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How Do I Set Up the QuickBooks Online Accounting Integration?

Connect QuickBooks Online as your accounting integration, map revenue and expense accounts, sync billing customers, and keep invoices, services, and supplies linked to QBO.

Accounting Integration connects Clean Smarts to QuickBooks Online so billing customers, invoices, services, and supplies stay linked to your QBO company. Use this when you want financial data—not just time punches—to flow between Clean Smarts and QuickBooks.

Applies to: Account administrators with the Manage Account module. Customer and invoice sync also require Revenue (or Manage Account). This feature is available in the web portal when QuickBooks Online accounting is enabled for your company.

Before You Start

  • This is not Payroll → QuickBooks. Company Settings has two separate QuickBooks paths:
  • Payroll — syncs employees and service locations, and sends approved time as QBO time activity.
  • Accounting — syncs billing customers, chart-of-account mappings, invoices, services, and supplies.
  • Confirm the feature is on. If Company Settings → Accounting only shows a waitlist card and no Your Accounting Software dropdown, ask Clean Smarts support to enable QuickBooks Online accounting for your account.
  • Have QBO admin access. You need permission in QuickBooks Online to authorize the Clean Smarts connection and choose the company file.
  • Allow pop-ups. Connect to QuickBooks Online opens an Intuit sign-in window. Blocked pop-ups stop the connection.

What the Integration Does

  • Area: Customers — What syncs: Link or import QBO customers as Clean Smarts billing customers under Accounting → Customers
  • Area: Account Mapping — What syncs: Map QBO income and expense accounts to contract, service, and product revenue (and a default expense account)
  • Area: Services & supplies — What syncs: Link Clean Smarts catalog items and supplies to QBO items; choose which income account each uses
  • Area: Invoices — What syncs: Create or update invoices in QBO when you save invoices in Clean Smarts; voiding in Clean Smarts can void the QBO invoice

Payroll time activity still uses Company Settings → Payroll and User / Location Sync. See the related articles at the end if that is what you need.

Connect QuickBooks Online

  1. Open Company Settings from your profile menu (bottom-left), or press Ctrl/Cmd + K and search for Accounting.
  2. In the left menu, open Accounting.
  3. Under Your Accounting Software, select QuickBooks Online.
  4. Click Connect to QuickBooks Online.
  5. In the pop-up, sign in to Intuit if prompted, authorize Clean Smarts, and choose the QuickBooks company to connect.
  6. When the pop-up closes and you see Connected, click Save Changes.

After a successful connection, Clean Smarts shows a green Connected status and a Map Accounts shortcut.

Important: Selecting the provider is not enough. You must complete Connect to QuickBooks Online and click Save Changes.

Map Revenue and Expense Accounts

Account mapping tells Clean Smarts which QuickBooks chart-of-accounts lines to use when it creates or updates items and related financial data.

  1. From the Connected banner on Accounting, click Map Accounts, or open Company Settings → Account Mapping.
  2. Under Revenue Accounts, choose QBO income accounts for:
    - Contract Revenue
    - Service Revenue
    - Product Revenue
  3. Under Expense Accounts, choose an Expense Account.
  4. Click Save Changes.

You can leave a field as Not configured until you are ready, but map the revenue accounts you use for services and supplies before pushing those items to QBO.

Sync Billing Customers

Billing customers live under Accounting → Customers. This is separate from Manage Locations → Location Sync, which links payroll customers to service locations for time/job matching.

  1. Open Accounting → Customers from the main menu.
  2. If you see a banner that no integration is connected, finish the steps in Connect QuickBooks Online first.
  3. In the toolbar, open the Customer Sync status control (it shows unsynced Clean Smarts / unsynced QBO counts).
  4. Click Sync Customers.
  5. In the Customer Sync dialog, click Sync with QuickBooks Online to refresh customers from QBO.

Then match records:

  • Action: Link — When to use it: The customer already exists in both systems. Select the Clean Smarts customer on the left, then click Link on the matching QBO customer.
  • Action: Import — When to use it: The customer exists in QBO but not in Clean Smarts. Click Import on the QBO row to create and link a Clean Smarts customer.
  • Action: Push — When to use it: The customer exists in Clean Smarts but not in QBO. Click Push on the Clean Smarts row to create it in QuickBooks Online.
  • Action: Unlink — When to use it: Hover a linked pair and click the unlink control to clear the QBO link without deleting either record.

Warning: Invoices cannot sync to QuickBooks until the billing customer has a QBO link. If sync fails with a customer-not-linked message, fix the pair in Customer Sync (or complete the mapping prompt when you create the invoice), then retry.

Link Services and Supplies

When accounting integration is connected:

  1. Open Company Settings → Service Catalog for services, or Supplies for supply items.
  2. Use Service Sync or Supply Sync (same pattern as Customer Sync) to Sync with QuickBooks Online, then Link, Import, or Push items.
  3. Where the list shows an income-account column, choose the QBO account for that item (from the accounts you mapped or other available income accounts).

Linked items carry an external accounting ID so invoice lines can match the correct QBO item.

How Invoices Sync

Once customers (and line items, when needed) are linked:

  1. Create or edit an invoice from Accounting → Invoices or from billable work orders.
  2. Save the invoice. Clean Smarts attempts to create or update the matching invoice in QuickBooks Online.
  3. On a synced invoice, use View invoice in QuickBooks Online to open it in QBO.
  4. If sync status shows an error, read the message on the invoice, fix the underlying issue (often an unlinked customer), then click Retry Sync.
  5. If you Void a synced invoice in Clean Smarts, confirm when prompted—voiding also voids the invoice in QuickBooks Online.

Editing a previously synced invoice may prompt that updates will sync to QuickBooks Online. Confirm only when you intend that change to land in QBO.

Tips and Troubleshooting

I only see a waitlist on Company Settings → Accounting. QuickBooks Online accounting is not enabled for your company yet. Contact Clean Smarts support to turn it on.

Connect to QuickBooks Online fails or the window never opens. Allow pop-ups for the Clean Smarts site, try again, and complete Save Changes after a successful auth. If the connection still fails, reconnect from Company Settings → Accounting (the same OAuth connection is shared with Payroll QBO when both are in use).

Sync or invoice push fails after long inactivity. Reconnect QuickBooks Online under Company Settings → Accounting (or Payroll if you connected there), then save. QBO tokens can expire after extended unused periods.

Customer Sync is missing on Accounting → Customers. Confirm accounting integration is set to QuickBooks Online, the company shows Connected, and your role includes Manage Account or Revenue.

Invoice sync says the customer is not linked. Open Accounting → Customers → Customer Sync, Link or Push the customer, then Retry Sync on the invoice.

This is different from Location Sync. Location Sync under Manage Locations is for payroll/time job matching. Accounting Customer Sync is for billing customers and invoices.

Can I use QuickBooks Desktop for accounting? The current accounting integration provider list is None or QuickBooks Online only. Desktop Web Connector remains a Payroll option for employees, locations, and time activity—not for accounting invoices and account mapping.

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