Accounting > QuickBooks Online

SimplePay currently supports integration with QuickBooks Online. You will be able to import your chart of accounts into SimplePay and then specify mappings from SimplePay’s accounts to your accounts in QuickBooks.

Once you’ve enabled this integration, the Pay Runs screen will contain links for posting finalised pay runs to QuickBooks. After clicking that, you will be prompted to import your chart of accounts and do the mapping.

Preliminary Steps

Before integrating with SimplePay, you will need to ensure that QuickBooks is correctly configured in order to be able to map accounts.

Once you have created the relevant accounts in QuickBooks, you can proceed with the QuickBooks integration.

Initial Setup

This guide will help you set up the integration between SimplePay, the online payroll system, and the QuickBooks Online accounting system.

The first step is to tell SimplePay that you’d like to use the QuickBooks integration:

  • Go to Settings > Accounting > Accounting Integration.
  • Click on Show Advanced to post information for each Pay Point on SimplePay to separate entities on QuickBooks Online. Refer to the Advanced Options heading below for more information.
  • Click the Connect to QuickBooks button under Quickbooks Online.
  • You will now be redirected to log in to your Quickbooks Online account.

Note that, so far, no communication between SimplePay and QuickBooks has taken place.

Creating a Pay Run

This step is not specific to the QuickBooks integration, but a general function of SimplePay. Click on Pay Runs.

First, you will need to finalise the payslips for the period. If your screen does not have a 0 under Pending, you may click the Finalise link which will appear under the number of pending payslips, in order to do a bulk finalise. Then click Create Pay Run.

After the pay run has been created, you will see a screen where you can click Send to QuickBooks.

Importing the Chart of Accounts

After performing the above action, you will be prompted to map your payroll accounts to QuickBooks accounts. Under each payroll account, you will find a drop-down list of potential QuickBooks accounts that it can be mapped to.

Because SimplePay does not yet have the list of QuickBooks accounts, click Import now.

You will then authorise SimplePay to access your data on QuickBooks. This authorisation will be remembered in future – it can be revoked at any time from within QuickBooks.

You may be asked by QuickBooks for your login details if you are not yet logged in. Ensure that, if you have multiple companies on QuickBooks, the correct company corresponding to the one you are currently working on in SimplePay is selected. Then click Authorize.

Final Steps

You will now be back on the Account Mappings screen shown above, but this time the list of QuickBooks accounts will be populated. The list of QuickBooks accounts that appear in the dropdown list when mapping payroll accounts will depend on whether the item to be mapped appears under the Debit or Credit section on the Account Mappings screen.  For instance, the dropdown list for Basic Salary will show asset and expense QuickBooks accounts, since these are the accounts that are usually debited in accounting. However, you can map to any type of account by clicking on ‘Show More Accounts under the ‘Other’ section in the dropdown list. After mapping the accounts, you will be able to post the journal to QuickBooks.

In future, you will not be asked to map accounts. However, if you’ve started using a new payroll account since the last time you posted data to QuickBooks, e.g. you are now paying sales commission for the first time, you will be asked to map that account. This is because SimplePay only maps accounts that you’ve actually used, saving you the trouble of mapping accounts that you may have on paper but never actually use in practice.

Advanced Options

The above information is applicable in the standard case – where you wish to integrate your company in SimplePay with one company in QuickBooks. This would be applicable to most businesses.

If, however, you use pay points in SimplePay and, therefore, want to link a pay point / company in SimplePay to multiple companies in QuickBooks, please refer to:

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