Switching from Xero to Akauntants: Philippine Business Migration Guide

Xero is a solid global accounting platform. But running a Philippine business on Xero means working around the platform's gaps: no native BIR form generation, no built-in Philippine payroll contribution tables, no Philippine bank feeds, and a USD-denominated subscription that has become expensive with peso depreciation. These aren't deal-breakers for every business, but for Philippine SMEs who deal with BIR compliance every quarter, the workarounds add up.

This guide is for businesses currently on Xero who want to move to Akauntants. It covers the complete migration process: what to export, how to set up Akauntants, how to verify that nothing got lost, and what to do with your Xero account afterward.

Why Businesses Switch from Xero

BIR forms built in. Akauntants generates 2550M, 2551Q, 1601-C, and other BIR forms directly from your books. On Xero, you extract data and manually fill these forms or use a separate tool.

Philippine payroll. Akauntants knows the current SSS contribution table, PhilHealth rates, and Pag-IBIG schedule. Xero has no Philippine payroll module; most Xero users in the Philippines manage payroll in a separate spreadsheet.

Philippine bank feeds. Akauntants integrates with BDO, BPI, and UnionBank for direct bank feeds. Xero supports Philippine banks only through third-party feed providers or manual CSV upload.

Peso pricing. Akauntants is priced in Philippine pesos with no exposure to USD/PHP exchange rate fluctuation.

Local support. Support in Philippine time, familiar with BIR and government agency requirements.

When to Migrate

The best time to switch accounting software is at the start of a financial year (January 1 for calendar-year businesses). This gives you:

• A clean break — historical data stays in Xero, new year starts fresh in Akauntants
• No need to split-year tax filings between two systems
• Clear opening balances as of December 31

The second-best option is the start of a quarter (April 1, July 1, or October 1). You complete the prior quarter's filings in Xero, then start the new quarter in Akauntants.

Mid-month or mid-quarter migration is possible but requires more careful handling of partial-period transactions.

Step 1: Export Everything from Xero

Before you close your Xero account or stop adding new transactions, export the following. All exports are available under Accounting → Reports or through the individual modules.

Chart of Accounts

Reports → Account Transactions → Export as CSV Or: Accounting → Chart of Accounts → Export

This gives you your full list of account names and codes.

Contacts (Customers and Suppliers)

Contacts → All Contacts → Export CSV

This exports your full contact list with names, addresses, TINs (if you stored them), and payment terms.

Trial Balance (as of your migration date)

Reports → Trial Balance → set the date to your cut-off date → Export as PDF and CSV

This is your gold standard for verifying opening balances in Akauntants.

Historical Tax Returns Data

Before your Xero subscription ends:

• Export or print all filed VAT returns (2550M/2550Q) with supporting schedules
• Export income tax return data
• Export any Xero reports you've used as the basis for BIR filings

Outstanding Invoices and Bills

Accounts Receivable Aging: Business → Invoices → filter for "Awaiting Payment" → Export CSV Accounts Payable Aging: Business → Bills to Pay → filter for "Awaiting Payment" → Export CSV

These lists tell you exactly which customer invoices and supplier bills are still open as of your migration date — they become your opening AR and AP in Akauntants.

Bank Reconciliation Status

Note any outstanding transactions in your Xero bank reconciliation that have not yet cleared. These become your opening reconciling items.

Fixed Asset Register

If you maintained a fixed asset register in Xero, export it. This gives you each asset's cost and accumulated depreciation as of the migration date.

Step 2: Set Up Akauntants

Configure Your Business Profile

• Business name (exactly as registered with BIR)
• TIN
• RDO assignment
• Financial year start (January 1 for most businesses)
• Currency (PHP)
• Tax registration type (non-VAT or VAT-registered)

Set Up the Chart of Accounts

Akauntants loads a Philippine-standard COA by default. Review it and:

1. Add any custom accounts from your Xero COA that don't have a direct equivalent
2. Archive or deactivate accounts you don't need
3. Use your mapping table (Xero account → Akauntants account) from Step 1

Configure Tax Settings

• If VAT-registered: set 12% output VAT, configure input VAT tracking
• If non-VAT: configure 3% percentage tax
• Set up withholding tax rates for your common vendor payment types

Set Up Bank Accounts

Create bank accounts in Akauntants matching your actual bank accounts (BDO checking, BPI savings, GCash Business, etc.). Connect to bank feeds if available.

Add Employees (if applicable)

Configure employee records with:

• Salary information
• SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG numbers
• BIR TIN for withholding tax
• Hiring date and employment status

Step 3: Enter Opening Balances

Use the Trial Balance you exported from Xero (as of your migration date) to enter opening balances in Akauntants.

Go to: Settings → Opening Balances → Enter

Enter each account balance from your Xero trial balance. Pay special attention to:

• Cash accounts: Match exactly to your bank reconciliation closing balances in Xero
• AR balances: Should equal the total from your Xero AR aging report
• AP balances: Should equal the total from your Xero AP aging report
• Fixed assets: Cost and accumulated depreciation per your Xero fixed asset register
• Loans: Outstanding principal balances

After entering all balances, the system will show a summary. Total debits must equal total credits.

Enter Outstanding AR Invoices Individually

Don't just enter the AR total as a lump sum — enter each outstanding invoice individually so you can track them to collection and send statements to customers. Use the same invoice numbers from Xero (prefix with "XRO-" if needed to distinguish).

Enter Outstanding AP Bills Individually

Same rationale — enter each unpaid supplier bill individually so you can match payments to specific bills.

Step 4: Verify Opening Balances

Generate a Trial Balance in Akauntants and compare it to the Xero Trial Balance you exported.

They should match exactly. If they don't:

Fix discrepancies before proceeding. A wrong opening balance means every report in Akauntants will be off from the first day.

Step 5: Run Parallel for 30 Days

For the first month after switching:

1. Record all new transactions in Akauntants
2. Continue read-only access to Xero for reference
3. At month-end, compare:
   • Akauntants bank balance to bank statement
   • Akauntants P&L to a spot-check of income and expenses
   • Akauntants AR aging to outstanding invoices per your records

If everything agrees, you're ready to go fully live on Akauntants.

If there are discrepancies, investigate during this month while the transactions are fresh and Xero is still accessible.

What Happens to Your Xero Data

While your subscription is active: Full access to all historical data, reports, and transaction details.

After your subscription ends: Xero provides a data export period. Download all data during this window:

• Full general ledger export (CSV)
• All reports as PDFs
• All filed attachments (if stored in Xero)

After the data export window closes: You lose access to Xero's interface. Your exported CSVs and PDFs are your record.

Retention requirement: Philippine BIR requires 10 years of record retention. Keep your Xero exports in a secure, backed-up location. Cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox) with a dedicated folder per year is suitable.

Hubdoc and Receipt Capture

If you used Hubdoc (Xero's document management add-on) for receipt scanning and supplier invoice management, Akauntants includes native receipt capture via:

• Mobile camera — photograph receipts and expense documents from the Akauntants mobile app
• Email intake — forward supplier emails with attached invoices to your Akauntants inbox address; the system parses and creates draft bills automatically

The workflow is similar to Hubdoc: capture the document → AI extracts the details → you review and post. No separate subscription needed.

Migration Timeline

Two weeks of preparation plus one month of parallel gives you a migration you can trust. Rushing the opening balance verification is the most common cause of problems that persist for months.

Your First Quarter on Akauntants

Once you're fully migrated, your first quarterly BIR filing is the real proof point. Here's what Akauntants handles automatically:

• 2551Q (Percentage Tax): Generated from your recorded sales for the quarter. Review, adjust if needed, download the pre-filled eBIRForms-compatible file.
• 2550M/2550Q (VAT): Computed from output VAT on sales and input VAT on purchases. Carry-forward excess input VAT tracked automatically.
• 1701Q (Income Tax): Gross income and OSD deduction computed; prior quarter payments tracked.
• Payroll remittances: SSS R3, PhilHealth RF-1, and Pag-IBIG remittance advice generated from payroll runs.

The contrast with Xero — where you manually extracted numbers and filled these forms separately — becomes clear immediately. The first quarter after migration is typically when the decision to switch pays for itself.