to answer your direct questions about QuickBooks and share them with other users. If you have a question for Addy, click We want to hear from you in the top right corner and send us your question.
Dear Addy,
I recently upgraded from a PC to a MAC and am running QB 2011 for MAC. Normally at the end of the year, I just bring my accountant a zip drive with a backup of my QB on it from the PC. How do I get her the info she needs now that I am running a MAC and she has a PC? Is there anything I need to know to make the end of the year easier for her and me?
- Alma
Dear Alma,
Welcome to the land of QuickBooks for Mac! This is a great question and one I’m sure a lot of people are having this time of year as we all get ready for tax season. Getting your file to your accountant is much the same as it was for you previously. You’ll save a file and get it to your accountant. It’s called “round-tripping” which means your company file is going from the Mac to your accountant’s Windows computer and back to your Mac.
In a nutshell, what you’ll do is save your company file as a Windows backup file (File > Back Up to QuickBooks Windows). Then your accountant will open that file, do the work she needs to do, then save the file as a Mac file (File > Utilities > Copy Company File for QuickBooks Mac). Then the accountant sends the file back to you and you open it on your Mac.
Here are links to two articles that explain these steps in detail.
- Converting a QuickBooks file from Mac to Windows
- Opening your QuickBooks for Windows file in QuickBooks for Mac
One critical thing to note…to round-trip your file, you and your accountant must be on the same version of QuickBooks. So if you are using QuickBooks 2011 for Mac, your accountant must be on some 2011 version of QuickBooks for Windows.
Thanks for writing!
Addy