Syncing with QuickBooks

Acctivate syncs various lists and information with QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Desktop Sync
The QuickBooks Desktop sync process is initiated in Acctivate via the QuickBooks menu (QuickBooks → Sync with QuickBooks) or by utilizing the QB Sync button on your icon bar. Most companies sync once a day, but it can be done multiple times depending on the need to pass information between programs.

The sync process requires QuickBooks to be installed on the same computer as Acctivate. It does not require that all users exit either software program, nor does it require QuickBooks to be in single user mode.

QuickBooks Online Sync
The QuickBooks Online sync occurs "in the background" when certain tasks are performed. E.g., posting an inventory transaction or opening the Customer List will trigger a real time sync with QuickBooks Online.

While typically not required, a user can initiate a sync with QuickBooks Online via the QuickBooks menu (QuickBooks → Sync with QuickBooks).

Information Synced

When a sync is performed, some information is transferred one way and some information is transferred between both programs. Certain lists are maintained only in QuickBooks; but, after a sync they will be available in Acctivate.

Customers

Customers can be added or updated in either program. Due to required and optional fields in Acctivate, it is suggested that new customers be created in Acctivate.

While customers cannot be deleted from within Acctivate, they can be deleted or merged into another customer in QuickBooks which will result in the customer being deleted or merged in Acctivate after a sync has been performed.

When deleting customers in QuickBooks, the following conditions should be noted:

If the deleted customer in QuickBooks has any of the following associated records in Acctivate, it cannot be deleted in Acctivate and will be recreated in QuickBooks during the sync:
- Invoices
- Sales orders
- Customer prices
- Customer contracts
- Customer products
- Customer contacts
- Customer assigned to a marketing list
- Customer notes
- Shipments
- Business Activities
If the option Only synchronize new customers with transactions option is enabled, customers deleted in QuickBooks will not be deleted from Acctivate.

Vendors

Vendors are added and maintained in QuickBooks. Vendor product pricing, Vendor Product IDs, and Lead Times are maintained in the Edit Product screen in Acctivate.

Vendor Address Format

QuickBooks Desktop
The vendor’s address that is used on a Purchase Order in Acctivate is the vendor’s Shipped From address in QuickBooks, if supplied. If there is no Shipped From address populated in QuickBooks then Acctivate will use the vendor’s Billed From address as the vendor’s default Purchase Order address.

When setting up your vendors in QuickBooks, it’s recommended that the address block contain the Vendor’s name in the first line. For example, an appropriate format would be:

American Delivery Services
800 Industrial
Dallas, TX 75201

QuickBooks Online
Below is a table showing which QuickBooks Online vendor fields sync to Acctivate address fields

QuickBooks Online vendor field	Acctivate vendor address field
Company name (if contains data), otherwise the Vendor display name	Address line 1
Street address 1	Address line 2
Street address 2	Address line 3

City, state, zip, and country all sync to their counterparts in Acctivate.

The above sync mapping ensures that addresses conform to the recommended format (recipient name on line 1, street address starting on line 2).

Vendor Terms Code
If you have default payment terms for a vendor, you can assign the terms code to the vendor in QuickBooks. This information will carry over into Acctivate, though you can manually override terms codes or Purchase Invoice due dates as necessary. If a vendor is not assigned a default terms code in QuickBooks, then Acctivate will use the default terms code for Purchase Orders.

Salespersons

QuickBooks Desktop
Sales Reps are setup and managed in QuickBooks, however you may mark them as active/inactive in Acctivate in the Sales section of the Configuration Manager. Acctivate only uses the Salesperson Initials and Name, however in QuickBooks you will want to setup the Sales Rep with the appropriate Sales Rep Type and related information. Once created, a Sales Rep can be assigned to the customer in Acctivate or in QuickBooks, then the assignment will sync to the other program when you run a sync.

QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online does not have a salesperson list. Instead, the Employee list in QuickBooks Online is synchronized as the Salesperson list.

Terms codes

Terms Codes are managed in QuickBooks. Once created and synchronized, a Terms Code can be assigned to the customer in Acctivate or in QuickBooks, then the assignment will sync to the other program when you run a sync. A default Terms Code for new customers can be set in Acctivate.

Payment Methods

Payment Methods are setup in QuickBooks and synchronized to Acctivate. When configuring a Payment Method in QuickBooks, a Payment Type is assigned to it and is used to identify the type of payment (i.e., cash, check, credit card, e-check, other, etc.). Acctivate uses the Payment Type to determine which payment fields to show and, if a payment processor is configured in Acctivate, it is used to determine which payments can be processed online (credit cards and e-checks).

Customer Types

Customer Types are setup in QuickBooks and will sync to Acctivate. Customer Types can be assigned to customer in either QuickBooks or Acctivate. Depending on the Sales/COGS selections, income and COGS accounts can be linked to Customer Types in Acctivate.

Currencies and Exchange Rates

If Multi Currency is enabled in QuickBooks, Acctivate will sync the list of enabled currencies and their exchange rates. The exchange in Acctivate will only be as current as the last synchronized exchange rate from QuickBooks.

Employees

QuickBooks Desktop
Employees are setup and managed in QuickBooks. Employees are only used in the Business Activity Service Billing module, which allows recording service time for an employee.

QuickBooks Online
See Salespersons sync for more information.

Sales Tax Configuration

QuickBooks Desktop
Sales Tax Configuration is enabled and configured in QuickBooks. First you must setup a Taxable and Non-Taxable Sales Tax Code, then you can setup Sales Tax Items and/or Groups to capture the correct tax percentage. The Sales Tax Codes, Items and Groups setup in QuickBooks will be available in Acctivate after a sync. However, if a Sales Tax Item is contained in a Sales Tax Group in QuickBooks, the Sales Tax Item will not be available for use in Acctivate.

QuickBooks Online
Sales Tax Configuration is enabled and configured in QuickBooks Online. Single or Combined tax rates must be setup in QuickBooks Online. You can setup Single or Combined tax rates to capture the correct tax percentage.

Note

Acctivate doesn't currently support the QuickBooks Online Automated Sales Tax engine.

Chart of Accounts

Acctivate will sync the entire list of general ledger accounts in QuickBooks for mapping in Acctivate. Acctivate requires mapping a small number of GL accounts, however any GL account can be selected on

QuickBooks Classes

The list of QuickBooks Classes will be synchronized from QuickBooks to Acctivate for use on sales transactions.

Inventory

Once integrated with QuickBooks, Acctivate takes responsibility for all inventory management. Acctivate will not sync the products, inventory quantities or inventory transactions. However, Acctivate will sync summary journals for the total value of the inventory transactions. Any transaction that affects inventory must be performed in Acctivate to ensure that Acctivate and QuickBooks are kept in balance.

Sales/Credit Transactions and Payments

Sales Invoices and Credit Invoices: Acctivate only syncs Sales Invoices and Credit Invoices with QuickBooks. Sales Orders and Credit Memos are not synchronized to QuickBooks and will need to be referenced within Acctivate rather than in QuickBooks.

Since Acctivate does not sync the product list with QuickBooks, invoices synced from Acctivate will use the Product Class assigned to the product as the QuickBooks Item. To do that, Acctivate will sync the Product Class list to your Item List in QuickBooks. The Product Classes are created as Non-Inventory items in QuickBooks so that income can be mapped to the correct income account. Cost of Goods Sold is synchronized separately as a journal entry.
Payments: Payments created in Acctivate will sync to the QuickBooks Undeposited Funds Account, if enabled. Otherwise, the last used account for deposits will be used.

Synchronized payments may be included in a QuickBooks Deposit, so the Payment Amount and Customer cannot be changed once a payment has been synced to QuickBooks. Instead, changes to these fields should be made in QuickBooks. However, in Acctivate you can change other payment information and the payment application. Payments entered and payment application changes made in QuickBooks will sync to Acctivate. If a credit card has been processed in QuickBooks, the credit card's information fields (i.e., Transaction ID, Authorization Code, last four of card number, cardholder information, and reference number) will be synchronized to Acctivate.

Purchase Transactions

Purchase Invoices (Vendor Bills): Acctivate only syncs Purchase Invoices with QuickBooks. Purchase Orders are not synchronized to QuickBooks and will need to be referenced within Acctivate rather than in QuickBooks.

Entering the Purchase Invoice in Acctivate ensures the inventory is costed correctly, it eliminates accounting discrepancies between the receipt amount and invoice amount, and it allows you to know the status of the Purchase Order. Since the product list is not synchronized to QuickBooks, Vendor Bills created by Acctivate will show the details on the Expenses tab. The debit account will be the Warehouse's Purchase or Landed Cost GL Account and the memo will be the Acctivate Product Description. Vendor Bills that are not related to Purchase Orders are entered directly into QuickBooks. Vendor Bills entered into QuickBooks are synchronized to Acctivate and can be viewed in the Vendor's timeline.

QuickBooks Sync

QuickBooks Desktop

The sync process is initiated in Acctivate. If you sync with QuickBooks closed, Acctivate will sync information to QuickBooks as the user configured in the Integrated Application (Setup during the Acctivate company creation). Typically, this is the "Admin" QuickBooks user. If QuickBooks is opened and you are logged in, Acctivate will sync information as the current logged in user.

Open the Sync with QuickBooks window from the QuickBooks menu (QuickBooks → Sync with QuickBooks) or by utilizing QB Sync button on your icon bar.
In the window that appears, you will click Start Sync, which will begin the sync process.
- Optionally, you can click Options+ to see sync options:
  - Full Sync: When checked, Acctivate will sync all information. When unchecked, Acctivate will not create any new journals in QuickBooks, but it will remove any journals that need to be removed (due to voiding a transaction for example).
  - Chart of Accounts and Code Tables: This option cannot be disabled. Whenever a sync is run, Acctivate will retrieve the current Chart of Accounts and Code Tables/Lists (e.g. terms codes, payment methods, etc.).
  - Enable verbose sync logging: When enabled, more detailed sync information will be written to the Acctivate exception log. This option only persists for the current sync and will revert to being disabled after the sync is complete.
  - Accounts Receivable
    - Customer and Invoices: When selected, Acctivate will sync new and updated customers to and from QuickBooks as well as their invoices.
    - Customer: When selected, Acctivate will only sync new and updated customers to/from QuickBooks. No customer invoices will by synced to/from QuickBooks.
    - None: This option will not sync any new or updated customers or invoices.
  - Accounts Payable
    - Vendors and Invoices: When selected, Acctivate will sync new and updated Vendors from QuickBooks and will sync Acctivate Purchase Invoice to QuickBooks.
    - Vendors: When selected, Acctivate will only sync new and updated vendors from QuickBooks. No purchase invoices will by synced to QuickBooks.
    - None: This option will not sync any vendor or purchase invoices.
  - Sync changes since
    - Last Sync: Acctivate will look for any new or updated records since the last sync (plus an additional 24 hours beyond the last sync to ensure no information is missed due discrepancies in computer times and changes that might have been made during a sync).
    - Closing date: All transactions/lists created or updated since the last closing date will be re-synchronized. This may exclude any transactions that were modified in a closed period.
    - First QB use: All transactions in QuickBooks will be synchronized. This option should only be used if you have already ran a thorough sync and are still having problems.
During the sync, you will see a list of items being synchronized. Each section will complete with an icon indicating the status:
- Green checkmark: This section synchronized successfully.
- Yellow triangle: This indicates the sync log contains some information that you should review.
- Red X: All or some of the information in this section could not be synced to QuickBooks. Review the sync log for details about the error.
- Red circle with a line through it: The user does not have permission to sync this information (e.g. you are logged into QuickBooks as a user that doesn't have permissions to create invoices, so the invoice portion of the sync cannot complete).
Once the sync is completed the Start Sync button will have changed to View Log. Clicking this will open a log listing any warning or error details.

QuickBooks Online

The QuickBooks Online sync occurs "in the background" when certain tasks are performed, such as when an inventory transaction is posted, and one workstation will automatically sync on an interval of every five minutes.

The automatic background sync role is automatically assigned to a single workstation running Acctivate. A background sync with QuickBooks Online will occur ever five minutes. When a workstation stops performing the background sync, due to the user logging out of Acctivate, another workstation will take over the background sync role. The workstation performing the background sync will have a sync icon in the Status Bar.

While typically not required, a user can initiate a sync with QuickBooks Online in Acctivate:

Open the Sync with QuickBooks window from the QuickBooks menu (QuickBooks → Sync with QuickBooks)
Click Start Sync.
During the sync, you will see a list of items being synchronized. Each section will complete with an icon indicating the status:
- Green checkmark: This section synchronized successfully.
- Yellow triangle: This indicates the sync log contains some information that you should review.
- Red X: All or some of the information in this section could not be synced to QuickBooks. Review the sync log for details about the error.
- Red circle with a line through it: The user does not have permission to sync this information (e.g. you are logged into QuickBooks as a user that doesn't have users to create invoices, so the invoice portion of the sync cannot complete).
Once the sync is completed the Start Sync button will have changed to View Log. Clicking this will open a log listing any warning or error details.

Sync Direction

QuickBooks	Sync Direction	Acctivate	Note
Customer Types	⇄	Customer Types
Currency Lists	→	Currency Lists
GL Accounts	→	GL Accounts
Terms Codes	→	Terms Codes
Tax tables	→	Tax tables
Sales tax codes	→	Sales tax codes
Payment Methods	→	Payment Methods
Vendor Types	→	Vendor Types
Class List	→	Class List
Employees	→	Employees
Other Name List	→	Other Name List
Salespeople	→	Salespeople	Not available from QuickBooks Online
Product Class	←	Product Class
Customers	⇄	Customers
Invoices	⇄	Invoices	See our KB article on which field changes in QuickBooks are supported for Acctivate-created invoices.
Other Customer Transactions (charges, journals, etc.)	→	Other Customer Transactions (charges, journals, etc.)
Payments	⇄	Payments
Payment Applications	⇄	Payment Applications
Purchase Invoices	⇄	Purchase Invoices
Vendors	→	Vendors
Journals	←	Journals