Getting QuickBooks working, in order

Why now, You have chosen a plan, so the account can now be created against it.

Sign up and enter the legal business name exactly as it appears on your formation paperwork, along with your business address, entity type, tax identification number and the start date you want the books to begin from. Set the fiscal year to match what your accountant uses.

These details print on invoices and flow into reports and filings. Correcting them later means reissuing documents and confusing your own history.

Done when, The company details in the file match your formation paperwork and your tax registration.

You'll know it worked when open the company settings and read them back against the paperwork line by line.

• Gather everything you need before setting QuickBooks up

  Use this in the hour before you sit down to set the file up.

  Finish the setup in one sitting instead of three.

  Produces a checklist of what to have ready, and a separate list of questions for your accountant.

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Why now, The file exists and describes the right business, so the shape of the books comes next.

Start from the default category structure and change as little as possible. Add a category only when you can say what decision it will help you make. Resist the urge to build a detailed structure now: it is far easier to split a category later than to merge years of history back together. Where a classification is a judgement rather than a fact, leave it and ask your accountant.

An over engineered category structure is the single most common reason owners stop keeping their own books. Every transaction becomes a decision, so the categorising falls behind, and once it is behind the reports stop being true.

Done when, You have a short category list and can explain what each one is for.

You'll know it worked when read your category list out loud. If you cannot say what a category is for in one sentence, it should not exist yet.

Why now, The category structure is in place, so incoming transactions have somewhere sensible to land.

Connect the business bank account and any business credit cards, set the opening balance and date to match the real statement, and let the transactions pull through. Then compare the balance shown in QuickBooks with the balance on the actual account for the same date.

Everything downstream is built on this feed. If the opening balance is wrong or a second account is missing, every report after it is quietly wrong too, and it is much harder to find later.

Done when, Every business account and card is connected and each balance matches its real statement for the same date.

You'll know it worked when open your bank's own site alongside QuickBooks and compare the two balances directly.

• A business bank account to connect

  Unconfirmed

  The account the business actually receives and spends money through, kept separate from your personal one.

  The bank feed is what makes the books current instead of reconstructed. Without an account to connect, everything has to be entered by hand.

  You get

  Transactions arriving on their own, and monthly reconciliation that is possible rather than theoretical.

  You'll need

  A formed business with an open business account.

  Do this

  Connect the account from inside QuickBooks and set the opening balance to match the real statement.

  Check it

  The balance in QuickBooks matches the balance at the bank for the same date.

  Then

  Set up how you invoice.

  Haven't got it? That's fine, You can still use QuickBooks by entering transactions manually, but the work multiplies and it falls behind quickly.

  Read our take on Mercury

  Biz Spouse research · The general requirement is certain. The specific connection between these two named products has not been verified by us step by step, so it is marked unresolved rather than claimed.

Why now, Nothing else should happen until this is settled, because the plan shapes everything after it.

Write down what your books actually have to do this year: how many invoices and bills, whether you handle sales tax, whether anyone is on payroll, whether you track inventory or job profitability, how many people need to log in, and whether your accountant works in QuickBooks. Then read the pricing page and pick the cheapest plan that covers every one of those, and no more. If the honest list is only income, expenses and a few invoices, say so, because a lighter tool may serve you better and cost far less.

Almost all the money wasted on accounting software is wasted here, by buying depth that never gets opened. Complexity decides this, not how many employees you have. A very small business with genuine complexity belongs here; a bigger one with simple needs may not.

Done when, You can name your plan and say which specific need forced you up to that tier.

You'll know it worked when for every step above the cheapest plan, you can point at a requirement it covers that the cheaper one does not.

• Work out which QuickBooks plan you actually need

  Use this before you buy anything, while you are still deciding which plan or whether QuickBooks at all.

  Buy the smallest plan that covers your real needs.

  Turns your actual requirements into one plan recommendation, and says if something lighter would fit better.

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Why now, Invoicing is working, so tax on those invoices is the next thing that has to be correct.

Applies when Only if your business collects sales tax.

If you collect sales tax, turn it on and configure the jurisdictions and rates that apply to you, then check the tax shown on one real transaction against what you know it should be. If you do not collect sales tax, skip this entirely and do not switch it on to be safe.

Sales tax is where a bookkeeping error turns into a filing error, and where guessing costs real money. It is also completely irrelevant to many businesses, and switching it on when you do not need it adds friction to every transaction.

Done when, Either sales tax is configured and correct on a real transaction, or you have confirmed it does not apply to you.

You'll know it worked when check the tax on one real transaction against the rate you know applies. If you are unsure whether you should be collecting at all, that is a question for your accountant, not for the software.

Why now, You have employees. If you do not, this step does not exist for you.

Applies when Only if you have employees or pay contractors through payroll.

Payroll is a separate paid add on rather than something included with the accounting plan. If you have employees, read the payroll pricing page for the current monthly and per employee cost, choose the plan that matches what you need, and set it up carefully with your employee details, pay schedule and tax registrations. Run one payroll and check every figure before the money leaves.

Payroll is the highest consequence thing in the whole file. Getting it wrong means underpaying people or misfiling taxes, and both are expensive to unwind. It also changes the monthly cost materially, which is why it belongs in a decision of its own.

Done when, One real payroll has run, every net figure was checked before it left, and the tax filings are set up.

You'll know it worked when compare the first payroll run line by line against what each person should receive, before approving it. Involve your accountant if any part of the tax setup is a judgement call.

• Payroll, bought separately

  Full service payroll from the same company, sold as an add on rather than included in the accounting plan.

  If you have employees, running payroll inside the same system means the wage and tax entries land in the books without being re entered.

  You get

  Payroll tax calculation, filing and payment, contractor payments and an employee portal, depending on the payroll plan.

  You'll need

  A working accounting file and employees or contractors to pay.

  Do this

  Read the payroll pricing page, choose the plan that matches what you need, and set it up as its own project.

  Check it

  One payroll runs correctly and the tax filings are set up.

  Then

  Connect the tools that create manual work.

  Haven't got it? That's fine, You are not paying employees through this system, which is entirely fine if you have none. If you do have employees, payroll has to happen somewhere.

  Official instructions

  Official source · as of September 2026 · Intuit's own payroll pricing page, read on 10 September 2026. Payroll is priced separately from the accounting plan, with a monthly fee plus a per employee fee that varies by plan and current offer. Only needed if you have people to pay.

Why now, The books are working correctly on their own, which is the only safe point at which to start feeding them automatically.

Applies when Only if a tool you already use is creating repeated manual entry.

List the tools that currently make you enter the same information twice, then check Intuit's integration directory for each one. For every connection you make, find out who built it, what data moves, which direction it moves in and how often. Connect one at a time and watch a real transaction go through before adding the next.

Intuit advertises over 800 integrations, and the depth of them varies enormously. Some are built by Intuit and some by third parties, and some only move data one way. Connecting several at once is the standard way people end up with duplicate income in their books and no idea which connection created it.

Done when, Each connection you made is doing a job you can name, and one real transaction has gone through each without duplicating.

You'll know it worked when after connecting a tool, find one transaction that came through it and confirm it appears exactly once in your books.

• The tools you already use, connected only where it helps

  Unconfirmed

  The apps in the integration directory that can feed QuickBooks, including connectors built by Intuit and connectors built by third parties.

  Connecting a tool that already holds your sales or expenses removes real re typing. Connecting one that does not simply adds a thing that can go wrong.

  You get

  Less duplicate entry, and sales or expense data landing in the books without being exported and imported.

  You'll need

  A working, reconciled accounting file and a specific tool that is costing you re typing.

  Do this

  Check the tool in Intuit's integration directory, note who built the connector and which way the data moves, then connect one at a time.

  Check it

  One real transaction from that tool appears in your books exactly once.

  Then

  Reconcile the month.

  Haven't got it? That's fine, You keep entering the same information twice, which is tolerable at low volume and expensive at high volume.

  Read our take on Square
  Official instructions

  Biz Spouse research · as of September 2026 · Intuit's directory lists connectors for many tools including named ones it builds itself. We have not verified the direction, frequency or duplicate behaviour of any specific pairing, so nothing here claims two way sync.

• Decide which of your tools should actually connect to QuickBooks

  Use this when you are tempted to connect several apps at once.

  Connect only what removes real work, and avoid creating duplicates.

  Ranks your tools by whether connecting them is worth it, and names the duplicate risk for each.

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Why now, Everything is set up and feeding in, so now the output has to be proved.

Categorise everything for one complete month, reconcile each bank and card account against its statement, then open the profit and loss and the balance sheet for that month and read them. Ask whether the revenue looks like what you actually earned and whether the expenses look like what you actually spent. Anything that looks wrong usually is.

Until a month is reconciled, the reports are a guess with a professional layout. This is the step that turns a configured file into a set of books, and it is the one most people skip.

Done when, One full month is reconciled and both reports read as a fair picture of that month.

You'll know it worked when every account reconciles to its statement with no unexplained difference, and you can explain the largest few figures on the profit and loss.

Why now, You have a clean, reconciled month, which is what makes the review worth their time.

Applies when Only if you work with an accountant or bookkeeper.

Invite your accountant or bookkeeper using the accountant access the plan already includes rather than paying for another user seat. Then ask them to review the category structure and the first reconciled month while it is still small enough to correct easily.

A quiet correction now is worth far more than a large clean up in twelve months. Working in the same file is also the entire reason most businesses are on QuickBooks in the first place.

Done when, Your accountant has access and has reviewed the first month.

You'll know it worked when they can log in themselves, and they have given you a short list of corrections or confirmed there are none.

• Build the checklist to review with your accountant

  Use this before your next conversation with your accountant, while the file is still small enough to correct cheaply.

  Get the classification judgements settled by the person qualified to make them.

  Builds an ordered list of questions for your accountant, largest consequence first.

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