The PC Law reports you need before a QuickBooks migration

Before your firm moves off PC Law, a handful of standard reports do most of the heavy lifting. Pulling the right ones early makes the whole migration faster, calmer, and easier to check.

You do not need to be an accountant to gather these. PC Law can already produce every report below — the goal of this page is simply to tell you, in plain terms, which ones matter and why. If you would rather not figure it out alone, we go through the exact list with you on a discovery call.

Why the right reports matter

A migration is only as good as the records it starts from. The reports below are how your existing books are read, matched to QuickBooks, and checked afterward. Good, complete exports mean:

• Fewer surprises. Balances and history can be verified against what PC Law shows today.
• A cleaner cutover. The date you switch is anchored to figures that actually tie out.
• Less back-and-forth. Having the reports ready up front avoids repeated requests mid-migration.

Quick checklist of reports

A one-glance list of what to have ready. Each is explained below.

Chart of Accounts

The Chart of Accounts is the master list of every account your firm uses — bank accounts, income, expenses, liabilities, and trust. It is the backbone of the migration: every balance and transaction is posted against one of these accounts. Export the complete list, including account numbers if your firm uses them. During the migration your accounts are matched to QuickBooks with a side-by-side preview before anything is created, so nothing is renamed or merged without you seeing it first.

Trial Balance, beginning and ending

A Trial Balance is a snapshot of every account’s balance at a point in time. Two are useful:

• Beginning trial balance — the balances as of the start of the history you want to carry over. These seed the opening balances in QuickBooks.
• Ending trial balance — the balances as of your planned cutover date. This is the target the migrated books are reconciled against, so the two systems agree.

Together they bracket the period being moved and give a clear before and after to check against.

General Ledgers, preferably monthly

The General Ledger is the detailed record of transactions behind those balances. Exporting it by month rather than as one large file makes it far easier to review, spot gaps, and reconcile period by period. General Ledger detail is prepared and reviewed, then posted to QuickBooks as journal entries — not dumped in blind. If you can only export a single date range, that still works; monthly is simply cleaner.

Vendor List and Customer List / A/R Listing

Your Vendor List and Customer (client) List bring the names and details your books reference into QuickBooks so payables and receivables land against the right party. An Accounts Receivable listing — who owes what, by client or matter — lets open invoices be matched rather than lost. Vendors and customers are created in QuickBooks as the related A/P and A/R lines post.

Trust Listing and Trust Ledger, where applicable

If your firm holds client funds in trust, these records need extra care. A Trust Listing shows the balance held for each client or matter; a Trust Ledger shows the movement in and out over time. Client trust funds are a liability, not firm revenue, and they must reconcile to the penny. Because of that, trust records are reconciled with care rather than bulk-posted. There is more on this in our trust accounting migration overview.

Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, if applicable

Beyond the summary listings, detailed A/R (money owed to the firm) and A/P (money the firm owes) reports capture the open items that should carry across so your first days in QuickBooks reflect reality. If your firm keeps books on a pure cash basis with no open invoices or bills, these may not apply — part of scoping is deciding what is relevant to you.

Cutover date and migration scope

Two decisions shape which reports you ultimately need:

• The cutover date — the day you stop recording in PC Law and start in QuickBooks. Your ending trial balance and final ledgers are pulled as of this date.
• The scope of history — how far back you want detail to travel. Some firms bring several years; others carry opening balances plus the current year. More history means more reports over a longer range.

Settling these early tells you exactly how much to export. Our complete PCLaw to QuickBooks Online migration guide walks through how the cutover and scope fit into the wider move.

What to do if you are not sure which reports you need

That is genuinely common, and it is not a problem. You do not have to get the list perfect on your own. The simplest path is to book a discovery call: we look at how your firm keeps its books, confirm exactly which PC Law reports apply to your situation, and prepare the migration from there. If it is easier, you can also send your migration details and we will follow up.

Report requirements vary by firm and by the scope of your migration. This page is general guidance to help you prepare, not legal, accounting, or compliance advice — your accountant or compliance advisor should confirm what your firm needs.