QuickBooks and Neat. A guide to using Neat and QuickBooks together

Transcription

1 QuickBooks and Neat A guide to using Neat and QuickBooks together

2 Introduction The Neat software is designed to sync with a number of popular 3 rd -party programs designed to keep track of expenses. One of the most popular programs for expense management is QuickBooks. We work with numerous versions of this program.

3 What is QuickBooks? QuickBooks is an expense management program used primarily by small businesses. QuickBooks allows users to monitor incoming and outgoing accounts, by keeping track of both invoices to and payments from customers, as well as outgoing expenses incurred by the company. We only work with outgoing accounts. Customers can link numerous accounts to QuickBooks to manage their income flow, by attributing checks received and money owed to receivables accounts, and money spent to Bank, Cash, and Credit accounts, among others. This way, they can keep up on where their money is going, and how much is coming in. QuickBooks users keep their information in a workbook (.qbw file), much like our cabinet/database file. 3

4 What can Neat do with QuickBooks? As a receipt organizing software, Neat allows customers to send Receipt information directly to QuickBooks, via a direct export connection. Neat can ONLY export Receipts. It will ONLY bring in data (grid information), and will never bring over image copies of the receipts. When appropriately mapped through Neat, we can send over the following: -Vendor -Receipt Date -Category -Amount -Payment Type We will also automatically debit the account to which the receipts were mapped to, balancing the account to reflect the purchase. 4

5 What are the limitations of Neat and QuickBooks? Neat will ONLY send over the categories from the previous page. Additional categories, such as Transaction ID, CANNOT be sent over. Sales tax is NOT brought from Neat, it is calculated by QuickBooks. Neat will ONLY send Receipt information. It cannot handle any type of received income (like checks), because our program is not designed to handle incoming money flow. Our receipts will ONLY send to QuickBooks as a BILL PAID. This is because it assumes the receipts were paid at point of purchase. Since we export as a bill paid, receipts must be mapped at time of export to an account, so it can pay the receipt in QuickBooks as it s brought in. Our program will ONLY recognize certain kinds of accounts to bring over for mapping: -Bank accounts -Credit Card accounts -Accounts Payable accounts 5

6 Which versions of QuickBooks work with Neat? Neat will ONLY work with Windows versions of QuickBooks. It cannot be used with QuickBooks for Mac. Neat 5 can currently only work with locally installed versions of QuickBooks. This includes QuickBooks Professional up to version Prior to Version 5.0, Neat had two options for exporting to QuickBooks. In addition to the direct export, NeatWorks 4.0 also provided the option for an.iif export this allowed users to create a file to import and export into QuickBooks. This was used if their QuickBooks workbook was on a network drive, another computer, or if the user was not an Administrator in QuickBooks. To connect directly, the QuickBooks workbook must be opened in Administrator Mode. We have never worked with online versions of QuickBooks. 6

7 What is involved in the QuickBooks export? To export to QuickBooks from Neat, you must initially set up a connection between Neat and QuickBooks. This is where we tend to see most of the QuickBooks-related troubleshooting problems. To initiate the transfer, first check to make sure that your workbook (filename.qbw) is saved on the C:\ drive. You should also make sure that the file currently open in QuickBooks is the file you want to transfer to. In Neat, you should click on either the folder or receipt(s) you wish to transfer to QuickBooks, then go to Export QuickBooks 7

8 Category Mapping in QuickBooks After the Neat software successfully connects to QuickBooks, you are required to map any category used by an exported receipt to a corresponding category in QuickBooks. Look at the picture below to see three categories that have been mapped this way. 8

9 Exporting to QuickBooks After pressing Next on the Category Mapping Screen, you will need to select an account type (ex. Credit Card) that will cover the cost of the receipts that are about to be brought into QuickBooks. Only one account type can be assigned to a payment type (ex. Debit Card in Neat) per export, so be careful when assigning payment types in our program, making sure to use specific 4- digit number endings for Credit Cards in our software to avoid potential confusion. (For example, if you use one specific credit card, like a Home Depot store card, to buy all of your goods at Home Depot, you should select those receipts or folders for export, then select your Home Depot Credit Card account in QuickBooks at this step.) continues on next page 9

10 Payment Mapping Continued The Payment Type noted in Neat appears on the left, and compatible account types can be chosen from the drop-down box on the right. (Remember, only Bank, Credit Card, and Accounts Payable accounts will appear.) 10

11 Exporting to QuickBooks Once the Payment Type mapping has been completed, pressing Export at the bottom of this window completes the export and send the information to QuickBooks. A message indicating success will appear next. At this point, our end has been completed, and you may export more information out, or move onto another task. 11

12 Our information in QuickBooks Once information is sent over from Neat, it will appear as a transaction under any account that payments were mapped to. For this example, we sent $ worth of purchases to QuickBooks, all coming from the General Fund, a Bank account. This reflection can be seen by looking at the Chart of Accounts, a list of all accounts included in QuickBooks. To see the Chart of Accounts, go to Lists Chart of Accounts. 12

13 Our Information in QuickBooks Double-clicking on any account listed in the Chart of Accounts will give you a line-by-line list of the transactions that have caused the total summary that appears in the chart. Here, the General Fund is shown. To edit transactions, simply doubleclick on a receipt entry. 13

14 Troubleshooting Neat and QuickBooks While typically, the Direct Connection between Neat and QuickBooks will work seamlessly, there are occasionally issues that keep the program from connecting. If Neat 5 is failing to establish a connection with QuickBooks, you will see an error message with a small screenshot of the certificate we would expect to see, and some steps to try 14

15 If Neat Fails to Connect to QuickBooks First, make sure that QuickBooks is open, and that the proper company file is open. If you are working in a company file that does not match the file they are connecting to in Neat, the connection will fail. -Please close the file you are working in, and try opening the file in QuickBooks before connecting again. correct Next, close Neat. We are going to want to check the Administrator settings on Neat and QuickBooks they need to match. First, right-click on QuickBooks, and choose Properties Compatibility. Take note of whether or not Run this Program as an Administrator is checked off, and close the box. Repeat this with the Neat icon if they do not match, change Neat s setting so it is the same as QuicKBooks. Open Neat, and try running the export again. -continued on next slide- 15

16 Neat and QuickBooks Troubleshooting If you are still unable to connect to QuickBooks, go to QuickBooks and click on Edit Preferences. From there, move to Integrated Applications and click on the Company tab. Try checking off the second box on this screen, and look for Neat as an allowed application. If Neat is listed, but not checked off, hit Properties, and a second box will appear. -continued on next slide- 16

17 Troubleshooting QuickBooks In the Properties window, try checking off the boxes below so the program matches the options pictured, then try connecting in Neat again. If you cannot check off those boxes, try checking off Prompt before allowing access. If this still does not work, try closing the QuickBooks workbook (.qbw) file, and running the connection one more time. Navigate to the location of the.qbw file, and right-click on it. If you can, choose qblaunch.exe. 17

18 Troubleshooting QuickBooks If at this point you are still having trouble, you unfortunately may not be able to use the direct connection feature between our software. This does happen sometimes. If using QuickBooks with Neat is a necessity or the reason you purchased the software, you may need to revert to NeatWorks and be instructed on using the.iif functionality of this version of the software. Please contact our technical support department for assistance with this. 18