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Set up right, connected right

Software and migrations

Short answer

Finbryn sets up, cleans up and migrates the accounting platforms businesses across the EU actually run on: Xero, QuickBooks Online, Exact, Sage and SAP Business One, plus the marketplace and payment integrations feeding them. You keep the licence and the file. Our accounting team does the configuration and reconciliation work, contracted through Northlane Solutions Inc. in the US.

Migration checklist

Illustrative client · August 2026

EUR

  1. Old file backed up with full historyDone
  2. Chart of accounts mapped line by lineDone
  3. Opening balances agreed to the old fileDone
  4. Bank feeds connected and testedIn progress
  5. First month closed in the new softwareNext

Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.

Why the software layer matters before the bookkeeping does

Across the 27 member states, most bookkeeping problems trace back to a platform decision made years earlier. A Xero file set up for a single Irish entity that now has a German subsidiary. A QuickBooks Online chart of accounts that cannot separate VAT collected under one national rate from VAT collected under another. A SAP Business One instance nobody has reconciled since the last consultant left. None of that gets fixed by working harder inside a structure that was never built for the business it now runs.

Finbryn's accounting team handles that structural work under a contract with Northlane Solutions Inc. in the US. We set up new files, clean up existing ones, migrate data between platforms and connect the integrations that keep numbers moving without someone re-typing them each month.

Platforms we work in

  • Xero, the platform most SME accountants across Ireland, the Netherlands and the wider EU already use
  • QuickBooks Online, common among founders who started elsewhere and expanded into the EU
  • Exact and Sage, both widely deployed by continental European mid-market businesses
  • SAP Business One, for companies that have outgrown small-business software
  • The marketplace and payment tools around them, so payouts post as sales, fees and refunds rather than one lump deposit

You keep the software licence and the file in your own name. If the relationship ends, you leave with your data and your login.

How a migration runs, and who touches your data

A migration starts with a working session to confirm the opening balance date, then a parallel import so nothing gets recorded twice. History gets tied to bank and card statements, not copied over on trust. Once the file is live, a named pod stays on the account, and any change to how something is coded comes with a written handover memo.

Every file is reviewed by a senior principal before it reaches you, and your data stays in your own software licence throughout.

VAT and local statutory work stay with a credentialed partner

Setting up a chart of accounts to separate VAT correctly, or configuring OSS and IOSS settings inside Xero or QuickBooks, is preparation work. Filing the return, or certifying local statutory accounts under a member state's own GAAP, sits with your own registration or a credentialed local partner such as a French expert-comptable or a German Steuerberater. We build the structure that makes their work, and yours, easier to check.

Questions

Frequently asked questions: Software and migrations

Do we need to switch away from Sage or Exact to work with you?

No. We work inside the platform your business already licenses, whether that is Xero, QuickBooks Online, Exact, Sage or SAP Business One. Migration is only ever your choice, never a condition of working with us.

Who actually files our VAT return once the software is set up?

We configure the chart of accounts and the VAT tax codes correctly. Filing the return, or the OSS or IOSS declaration it feeds, sits with your own registration or a credentialed local partner such as a French expert-comptable or a German Steuerberater.

Do we keep our own login and data if the relationship ends?

Yes. You hold the software licence and the file in your own name throughout, so you leave with your data and your login if you ever move on.

Can you handle a business with entities in more than one member state?

Yes. Sage Intacct and SAP Business One support multi-entity consolidation with intercompany eliminations, and we can align the consolidated numbers to IFRS for SMEs or the local GAAP your lead entity reports under.

How long does a typical EU migration take?

Most single-entity migrations from Sage, Exact or a spreadsheet into Xero or QuickBooks Online complete in two to three weeks once we have access and an agreed opening balance date.

What is not included in a software migration?

Ongoing bookkeeping, VAT preparation and statutory filing are separate services scoped after the migration is live; the migration itself covers moving your data, mapping your chart of accounts and configuring OSS or IOSS settings inside the new platform before handover.

How does handover work once a migration is complete?

A recorded handover memo documents what was mapped, what was left out of the old system deliberately, and any open item found during the move, so whichever team runs your books afterward starts from a clean, documented file rather than an unexplained one.

How is pricing structured for a migration project?

Pricing is scoped by transaction history volume and the number of entities being migrated, quoted as a fixed project fee before work starts rather than billed by the hour as the migration runs. The terms sit in your engagement letter alongside the delivery date.

Next step

Talk to the team that would run your books

A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.