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NOTE:  QuickBooks integration requires you to have knowledge of the QuickBooks application and some initial setup files and software to run correctly. The QuickBooks Integration tool is a convenience for our customers.  Our support staff is NOT equipped to be QuickBooks experts and cannot field questions directly related to setting up, modifying, or supporting the QuickBooks application outside of the scope of this tool.  It is recommended that you seek guidance from a QuickBooks consultant or accountant for any QuickBooks specific needs.

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Prerequisites

In QuickBooks, make sure you have a Bank Account already set up.  This is required before deposits can be automatically added to QuickBooks. We will go over the basics of setting one up, but if you want to skip these steps, move to step 13.

Note: If something isn’t working, check back through steps 1 – 12 to see if you did anything different from our examples.

 

Installation and Setup

NOTE: The following steps were created using QuickBooks Simple Start 2010 Free Edition. Screenshots may differ slightly based on the version you are using. Editions 2010 to current year may be integrated.

1. For the following steps, I have set up a “test” QuickBooks file, Simplicity Test Account. When first starting QuickBooks, your screen will look like:

2. Hovering over Bank Accounts, select Register. When the following pop up appears, click Yes.

3. Add an Account Name and Bank Account Number, and then click on Enter Opening Balance…

4. The following pop up asks for a balance from your last statement. For this walkthrough, I entered an example of $100, with today’s date. Click OK.

5. The previous screen has now updated your information. Click Save & Close.

6. This takes you to QuickBooks Bank Register page, where you can view your starting balance (and any future deposits).

7. Going to Company > Lists > Chart of Accounts (or Ctrl+A) will bring up the following screen:

The Chart of Accounts is where you see the different Account Types available (in the Type column). Namely: Bank, Other Current Liability, Equity, Income, Expense, Other Income, Other Expense.

New Accounts and Sub Accounts can be added using the links on the bottom left.

8. When clicking Create a new account you are taken to the following screen:

9. For this example, I chose Income. After making a selection, click the Continue button. On the next page, enter an Account Name, and click Save & Close.

10. You now see the Account in the Chart of Accounts (for this example, “Incoming Simplicity Payments”).

11. If you want to make a sub account, click the Create a sub account button. Because I had “Incoming Simplicity Payments” selected, it automatically anticipates this is the parent Account.

Input the Account Name as “Sample Sub Account” and selected Save & Close.

12. Now you can see the sub account listed under the parent account. Both are of the Account Type Income.

13. Now that you have a working QuickBooks file, download and install the QuickBooks Web Connector. This tool can be found at http://marketplace.intuit.com/webconnector/

Below is how the program looks when first launched:

14. It now needs a QWC file type to connect with. Go to your Simplicity Account, then to Settings > Financial Settings > QuickBooks Admin. Place a check mark in the QuickBooks Payment Feed Enabled.

The defaults are shown above as such. Client Maps To: Account; Debtor Maps To: Client Sub-Account; Account Type: Other Current Liability; Deposit to Bank Account:  n/a.

15. In the QB Web-Service Credentials box, add a Username and Password. These will be used for the QuickBooks Web Connector only, so you can either a) use your Intuit login credentials or b) make up your own Username and Password. Then click the button Generate QWC File.

16. Once you click the Generate QWC File button, save the file in a known location on your computer.

17. Then on the QuickBooks Web Connector, click Add an Application. Once the file is selected, click Open.

18. The following message will appear on the screen. Click OK.

19. QuickBooks will now prompt a similar message. When you switch to that open program, you will be presented with an Application Certificate:

Choosing the options above, click “Continue…”. To accept the permissions, click Done.

20. Switch back to the Web Connector program, and it updates to this screen:

21. Go back to Simplicity > Settings > QuickBooks Admin and click the button Request Debtor Sync. You will be prompted with the message:

22. Go back to the Web Connector. Place a check mark in the box on the far left, retype your password in the Password box (if it hasn’t prompted you for it automatically), select Auto-Run and mark every 10 minutes.

23. Click the Update Selected button, which shows you the updating process:

24. Once it completes, we see a message in the Status box:

25. Simplicity and QuickBooks are now connected. From Simplicity, refresh the QuickBooks Admin page. Ensure that all drop-downs on the QuickBooks Admin screen are mapped to your QuickBooks application correctly. These are the accounts that tell Simplicity how your QuickBooks application is set up, and which account to deposit funds into.

26. Next, pull up an account to post a payment with. For this example, I will go do debtor account #00J3842, Company Y. Load their Financials screen, and you will see the following QuickBooks message:

27. Click [Update Account]. Because I had the Account Type box in the QuickBooks Admin page set to Income, the following options appear:

As we saw in QuickBooks, each of these relates to one of our Income options:

28. Choose an Account you would like to use. (For my example, I chose the main QuickBooks Account, “Incoming Simplicity Payments”.) Click Submit Update.

The account’s Financials tab is now updated with the following information:

29. You can then add a payment on the Financials tab using the Add New Transaction area. For our example, I added a transaction for a check in the amount of $1.00.

30. Once the Web Connector runs, you will see the update on QuickBooks’ Chart of Accounts:

You can also double-click on your Bank type (ex. “Test Bank Account”), to see the Bank Register:

If you click on the Balance (ex. “$101.00”), the option Make Deposits opens. It gives additional options:

31. You can then post other types of payments (such as cash or credit card) via Simplicity.

32. QuickBooks updated via the Web Connector with the new payment information:

33. If you are having trouble with debtor payments transferring from Simplicity to QuickBooks, try checking Tools > QuickBooks Transaction Error Viewer. This screen will show you if any accounts had trouble sending their transactions, and will give a brief description of what may have happened.

Changes in QuickBooks

ANY TIME NEW ACCOUNTS OR CHANGES ARE MADE IN QUICKBOOKS, THE FOLLOWING STEPS MUST BE TAKEN IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER:

  1. In Simplicity under Settings > Financial Settings > QuickBooks Admin section, click on Request Debtor Sync.
  2. In your QuickBooks Web Connector Application, check the box to the left of the Simplicity QuickBooks web service and click Update Selected.

This process will ensure that your QuickBooks application and Simplicity will always stay in sync.

Common Questions about QuickBooks Integration

Q: My QuickBooks states “No data exchange required. What does that mean?

A: If the Web Connector says the message No data exchange required it indicates it found no payments during the last run that it can update QuickBooks with.

 

Q: Does Simplicity only send over payment information?

A: Correct. Simplicity implements a “payment feed” to your QuickBooks account and transfers information based on what payments are received in our software. Payment deletions or edits made in Simplicity will need to be manually worked in QuickBooks.

Q: In QuickBooks, my payment is posting as a negative number. Did I do something wrong?

A: This is actually a feature of QuickBooks. Because a payment is “coming” from a specific account and being deposited into your “bank account”, it shows the account with a negative number.

Q: My information isn’t transferring. How do I know what the issue is?

A: One of the most reliable ways for you to view issues the Web Connector may be having, is to use the QuickBooks Transaction Error Viewer. From Simplicity, you can go to Tools > QuickBooks Transaction Error Viewer. This will display any accounts/transactions the software had trouble sending, the date it occurred, and the reasoning for the failure.

Common QuickBooks Transaction Error Viewer Messages

The account you entered is the account you are depositing to. This field should contain the account where the money is coming from.”

This would indicate the account being deposited to and the account where the money is coming from is set up to be the same exact account in Simplicity (which it’s unable to utilize). You would want to either a) adjust the bank account you are depositing to via Settings > QuickBooks Admin, or b) adjust the account linked to the debtor, on their Financials page.

“Transaction split lines to Accounts Receivable must include a customer on that split line.”

This error sometimes appears when using QuickBooks’ default “Accounts Receivable” account. Try the following steps to create a new account to use in QuickBooks, instead of using this default one:

  1. Start QuickBooks.
  2. Create a new account by clicking Edit and then clicking New Account.
  3. Set the Account Type to Other Current Assets.
  4. Fill out the remaining fields on the new account screen.
  5. Click OK to save your changes.
  6. Open Simplicity, navigate to Settings > QuickBooks Admin
  7. Request a new debtor sync (which will pull down new account)
  8. Change the deposit account to the new account created.
  9. Delete the original payment and try re-adding it.

More information on this specific error can be viewed here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837803

See anything missing or out of date on this page? Please contact Simplicity Support at helpdesk@simplicitycollect.com.