September 6, 2026

Reckon Accounts Hosted vs Reckon One: decide your destination before you take the free migration

The short answer: if there is any chance you will end up on Xero, go straight from Reckon Accounts Hosted to Xero with your full history rather than stopping at Reckon One first. Reckon’s own migration page describes the free Hosted-to-Reckon One move as a standard migration carrying one year of history plus year-to-date, single-currency files only, with jobs and categories arriving as classes and larger migrations attracting fees. A business that takes that step and moves to Xero two years later has cut its history twice. This post is the route decision for Australian and New Zealand businesses on Reckon; the mechanics of the Xero conversion itself are on our Reckon to Xero page.

Three products that share one name

Reckon Accounts is the desktop product, the descendant of the Australian QuickBooks editions, with a QBW company file and QBB backups. Reckon Accounts Hosted is the same application run on Reckon’s servers in the AWS Sydney region, accessed through a browser, with the same file types. Reckon One is a different, cloud-native product with its own data model, payroll app and pricing. Reckon is actively encouraging Hosted customers onto Reckon One with a free migration offer and a first-year price comparison; its page states plainly that Reckon One offers similar, not identical, features.

The distinction matters because a conversion to Xero starts from a file. From Reckon Accounts or Hosted, the source is a QBW or QBB with every transaction since the file was created. From Reckon One, the source is whatever the Reckon migration carried in, which for a standard migration is the last financial year and the current one.

What the free Hosted-to-Reckon One migration carries

From Reckon’s Accounts Hosted migration page, a standard migration includes: transactional history for one prior year plus year-to-date; the chart of accounts; customer and supplier details; opening balances; open sales and purchase invoices and credit notes with line items and partial payments; item details; bank and credit card transactions, invoices, bills and manual journals within the conversion period; jobs and categories brought across as classes; and single-currency files only. Reckon says additional years or categories may attract fees, that the migration takes three to five business days, and that standard migrations are fully subsidised.

That is a reasonable offer for a business that intends to stay with Reckon. It is a poor first step for one that does not, for three reasons. The older history is not in Reckon One, so a later Xero conversion cannot carry it. Jobs have become classes, so a job-costed history is already flattened. And the Hosted subscription, with the original QBW, is the thing you cancel to take the offer.

The two-hop problem, in dates

Take a business with a Hosted file running since July 2019. Move to Reckon One under the standard migration in September 2026 and the new file holds July 2025 onward. Move that file to Xero in 2028 and the Xero file holds, at best, what Reckon One has: three years, with everything before July 2025 living in a QBB backup nobody can open without a Reckon licence. Go direct from Hosted to Xero in September 2026 and the Xero file can carry the full seven years, reconciled to the Hosted trial balance before cutover. Same destination, one fewer subscription and a history that is still queryable.

Xero’s conversion partner Jet Convert lists free and paid options on the Xero App Store; ask in writing how many years the free option carries and whether jobs survive, and price the paid scope or a specialist conversion if the answer is shorter than your file. Whichever route, the question to settle first is the destination, not the offer in front of you.

Export these before you cancel anything

Reckon’s Hosted help article is explicit that Reckon does not individually back up user data files; its server backups are for disaster recovery only. Backups you make go to the My Backup (B:) drive, and Reckon recommends downloading them to your own PC. Reckon has also notified Hosted users that backup files older than 365 days are removed from the platform. So before the Hosted subscription ends, whichever way you are going:

Run File > Save Copy or Backup with complete verification, then download the QBB from the B: drive. Keep a second copy of the QBW itself.
Export to PDF and spreadsheet: trial balance at the last month-end, aged receivables and payables, general ledger detail for at least the current and prior financial year, and the fixed asset register.
For Australian files, export the lodged BAS history and STP finalisation records; for New Zealand, the filed GST returns and payday filing summaries. Your accountant will want these regardless of destination.
Export the payroll year-to-date by employee if you are moving mid-year, so the new system’s STP or payday reporting can start from correct opening figures.
List every job, class and custom field in use. The conversion scope depends on them, and they are the first things a standard migration flattens.

How to decide in one sitting

Ask three questions. Will the business still be on Reckon in three years? If yes, take the free Reckon One migration and pay for the extra years if the history matters. Does the business need multi-currency, job costing depth or an app ecosystem Reckon One does not offer? If yes, the destination is Xero or QuickBooks Online and the source should be the Hosted file. Is there a chance of either? Then keep the Hosted file intact until the destination is chosen, because it is the only source that carries everything.

Timing in Australia follows the same logic as any other move: 1 July is cleanest, a BAS-quarter start is next best, and the details are in our EOFY timing guide, which applies to Reckon files as it does to MYOB. The wider Australian picture is in moving accounting software in Australia.

FAQ

Can I convert from Reckon One to Xero later?

Yes, but only the history that is in Reckon One, which for a standard Reckon migration is one prior year plus year-to-date. History left in the old Hosted file stays in a QBB backup that needs a Reckon licence to open.

Does the Reckon Accounts Hosted file convert to Xero directly?

Yes. The Hosted file is a QBW, the same format as desktop Reckon Accounts. Download a verified QBB backup and a copy of the QBW from the B: drive before the subscription ends, and the full history is available to convert.

What does Reckon’s free migration not include?

Per Reckon’s page, history beyond one prior year, multi-currency files, and larger migrations attract fees or are excluded from the standard scope; jobs and categories arrive as classes rather than as jobs.