QuickBooks Desktop 2023 Stay-on-Desktop Successor Kit For Small Firms Refusing Intuit's Forced Online Migration Before May 31
QuickBooks Desktop 2023 (Pro, Premier, Enterprise) sunsets May 31, 2026 with no patches, no payroll, no bank feeds. Intuit's only sanctioned migration is QuickBooks Online, which costs more, breaks custom reports, and forces firms with regulated workflows (construction certified payroll, AIA billing, inventory-heavy retail) onto a thinner product. The opening is a packaged migration kit and supported alternative stack (Sage 50cloud, AccountEdge Pro, Manager.io, or a SaaS-on-prem hybrid like Sage 100 Contractor) that imports IIF files, preserves audit trails, and keeps the desktop experience for firms that already have local workflows.
Pick ONE destination (probably Sage 50cloud because it's the closest UX) and build the importer + supported-stack package as a fixed-fee service through bookkeepers and small CPA firms... not direct to SMB. The CPAs are the channel; SMBs follow what their bookkeeper installs. This is sister to last week's QBO price-hike signal but specifically for firms refusing to go online at all.
landscape (3 existing solutions)
Alternatives exist but the bridge from a working QBD 2023 install to a working alternative on the same workstation, with payroll continuity, is the unsolved part.