Choosing your accounts for QuickBooks Online and Xero
Mapping tells ServiceVisit which account in your accounting system each kind of money posts to, for example where customer payments land or where a refund is recorded. The setup page lists only accounts that are eligible, suggests one where it is confident, and saves nothing until you press Save. Your accountant is the right person to choose, because the same entry can balance either way and only where it shows up changes.
Before you start
- Connect first. The setup page says Connected at the top.
- If a list is empty, create the right kind of account in your accounting system and reload the page.
- Each mapping is saved on its own, so you can stop and return.
Steps
- From Settings, then Integrations, select Set up now, or Change if setup is complete.
- Each picker says what it is Used for and what happens If left empty. A suggestion, when there is one, appears with its reason, and it only preselects the list.
- Choose an account, then select Save. A saved choice shows as "Saved selection" or "Currently".
- Select Done — return to Integrations when finished.
QuickBooks Online
The page runs in numbered sections. Only the first is required for setup; complete the rest for the workflows you use. Each section saves on its own, and What is this for? under a field repeats what it is used for and what happens if it stays empty.
1. Deposit account (required)
The Bank account that receives customer payments, including Stripe payouts. Payment and refund exports use it, and so does the net amount a lender pays you. It is your cash destination, separate from the liability account that holds advance deposits. Save it first; setup stays incomplete without it.
2. Customer-credit liability account
An Other Current Liability account, such as Customer Credits, for balances you owe customers. It is used when a credit is recorded as a journal entry, applied to an invoice, or refunded. Without it those entries cannot export. Credits sent as QuickBooks credit memos follow section 7 instead. Keep it apart from deposits and sales tax payable.
3. Customer-deposit liability account
An Other Current Liability account, such as Customer Deposits, for money collected before work is invoiced. It tracks work you still owe, not earned sales, and is separate from Customer Credits because a deposit goes back to the card if the job is cancelled while a goodwill credit does not. It is used when a deposit is applied to an invoice or refunded. Applying a deposit also needs the Accounts Receivable account in section 8. If you have no eligible account, the page may offer Create it for me, naming the exact account and type; nothing is created unless you press it. Skip it if you take no deposits.
4. Deposit item
A QuickBooks service item, such as Customer Deposit, whose income account is the deposit liability from section 3. It comes from Products and Services, not the chart of accounts. QuickBooks decides where an invoice line posts from its item's income account, so this link is what keeps a deposit out of revenue. Deposit invoices cannot export without it. If a saved item posts somewhere else, the page flags it instead of hiding it.
5. Prepaid package value
A liability account for package value you still owe, and a service item whose income account is that liability. Together they cover package sales, recognizing revenue as visits are delivered, corrections, and cancellation releases. Skip both if you do not sell packages.
6. Financed jobs
Needed only if customers finance work through a lender who pays you less the fee it keeps. The customer still owes the full invoice, so the invoice clears in full and the fee is recorded separately. Two accounts make that work: a clearing account that holds the full amount (Undeposited Funds or a suitable Bank account), and a fee account (Expense or Income, per your accountant). Both, plus the deposit account in section 1, must be set or financed payments are not sent. ServiceVisit does not choose these for you.
7. Credits and refunds you give
For a credit with no invoice, choose first whether it reduces sales or is booked as an expense, following your accountant's treatment; that choice sets which accounts are listed. A credit against a specific invoice uses that invoice's lines in a credit memo and needs none of this.
- Customer credit item (optional): QuickBooks bills a credit memo through an item, not an account. With an item pointed at the issued-credit account, credits go as credit memos that show on the customer, age with their balance, and can be applied to their next invoice. Without it, credits go as journal entries with the same figures and no customer document. Expense treatment always uses a journal entry, because an item cannot point at an expense account.
- Refunds (optional): a refunds account with a matching item, and the account you pay refunds from. With neither, a refund reduces the income of the original sale, and a refund you pay yourself by check, cash or transfer leaves the deposit account.
8. Balances that come off an invoice
Your Accounts Receivable account, the one holding unpaid invoices. QuickBooks needs it named before a deposit or credit can be applied to an invoice or a balance written off; until it is set those are not sent. It is not needed for ordinary invoice exports. Write-offs then use two accounts, because they are two events: Bad debt (an expense) for a balance you gave up collecting, and Forgiven balance (income) for one you chose to forgive because the work was worth less.
Technicians
Optional. Match each technician to the QuickBooks employee who should be credited with their hours. Time for an unmatched technician does not export. See the guide on what exports.
Quick reference: type and common name
Choose by the QuickBooks type; the name is only what most businesses call it.
| What it holds | QuickBooks type | Often named |
|---|---|---|
| Customer payments | Bank | Checking, Business Checking |
| Credits you owe customers | Other Current Liability | Customer Credits, Store Credit |
| Deposits held before work | Other Current Liability | Customer Deposits, Unearned Revenue, Deferred Revenue |
| Prepaid package value | Other Current Liability | Prepaid Packages, Unearned Revenue |
| Deposit, package, credit, refund items | Service item | Customer Deposit, Prepaid Package, Customer Credit, Refunds and Returns |
| Unpaid invoices | Accounts Receivable | Accounts Receivable |
| Uncollectable debt | Expense | Bad Debts |
| Forgiven balance, issued credit, refunds | Income (or Expense for credits and refunds, per your accountant) | Sales Discounts, Returns and Allowances |
| Financing clearing | Other Current Asset or Bank | Undeposited Funds |
Xero
Xero shows one list of pickers. The five marked Required for setup are Bank account, Revenue account, Refund account, Customer credit clearing account, and Customer credit liability. The others, all optional until you use the workflow, are Account you pay refunds from, Customer deposit liability, Prepaid package liability, Financing fee account, Issued credit account, Bad debt account, and Forgiven balance account. Xero needs no deposit item, credit memo item, receivable account or financing clearing account. Under Advanced, Tracking category 1 and Tracking category 2 tag exports with a Xero tracking option such as a region.
Tips
- Keep deposits, customer credits and sales tax payable in separate liability accounts.
- Bad debt and Forgiven balance are two accounts on purpose. They are different events.
- If your accountant books refunds as an expense, QuickBooks cannot point an item at an expense account, so refunds then reduce the original sale's income.
If something goes wrong
- "Could not load bank accounts" or similar: select Retry.
- A list is empty: no eligible account exists yet. Create one in your accounting system, then reload.
- A saved QuickBooks item is flagged: it does not post to your deposit liability. Pick a corrected item.
- An export is refused as not configured: the matching mapping above is empty.
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