Ask the Accountant…
Question: I am considering a software that says it integrates with QB. Is that all I need to know?
Answer: Every product that says it integrates with QuickBooks has its own definition of “integrate.” In each case, the integration depends on what data is mapped into QB, which is defined by the product in question, not QB.
I am most familiar with SAGE’s integration, which I find to be very complete for our business, including its keeping a complete order history in both SAGE and QB.
I have had the opportunity to work with other order processing systems that claim to integrate with QB, and they have proven far less comprehensive and, in some cases, incorrect.
If you are researching a product that claims to integrate with QB, request a demonstration and, at the very least, be sure the following display in QB:
- Customer and vendor information: Is it complete or just their name without addresses or contact information?
- Item: Is it just the name or does it include its description?
- Item set up: Is the box indicating that the “item is used in assemblies or purchased for a specific customer job” checked, and both income and expense accounts designated? (If not, your sales and cost of goods sold numbers will be incorrect.)
- Customer sales orders and supplier purchase orders: Do these export or is it just supplier bills and customer invoices?
All integrations of data from an industry order processing system into QB are not equal. Trust but verify. Arrange a demo and make sure you know what they actually mean when they claim to “integrate with QB.”
QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise can be modified to better serve ad specialty distributors. Harriet Gatter is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a former accounting professor and a former ad specialty distributor. She advises ad specialty distributors to use QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise, often in conjunction with other industry-specific software, to manage the complexities of the ad specialty business, with the results being time saved, errors eliminated and an overall accurate accounting of your business. Contact her at [email protected].
