Accounting integration with QuickBooks Online and Xero

Availability: all plans

The accounting integration sends your ServiceVisit invoices, payments, refunds, customer credits and approved technician time to your accounting system, so your bookkeeper does not retype them. It works with QuickBooks Online and with Xero. You connect once, tell ServiceVisit which of your accounts each kind of money belongs in, and from then on eligible records can be exported from the Integrations page.

Before you start

You need a role that includes Manage Integrations. This is part of every published plan, so if the Integrations page is missing or shows "Role required", the cause is your role, not your plan. Ask whoever administers users on your account.
You need your own login for QuickBooks Online or Xero, with permission to authorize a connection.
Your accountant should decide which accounts to use. ServiceVisit suggests accounts and explains why, but it never saves a choice for you.

How the pieces fit together

Connect. On the Integrations page you authorize ServiceVisit to reach your company. See the guide on connecting.
Map. On the setup page you pick the account, or in QuickBooks sometimes an item, that each kind of money posts to. Until the required ones are saved, exports are blocked. See the guide on mapping.
Export. You send eligible records when you press a sync button on the Integrations page, and a periodic sweep retries invoices, refunds and customer credits that failed or were never sent. See the guide on what exports.
Watch. The page shows errors, uncertain time sends, and records that changed in your accounting system after they were sent. See the guide on fixing sync problems.

Sales tax

ServiceVisit calculates the sales tax on your invoices, and your customers are charged that amount. Your accounting system receives the tax as ServiceVisit worked it out. Do not turn on your accounting system's own sales-tax calculation for these documents. If a connected company is set up to calculate tax itself, ServiceVisit refuses to send to it and the Integrations page says so. Your tax settings are covered in the tax setup guide.

Where QuickBooks Online and Xero differ

QuickBooks bills deposits, prepaid packages, credit memos and refunds through service items, so its setup asks for an item in several places. Xero uses accounts directly and has no item mappings.
QuickBooks needs an Accounts Receivable account for applying deposits or credits to an invoice and for write-offs. Xero does not ask for one.
QuickBooks needs a clearing account for financed payments. Xero does not.
Xero offers optional tracking categories under Advanced. QuickBooks setup has no equivalent.
Technician time matches to QuickBooks employees in one and to Xero Projects users in the other.
QuickBooks can create one missing account for you if you approve it by name. The Xero setup page has no such button.

Tips

Connect first, then work down the setup page in order. The required items are marked.
A new connection copies no history unless you ask for it. Exports begin from the day you connect.
Exported invoices are locked in ServiceVisit so the two ledgers do not drift apart by accident.

If something goes wrong

Nothing exports: the required mappings are probably not saved. Open the setup page and look for the items marked Required.
A connection stopped working: the Integrations page shows the last error and a Reconnect button.
For anything else, read the guide on fixing sync problems.

Connecting QuickBooks Online or Xero — Connecting links your ServiceVisit account to one QuickBooks Online company or one Xero organisation. You authorize the link in your accounting system, and ServiceVisit brings you back to the…
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…
What exports to your accounting system and when — Once you are connected and your accounts are mapped, ServiceVisit sends records to QuickBooks Online or Xero. You can send eligible records from the Integrations page at any time. A periodic sweep…
Fixing accounting sync problems and changed records — This guide covers three things that can happen after you connect QuickBooks Online or Xero: a sync fails, a time entry is in an uncertain state, or a record you already sent was changed in your…
Manage integrations — ServiceVisit has an Integrations page under Settings where you connect ServiceVisit to other systems. It has two parts.
Set Up Sales Tax — Setting up tax is where a provider tells ServiceVisit how to apply their own tax rules. Under Settings, the Tax Rates card covers the tax mode, tax zones, jurisdiction rates and line-item taxability…