Quite often prospective clients call and say that there are so many errors in their QuickBooks Data file that they are thinking about starting the New Year with a new company file. I discourage creating a new company file for the following reasons:
Using the Accountant Toolbox, company files can be quickly cleaned up or the general ledger balances can be corrected as of a given date.
If you create a new file you will need to maintain two files to access historical data and you may lose all your settings, memorized reports, templates, bank feed rules, etc.
Re-creating a company file with all the lists (Chart of Accounts, Customers, Vendors, Items, Terms, Unit of Measure, etc.) and open items (Estimates, Sales Orders, Open Invoices, Purchase Orders, Bills, etc.) can be daunting and prone to errors.
Please think twice before starting a new company file for an existing business that is currently using QuickBooks!