Skip to main content
QuickBooks Online integration

Integrate your QuickBooks Online General Ledger with TravelBank to enable auto-sync

Anna Allen avatar
Written by Anna Allen
Updated over 2 months ago

Purpose

This article describes how to add an integration to link your QuickBooks Online account to TravelBank and to manage the integration.

Audience

This article is directed toward TravelBank administrators.

Overview

The steps to complete the integration, which are explained in this article, are:

  1. add integration to link your QuickBooks Online account to TravelBank,

  2. configure and review your settings, and

  3. assign a department class to each employee (optional).

Prerequisite

To complete the integration between TravelBank and QuickBooks Online, you need a QuickBooks Online administrator username and password.

QuickBooks Online Bill page overview

Figure 1. QuickBooks Online Bill page, with sections for basic information, category details, and item details

Figure 1. QuickBooks Online Bill page overview

Each QuickBooks Report is created as either a bill or a journal entry and is associated with a vendor that TravelBank creates when you enable the “Expense Reports” TravelBank integration.

  • Bill date field: TravelBank uses bills to sync reports into the correct accounting period. The bill date is set to the date of the last expense on the report. If the period is closed in QuickBooks Online, TravelBank sets the date to the first day of the current period.

  • Category Details Description field: TravelBank provides the following information about each expense: the vendor, the customer name, any description an employee added, and whether the expense was charged to the corporate card.

  • Memo field: TravelBank adds employee information into this field, including the employee name and email address (see Figure 2).

  • Bill status: If you enable reimbursements through TravelBank, TravelBank syncs over the reimbursements as bill payments. TravelBank also allows you to select what liability account you want these payments to debit plus a default credit card account to debit corporate card transactions.

  • Attachments section: You can view receipt images users attach to their expenses directly in QuickBooks Online.

Figure 2. Journal Entry pop-up window, Memo field outlined for emphasis and includes employee name and email address

Figure 2. Journal entry Memo field

Link your QuickBooks Online account to TravelBank

To link your QuickBooks account to TravelBank, take the following steps:

  1. Go to “Company Settings” > “Integrations” > “Add Integrations” .

  2. In the QuickBooks Online row, select “Connect to QuickBooks”(see Figure 3). This brings up an Intuit sign-in page* (see Figure 4).

    Figure 3. Add Integrations page from Company Settings; a list of potential integrations, with QuickBooks Online outlined for emphasis

    Figure 3. Add Integrations page, Connect to QuickBooks
    ​

    Figure 4. Intuit sign-in page

    Figure 4. Intuit sign-in page

  3. Sign in to your Intuit QuickBooks account.

  4. Select the account you want to integrate into the TravelBank system.

  5. Select “Connect” to agree to the terms and conditions and finish the QuickBooks integration.

*Note: If you are already logged in to your Intuit account, the page should automatically sign you in. If you are not redirected to the sign-in page, check your browser pop-up blocker. You may have to allow pop-ups and refresh the page.

Review your settings

Once you have linked your QuickBooks Online account to your TravelBank account, you can review and edit your integration settings. Go to “Company Settings” > “Integrations” > and select “Edit” for QuickBooks Online. This brings up expense categories, sync settings, and other settings you can review and edit, as well as a description of each setting (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Full view of the QuickBooks Online Integration Edit page

Figure 5. QuickBooks Online Integration Edit page

Expense categories

  • Manage Categories: This category redirects you to “Company Settings” > “Expenses” > “Expense Categories” where you can add, edit, and enable or disable your organization’s expense categories.

  • Manage Users

  • Manage Bank Accounts: This category redirects you to “Company Settings” > “Bank Accounts” where you can add a bank account for employee reimbursements through TravelBank.

  • Sync Expense Categories: This category syncs Quickbooks Online expense accounts to TravelBank expense categories.

  • Expense Report Sync: This category syncs approved expense reports and reimbursements to your General Ledger. You cannot turn this toggle on until you complete the other categories.

Sync settings

  • Default Expense Category: This category is the General Ledger account that expenses are debited from if the category on the expense does not match a General Ledger account. This category comes from your chart of accounts in QuickBooks.

  • Transaction Fee Category: This category is the General Ledger account that reimbursement transaction fees will be debited from. This is only required if you are processing reimbursements through TravelBank. This category comes from your chart of accounts in QuickBooks.

  • Default Expense Class: This category is the General Ledger Class that expenses will be tied to if a user does not have an assigned class.

  • Sync Expense Reports as: This category applies to out-of-pocket, or reimbursable, expenses. The options for this category are bills and journal entries.

  • Sync Credit Card Transactions: This category creates a single journal entry for each credit card expense. Most customers should set this setting to “Yes.” If you select “No,” your credit card transactions that come in to TravelBank are not synced with QuickBooks.

  • Report Sync Date: This category is the date TravelBank syncs reports to QuickBooks Online. The options for this category are Approval Date, Submitted Date, and Most Recent Expense Date.

Assign a Department Class to each employee

To assign a department class to each employee, take the following steps:

  1. Go to “Company Settings” > “Integrations” > “QuickBooks Online Integration”.

    1. Select “Manage Users”. This brings up an informational window (see Figure 6).

      Figure 6. Mapping Users to QuickBooks Online Classes pop-up window stating: Select a user then assign a class from the QuickBooks Online General Ledger Class dropdown menus

      Figure 6. Mapping Users to QuickBooks Online Classes pop-up window

    2. Select “OK” to continue.

  2. Alternatively, you can go to “Company Settings” > “Employees” > “Employee Directory”.

  3. Each employee in the directory has a row of information, as well as a pencil icon in the far-right of the row. Identify the employee you want to add a department class to and select the pencil icon in their row (see Figure 7). This brings up an “Edit Employee” window.

    Figure 7. Employee Directory page with rows of employee names and a pencil icon to the far-right of each row

    Figure 7. Employee Directory page, edit icon

  4. Select the “QuickBooks GL Class” field (see Figure 8) and select the General Ledger Class that you’d like to assign to the employee. (The General Ledger Classes are automatically pulled in from QuickBooks Online through the integration.) Currently each employee can only be mapped to a single department. If you require multiple departments per employee, email success@travelbank.com.

Figure 8. Edit Employee window, QuickBooks GL Class dropdown field outlined for emphasis

Figure 8. Edit Employee window, QuickBooks GL Class field

Frequently asked questions

What if there is no accounts payable account available to select in various fields of the QuickBooks Online Integration page?

If you do not see an accounts payable account available on the QuickBooks Online Integration page, you need to set up an accounts payable account in your QuickBooks environment.

In QuickBooks Online, from the left menu, take the following steps:

  1. Select “Transactions” > “Chart of Accounts”.

  2. Select “New”. This brings up a “New account” pop-up window (see Figure 9).

    Figure 9. QuickBooks Online new account pop-up window

    Figure 9. Add a new chart of accounts popup window

  3. Select “Liabilities”.

  4. In the “Save account under *” dropdown field, select “Accounts Payable” > “Accounts Payable (A/P)”. This automatically completes the “Tax form section *” field with the previously selected “Accounts Payable (A/P)”.

  5. Name your new account, for example: "Accounts Payable" (see Figure 10).

    Figure 10. QuickBooks Online Transactions page, chart of accounts tab. The previously created accounts payable account is outlined for emphasis.

    Figure 10. Newly created accounts payable account

  6. Once you have created your accounts payable account, return to TravelBank and refresh the “Company Settings” > “Integrations” > “QuickBooks Online Integration” page. The new account is available for you to select in various fields.

Need help?

If you need help, contact the TravelBank support team:

  • Email support@travelbank.com.

  • From the website or mobile app: Open the left navigation menu and select “Chat with us”.

Publish date: January 20, 2020

Last update: April 20, 2024

Did this answer your question?