In this guide · 7 sections
Short answer
Pick a conversion date at the start of a month or GST quarter. Import contacts and products with Xero's CSV templates, enter unpaid invoices and bills, then add conversion balances from a trial balance your accountant prepares. Keep the old spreadsheets as records.
What to bring over from Excel, and what to leave
Most of the effort in a spreadsheet migration goes into cleaning, not importing. Decide upfront what Xero actually needs from day one.
| Data in your spreadsheets | Bring to Xero? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Customer and supplier list | Yes | Contacts CSV import |
| Products and services with prices | Yes, if you invoice them repeatedly | Products and services CSV import |
| Invoices customers still owe | Yes | Enter or import, dated before the conversion date |
| Bills you still have to pay | Yes | Enter or import, dated before the conversion date |
| Opening balances (bank, assets, loans, GST, equity) | Yes | Conversion balances from a trial balance |
| Fully paid past invoices and expenses | Usually no | Keep the spreadsheets as records |
| Old formulas, pivot reports, notes | No | Rebuild reports in Xero |
If you have never produced a balance sheet from the spreadsheets, that is normal. Your accountant can prepare a trial balance as at the day before you switch; that is the bridge between the old records and Xero.
Choose your conversion date
Xero's guide to converting from any system calls the day you start recording transactions in Xero the conversion date. It is not necessarily the day you sign up, and it can be in the past or the future.
- Start of a GST quarter, if you are GST-registered, so one return is not split between Excel and Xero.
- Start of a financial year is cleanest, because the accountant's year-end figures become your opening balances.
- Start of any month works if neither is close; avoid mid-month dates.
- Not in your busiest month, because the first weeks involve extra checking.
Clean and import contacts and products
Xero's help centre says to import contacts by downloading the CSV template from the Contacts menu, filling it in and importing it. Products and services work the same way from the Sales menu. Clean the data in Excel first, because fixing it in Xero later is slower.
Download Xero's templates
Contacts menu, Import, download the template. Sales, Products and services, Import, Items for the product template. Do not invent your own columns.
Remove duplicates and dead entries
Merge the same customer spelled two ways and drop suppliers you have not used in two years. Sort by name and email to spot duplicates.
Add the fields Xero uses
Legal name, UEN, billing email, address, and GST registration number for suppliers who charge GST. For products, a code, a name, sale price and the account and tax rate.
Watch Excel's auto-formatting
Excel can turn product codes or phone numbers into dates or scientific notation. Format those columns as text before saving as CSV.
Import a small test file first
Import five rows, check them in Xero, then import the rest.
Open invoices, bills and opening balances
Xero's article on unpaid invoices and bills for conversion balances says to enter every customer invoice and supplier bill still unpaid at the conversion date. Their totals must equal the conversion balances for accounts receivable and accounts payable. For part-paid items, enter only the unpaid balance.
For many invoices, Xero's invoice import accepts a CSV; its help page recommends no more than 500 items per file, with ContactName and InvoiceNumber as the only required columns. Then enter the conversion balances from the trial balance dated the day before your conversion date. Xero's tips say to enter all figures as positive numbers in the Debit or Credit column, and that total debits and credits should match.
Before you enter conversion balances
Run Excel and Xero side by side for one month
For the first month, keep recording in the spreadsheet as well as Xero. At month end, compare sales, expenses, bank balance and amounts owed. Differences show you missing bank rules, wrong tax rates or invoices entered twice, while the stakes are still low. After one clean month, stop updating the spreadsheet and lock it.
| Xero plan (Singapore) | Price incl. GST, until 31 Oct 2026 | From 1 Nov 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | S$39/month | S$42/month | Quotes and 20 invoices, 5 bills |
| Standard | S$70/month | S$77/month | For growing small businesses |
| Premium | S$95/month | S$99/month | Adds multi-currency and more |
Do not delete the spreadsheets. IRAS expects businesses to keep records for at least five years. Our accounting software setup checklist covers bank feeds, invoice templates and record keeping after the move, and if you are coming from another app instead, see our QuickBooks to Xero migration guide.
Do it yourself or get help?
A business with under a hundred contacts, a short product list and few unpaid invoices can do the move in a weekend with the accountant's trial balance. Get help when the spreadsheets are messy, you have hundreds of products or open invoices, or you want bank feeds and payment apps connected at the same time.
IT Sorted is a Singapore-based team of developers with over 10 years of experience. Accounting Migration (from S$690) moves you from Excel into Xero with a written plan and cut-over date agreed with you and your accountant, imports customers, suppliers and products, and brings over open invoices and bills. Your accountant remains responsible for the opening balances and tax treatment.
Frequently asked questions
Not as they are. Xero imports contacts, products and invoices through its own CSV templates, so you copy your data into those templates and save them as CSV. Old transaction history in spreadsheets usually stays where it is; Xero only needs open items and opening balances as at your conversion date.
Xero calls the day you start recording your business transactions in Xero, rather than your previous system, the conversion date. It is not necessarily the day you sign up and can be in the past or the future. Choose the start of a month, GST quarter or financial year to keep reporting clean.
Yes, for accurate reports. Xero uses conversion balances, usually taken from a trial balance as at the day before your conversion date, plus the unpaid invoices and bills on that date. Their totals must match. If you have only kept spreadsheets, ask your accountant to prepare the trial balance.
Usually not. Fully paid invoices and past expenses do not affect your position from the conversion date, and importing them adds work and risk of duplicates. Keep the spreadsheets and source documents for at least five years for IRAS. Bring over only unpaid invoices and bills, contacts and products.
Xero's Singapore pricing page lists Starter at S$39, Standard at S$70 and Premium at S$95 a month including GST, as of October 2026. Xero has announced increases to S$42, S$77 and S$99 from 1 November 2026 for new and existing subscribers. Starter limits you to 20 invoices and 5 bills.