How to Connect QuickBooks Online (QBO)

MonuDesk connects to QuickBooks Online (QBO) so the money you collect flows straight into your accounting. Find it in Settings → Integrations, on the QuickBooks Online card.

QBO is short for QuickBooks Online; MonuDesk connects to QuickBooks Online, not QuickBooks Desktop.

How to connect

Go to Settings → Integrations and find the QuickBooks Online card. Click Connect QuickBooks. You will be asked to enter your QuickBooks email and password. Once you are logged in the card reads Connected to your QuickBooks company name, and you're done.

Disconnect, on the same card, ends the connection whenever you want.

Once the card is connected it carries the settings that decide how MonuDesk writes to QBO:

• Managing location, which office you are setting up (multi-office companies only).

• Order document type: Invoice, Sales Receipt or Both.

• Income account entry type: Invoice Entry or Journal Entry, shown when the invoice flow applies.

• Quotes in QuickBooks: Estimate (marked "Recommended."), Invoice or Nothing.

• Income Account Mapping, which QuickBooks account each kind of sale posts to.

• Customer field mapping, which QuickBooks customer field each MonuDesk field writes into.

• Order sync activity, every order MonuDesk has touched in QuickBooks.

• Inventory sync, the inventory half of the integration. It holds Sync now, Open matching queue, Download report, the Push MonuDesk changes to QuickBooks switch, Dimension order in QuickBooks, and a read-only How stones are itemised note.

On a plan without QuickBooks, the QuickBooks settings show blurred behind Available with MonuDesk Pro, with Start free trial (or Upgrade to Pro) and Learn more.

QuickBooks for multiple offices

If your company runs more than one office, QuickBooks is connected per office rather than once for the whole company. Each office has its own connection, its own QuickBooks company, and its own field mapping.

Switch to the office you want to set up, then go to Settings → Integrations and connect that office to the QuickBooks company you use for its books. Each office tracks its own QuickBooks company name and the time of its last successful sync, so you can see at a glance which books a location posts to and when it last synced.

Because the connection is per office, an order's payments sync to the QuickBooks company tied to that order's office, and the Customer field mapping and Income Account Mapping below are set independently for each office.

What gets synced

When you confirm an order, MonuDesk makes sure the customer exists in QuickBooks (matching an existing customer or creating a new one), so the order's revenue has somewhere to land.

Quotes are up to you. Under Settings → Integrations, Quotes in QuickBooks decides what a quote creates in QBO, and there are three answers (a new MonuDesk account starts on Estimate):

• Estimate (recommended) - QuickBooks' own quote document. It is non-posting, so nothing lands on your books while the job is still a quote, and the estimate becomes an invoice when the customer confirms the order.

• Invoice - the quote is billed straight away, so an invoice exists from the quote stage on.

• Nothing - quotes stay in MonuDesk. No QuickBooks document is created until the order is confirmed, and the invoice is made then.

As payments come in, MonuDesk pushes each received payment to QuickBooks as its own Sales Receipt, so income is recognized payment by payment and what you see in QuickBooks matches the money you've actually collected.

Each payment is synced once and only once. MonuDesk records the QuickBooks Sales Receipt it created for every payment, so re-syncing an order or logging another payment never posts the same payment twice.

A card keyed in with Card (MonuPay) from Record Payment reaches QuickBooks the same way as a portal card payment. A bank payment from the customer portal is booked on the order, and sent to QuickBooks, only once it has cleared. If the bank later returns it, MonuDesk sends you a Bank payment returned notification, and the payment must be corrected in QuickBooks by hand.

Order document type on the same card decides how each order posts to QuickBooks: as an Invoice, as a Sales Receipt, or Both. Each row has its own auto-sync toggle, so you decide which orders push automatically and which you sync by hand.

Sales tax posts to QuickBooks' native tax field, not as a separate line item, so your tax liability reports in QuickBooks stay accurate.

QuickBooks invoices include the decedent's full name in the Memo field, so each transaction is easy to identify in QuickBooks.

Your order number is the QuickBooks number. Invoices and estimates synced to QuickBooks carry the MonuDesk order number as their QuickBooks number, the same as sales receipts, cut to QuickBooks' 21-character limit. If that number is already taken in QuickBooks, the document is sent without a number. Re-pricing a synced invoice or estimate that has no number fills it in; a number already on it is kept. The invoice PDF MonuDesk generates follows the order too: its number is the order number plus a counter that goes up with each newly generated invoice, for example ORD-53-1, then ORD-53-2. A company whose country is Germany, Austria or Switzerland numbers its invoice PDFs in one gapless company-wide series instead (such as RE-00001), and its QuickBooks invoices still carry the order number.

Your stock counts. When you confirm an order that pulls a stone from your inventory, MonuDesk takes one unit off that stone. If the stone is linked to a QuickBooks inventory product, QuickBooks moves stock of its own as well when the invoice posts. MonuDesk allows for that, so exactly one unit comes off the QuickBooks count for each stone you sell.

The stone posts as your own product. The stone line on the QuickBooks invoice posts against your own linked QuickBooks product whenever a link exists for that order's office, so the sale lands on the real product in your books instead of a catch-all service item called Die or Upright. You control which product that is: each inventory item's edit popup has a QuickBooks link field with a picker, and the order wizard's stone picker carries that link onto the order, so the invoice line lands on the exact item you picked. Everything else, lettering, foundation, cemetery fees and custom items, posts against the generic named item. MonuDesk never creates a product in QuickBooks and never changes the income account on a product you set up yourself. If there is no link, no office, or that office has inventory sync switched off, the line falls back to plain text, and the stone still comes off your MonuDesk count either way.

Services priced by the unit stay at quantity 1. A service priced By Letter Count or By Quantity posts to QBO as one line at the service price, with the maths in the line description, for example 42 letters × $3.50 per letter or 10 × $90.00 each, so a service mapped to a stocked item is never drawn down by the count. The customer's invoice PDF shows the letters or pieces as the quantity, and the total is the same in both places.

Accessories sync on every kind of order. A vase, photo, etching, urn, QR code or vault added to a service order is in the order total and syncs to QuickBooks with the rest of the order. An order that sells only accessories bills each accessory on the QuickBooks invoice.

Where a stone line has no matched QuickBooks item, the item QuickBooks creates is named after the piece. A footstone die line with no matched QuickBooks item is created in QuickBooks as an item named Footstone, not Die.

Keeping an order off the books

Some jobs do not belong in your accounting - a staff memorial, a warranty replacement, work you bill another way. On the last step of the New Order wizard, Review & Create, a QuickBooks card carries a switch reading Send this order to QuickBooks. It is on by default, so orders sync unless you turn it off.

With it off, that order gets no invoice, no sales receipt and no journal entry in QuickBooks, and no payment logged against it is ever pushed. Inventory quantities still sync: a stone pulled for the order still comes off the count in QuickBooks. The order is also left out of the Order sync activity table, so searching for its number there finds nothing. That is the switch, not a failure.

The card appears only when your plan includes QuickBooks and QuickBooks is connected for the location this order is booked against. Otherwise Review & Create has no QuickBooks section at all.

How a stone's die and base bill

Your company decides whether a stone bills its die and its base as one line or two, on the Settings → Stone Itemisation page (How stones are itemised). The QuickBooks invoice is built from the same lines as the customer's invoice, so a stone split into two lines posts to QBO as two lines.

The base line bills against its own product, the one chosen or created for the base row on the Review & Create step, so the base's quantity on hand in QuickBooks moves separately from the die's. A base row with no linked product posts as a generic line.

Settings → Integrations → Inventory sync carries a read-only How stones are itemised note showing the current setting for standard stones and for custom stones, with a link through to Settings → Stone Itemisation, where it is changed.

Bill cemetery fees and custom lines to your own item

The Review & Create step of New Quote carries a QuickBooks fees & custom lines card, below the QuickBooks card and the QuickBooks products card. It shows when the order's location is connected to QuickBooks Online, Send this order to QuickBooks is on, and the order has at least one cemetery fee or custom line. The card reads: "Cemetery fees and custom line items bill to the QuickBooks item you match them with here. A match is remembered for this location, so every future order with the same fee posts to the same item."

Each row shows the line, its amount, and whether it is a Cemetery fee or a Custom line.

1. Open the row's picker, which reads Match to a QuickBooks item…. The search box is "Search by product name…" and the first results are already filtered by the line's name.

2. Pick the QuickBooks item the line belongs to, usually the service item already on your books.

3. The match saves at once. The row then reads "bills to" that item, and every future order with the same line bills to it too.

Change a match at any time with Pick a different item…. Matches are held per location and keyed by the line's name, and they stay editable when you reopen an existing order. Fees that share a name appear as one row, and a lump-sum cemetery fee appears as Cemetery fees.

Lines you have not matched are gathered into one amber notice per step: "1 line isn't matched to a QuickBooks product yet, so it will bill as a generic item." (or "N lines…"), followed by "Pick the right product below. This can't be changed after saving." and a list of the lines and why. While that notice is below the part of the page you can see, a Something to check below chip points you to it. Unmatched lines sync to a generic QuickBooks item named after the line.

Customer matching

MonuDesk looks for the customer in QuickBooks by email, phone and name. If a matching customer is found, the order is linked to them. If no match is found, a new customer is created in QuickBooks automatically.

Choosing the customer while you write the order

You do not have to leave it to the match. On the last step of New Quote, Review & Create, under the QuickBooks sync switch there is a QuickBooks customer picker. Search your QuickBooks customer list and attach the order to the right customer, or choose Create a new customer in QuickBooks to have one made from the purchaser's details.

When a QuickBooks customer with the purchaser's name already exists, a box under the picker reads Already in QuickBooks? Link the customer so a second one is not created. It lists up to three likely matches, each with a Link button. Click Link on the right one and the order's invoices and payments post to that customer instead of a new one. While the QuickBooks section is below the part of the page you can see, a chip points you to it: A QuickBooks customer with this name exists. Check below.

The picker and the box are for new orders. When you reopen an existing order to edit it, the picker is read-only and the order keeps the QuickBooks customer it has. To move an order that is already on the books, use Sync Order below.

Putting an order on the right customer afterwards

Go to Settings → Integrations → Order sync activity. Every order MonuDesk has touched in QuickBooks is listed there, and each row carries a Sync Order button. It opens Sync order <number> to QuickBooks, where you pick the customer the order should be filed under.

If the order was already synced to a different customer, the confirm button reads Void and re-sync to this customer. MonuDesk voids the invoice, the sales receipts and the payments it created under the old customer, then rebuilds them under the one you chose. It works on orders that were synced months ago, so an old job filed under the wrong name can still be put right.

Customer field mapping

By default, MonuDesk sends the purchaser's first name into the QuickBooks Title field, the purchaser's first name into the QuickBooks First Name field, and the purchaser's last name into the QuickBooks Last Name field. The decedent name lands in the QuickBooks Display Name field by default.

The address is split. When a purchaser syncs to QuickBooks Online, the single Address field on the contact is broken up: the street goes to QuickBooks' billing address line 1, and the city, state and ZIP go to QuickBooks' own City, State and ZIP fields. The defaults are Purchaser street address to Billing address line 1, Purchaser city to Billing city, Purchaser state to Billing state, and Purchaser ZIP to Billing ZIP.

It reads full addresses such as "12 Elm St, Springfield, MN 55420", ZIP+4 codes, addresses ending in a two-letter state or a full state name, "USA" or "United States" (sent as the country), and APO/FPO addresses. An address MonuDesk cannot read confidently is left whole in billing address line 1. Customers already in QuickBooks are updated with the split address on their next order sync.

If your QuickBooks setup uses a non-standard convention (for example, you record customers under the decedent's name instead of the purchaser's, or the cemetery name lives in the last-name field), you can remap each field. Go to Settings → Integrations and open Customer field mapping, the dialog headed QuickBooks customer fields. For each MonuDesk source field on the left, pick which QuickBooks destination field it should write into. In a multi-office company this mapping is set per office, so each location can follow its own bookkeeping convention.

Common setups:

• Decedent-keyed accounts: map MonuDesk Decedent Name → QuickBooks Display Name so all your QuickBooks records stay organized by who the stone is for.

• Cemetery-keyed accounts: map MonuDesk Cemetery Name → QuickBooks Last Name if your team's existing QuickBooks records are filed by cemetery.

• Standard: leave the defaults. Purchaser identity flows into QuickBooks first/last name as expected.

Income account mapping

In the same Settings → Integrations panel you'll see Income Account Mapping. This tells QuickBooks which income account each order's revenue should post to. The first row is your default income account: pick the QuickBooks account you use for monument sales (for example, Stone Sales or Memorial Revenue). Anything that does not match a more specific rule posts here, so until a default is set, payments may sit in QuickBooks unassigned.

If you want different kinds of sales to land in different QuickBooks accounts, click + Add Income Account to add a mapping row. Each row pairs a QuickBooks Income Account with a Maps to type, so you can route, for example, all monument sales to one account, all services such as cleaning, lettering, and foundation work to another, and all accessories such as vases, porcelain, and etching to a third. Add as many rows as you need, and edit or delete them anytime. On export, each line item on the Sales Receipt posts to the account that matches its type, and anything left unmatched falls back to the default.

Inventory items post to QuickBooks as true inventory items rather than generic services, so your QuickBooks inventory stays in sync. When an income account has sub-accounts, the mapping routes revenue to the most specific sub-account you've set up rather than the parent account.

If you're not sure which accounts to use, check with your accountant or match whatever income accounts you already file these sales under.

Tell MonuDesk how your QuickBooks writes sizes

A QuickBooks item name like Bevel 24x10x4 Emerald Pearl does not say which number is the width, which is the height and which is the thickness. MonuDesk stores sizes as Width x Height x Thickness, and unless you tell it otherwise it assumes your QuickBooks does the same.

On Settings → Integrations → Inventory sync you will find Dimension order in QuickBooks. Pick the order your own item names use: all six orderings are offered, and the default is Width x Height x Thickness.

Before every inventory import, whether you start it with Sync now here or with Sync with QuickBooks on the Inventory page, MonuDesk shows a window headed Check dimension order before importing with a worked example of how a sample size will be read as width, height and thickness. Check that example, then click That's correct - import to run the import.

The setting only affects future imports, and items already in MonuDesk are left exactly as they are. If you have already brought a catalog in with the dimensions in the wrong boxes, message us in the chat before you re-import.

Per-order QuickBooks sync log

Each order keeps its own QuickBooks sync log listing what was pushed (invoices, payments, and journal entries) each with its QuickBooks document number. Use it to confirm a transaction synced and to find the exact matching record in QuickBooks.

If some of an order's total can't be itemised, the log names the amount posted for it as Adjustment (MonuDesk total alignment).

The log also records what MonuDesk reverses. Cancelling an order voids its QuickBooks invoice and sales receipts and deletes any income journal entries, and each of those actions is written here, including any that failed, so you know what is left to reverse by hand. A cancelled order then reads Voided in the Order sync activity table instead of Synced.

Cancelling is not the only thing that voids records. Changing an order's location regenerates that order's invoice, quote and contract under the new location's name and address, and voids what was already created in QuickBooks under the old location. The voided records stay visible in QuickBooks, so the paper trail is intact.

Learn more: How to Cancel/Archive an Order

Finding an order in the list. The search box above the table reads Search order #, customer, or email… and matches the order number, the customer's first and last name, and their email address, so you can find a sync record from whatever the person on the phone gives you.

Related articles:

• How to Log a Payment

• How to Open an Order

• What's on the Invoice PDF