Well, I found my own answer.  You have to import all accounts and then manually go into each account to edit the sub-account status of accounts you want to be sub-accounts.

Yes, I agree.  All of the properties of an account should be importable including inheritance.  I suppose this means we'd have to make sure accounts were added in a correct order so that the prerequisite account existed before the sub-account was created, but I'm fine with that.

Yep i am seeing the same issue trying to import chart of accounts with subaccounts.

Doesn't make sense that Y/N for subaccount field and related account value cannot be addressed in the Mappings section of Account Import Utility. Subaccount is a critical data element. It's bad enough that the account number field length is maxed at 7 characters.

This issue has been addressed by QBO

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/Reports-and-accounting/How-to-import-chart-of-accounts/td-p/...

I feel your pain. I have a client with 590 accounts that need to be used with their 3 companies. Means I have to do this THREE times (sorry for the all caps)!

What is the easiest way to import my old chart of accounts from one company and transfer it to my new company?

Hey @garyet,

Nice to see you in the Community. I can provide clarification on transferring the Chart of Accounts from the old company to your new one. 

QuickBooks Online has the ability to export and import spreadsheet information which is an option that you may wish to consider. I'm including an article that goes over this, with the section Chart of Accounts covering the steps for this process: How To Transfer Chart Of Accounts And Lists.

I'm confident that this resource will help you to get on the right track.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. Best regards. 

Thank you so much this was very helpful.  Is there a way to import bills and checks from vendors?

Hi again, @garyet,

You're most welcome. I'm glad to hear that you found it helpful.

There are multiple ways to batch import transactions into QuickBooks Online. One option is to use the Web Connect feature to bring in transactions from your financial institution. Another option that you may find helpful is that there are third party applications which can also assist with importing transactions. For additional information on this, including resources and steps for those processes, I'm linking an article: Import Batch Transactions.

I'm just a few clicks away if you should have any questions or need anything. Have a lovely day.  

There is a way in the desktop version that may also work in QBO.

If your parent account is titled "Name", sub accounts should be entered in the spreadsheet as "Name: Sub Account". This will import everything after ":" as title of sub account and auto categorize to parent account.

If you have a subaccount, add it in the Account Name column in this format: Main account: subaccount. For example, Utilities: Gas. 

You don't need to do it manually.

This explains how to move from Quickbooks desktop to Quickbooks Online. How do you copy a chart of accounts between two Quickbooks Online accounts?

Good Afternoon, @CFOSecrets. 

You can export each chart of account to Excel to save the file as a CSV so that you can upload it into the other company account. It's a simple process. 

Here's how: 

Export each Chart of Account

1. Open the QuickBooks Online (QBO) account that already has the chart of accounts listed. 
2. Go to the Accounting tab. 
3. Select the Chart of Accounts portion. 
4. In the "Action" section, click View Register. 

        5. Press the Export to Excel icon above the Open Balance column. 

After it's exported to Excel, save the information as a CSV file. 

Import an Excel CSV file into QBO

1. Open the new company account. 
2. Go to the Gear (Settings) icon in the top right-hand corner. 
3. Under "Tools," choose Import data. 

       4. Tap the Chart of Accounts option. 

       5. Follow the rest of the on-screen instructions to successfully import a chart of account. 

Do these steps for every chart of account that's listed in your QuickBooks Online account. Learn more about moving your chart of accounts into QuickBooks Online through this link. 

Let me know if this helps. I want to make sure all of your concerns are addressed. Take care!

I had no issue importingt sub accounts.  Name that is imported must be formatted to have a colon between account and sub account but that's easy to do in excel with concetenation.  This did NOT work for grandchildren accounts, or sub sub accounts which I use a fair number of in restaurant accounting.  If anyone has a solution there, lmk.  Thanks, Adam 

Possible to import sub, sub accounts?  Grandchildren accounts?  Thank you!

Good Evening, @AdamR123. 

Thanks for joining in on this thread. I've got you covered. Yes, it's possible to import sub sub-accounts and grandchildren accounts.

All you need to do is put another colon after your sub-account name. Here's a visual and written example: 

"Utilities: Gas: Truck Gas" 

If you still need the steps about importing your Chart of Accounts, here's the link that can provide the details: Move your Chart of Accounts to QuickBooks Online. 

For the future, here's a guide that can help you and your business manage default and special accounts in your QuickBooks Online (QBO) account. 

After adding the extra colon between the accounts, you should be able to import them successfully. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I'll always be around to help. Have a fantastic day! 

Strange, I tried that but will try again.  Thanks!

definitely worked this time around.  Thanks!

I totally agree with the ridiculous functionality of "Import" and "Export." You would think you could export a COA from one company in QBO and import it into another company, but NO!!! Come on QBO. Please fix these issues. These have been standard in QB Desktop for over a decade.