> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://learn.withessential.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://learn.withessential.com/reporting-and-integrations/accounting/account-mapping-for-quickbooks.md). # Account mapping for QuickBooks Before Essential can post anything to QuickBooks, you tell it which of your QuickBooks accounts to use for each kind of financial activity. This is called account mapping, and you do it once after connecting QuickBooks. Open **Settings → Invoicing → Accounting**. After QuickBooks is connected, Essential pulls in your chart of accounts and shows a list titled Map internal actions to your QuickBooks accounts. Each row is an Essential account type with a short description, and a searchable dropdown of your real QuickBooks accounts beside it, grouped under account-type headings such as **Other Current Asset**. For QuickBooks Online, the heading also shows the detail type, for example **Bank — Checking**. Work through the list and pick the right QuickBooks account for each one. The types you'll map include Accounts Receivable, Revenue, Fees Expense, Processing Fee Revenue, the clearing and operating bank cash accounts, the destination accounts for payments marked as cash, check, credit card, bank transfer, or other, Sales Tax Payable, Bad Debt Expense, and Refunds Payable. Each manual rate from **Settings → Sales Tax → Your rates** also has its own **Custom Tax** row, identified by jurisdiction, agency, and percentage. Its location and item scope appear underneath so you can distinguish rates with identical names and percentages. You can map Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and other rates to separate QuickBooks liability accounts, including rates with the same agency name or a zero percent rate. Manual rates remain available to map when you also use automatic tax calculation. New mapping rows initially use your existing **Sales Tax Payable** account, if one is mapped. Choose a different account beside each rate you want to track separately, then click **Save Account Mappings**. Sales Tax Payable remains the fallback for taxes without a custom rate. Each accounting entry needs all of its accounts mapped before it can sync. Unmapped rows normally block **Save Account Mappings**. A payment method explicitly marked **Set up later** can remain blank while you save other mappings; its row explains that its payments will not sync until mapped. When adding a method in **Settings → Invoicing → Manual Payment Methods**, admins must choose one or more GL accounts there or explicitly select **Set up later**. Account choices save with the method and appear here as **Mark as Paid: \[method name]**. Changes in either tab update the same mapping. Deferred methods remain available for recording payments, but those payments do not sync until mapped; their saved setup status stays visible in Manual Payment Methods. See [Customize manual payment methods](/administration/settings/customize-manual-payment-methods.md). Manual payment rows allow multiple **GL accounts**. With one account, Record Payment uses it automatically; with several, staff must choose one before saving. Edit the same choices in either Settings tab. Each payment uses one account, and already-recorded payments and refunds keep their original destination. If earlier payments have no destination yet, save one account to map them before adding more choices. A manual payment row's **GL accounts** dropdown lists bank and asset accounts first and income, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable accounts last. If you choose an income, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, or QuickBooks Desktop's built-in Sales Tax Payable account for a payment method, a warning under the dropdown names the account its payments will debit. You can still click **Save Account Mappings**. See [Customize manual payment methods](/administration/settings/customize-manual-payment-methods.md#map-payment-methods-to-quickbooks) and, for payments in goods or services, [Accept barter or trade as payment](/revenue/invoices/accept-barter-or-trade-as-payment.md). Save once you're done; you can come back and change a mapping anytime. ## Map item revenue to different accounts The **Revenue account** in **Settings → Invoicing → Accounting** is your default income account. Two independent toggles sit beneath it: **Map pricebook items to different revenue accounts** and **Use revenue mapping rules**. When either is on, the field is labeled **Fallback revenue account** and applies when no revenue mapping matches. Change either toggle, then click **Save Account Mappings** to apply the change. **Configure mappings in Items Pricebook** opens the item list; **Manage rules** opens the rules page. Both links remain available while their toggle is off. Item mapping starts off. The Revenue account dropdown in Add Item and Edit Item appears only while item mapping is on. Turning it off hides the dropdown and preserves your saved mappings for reuse, including when you edit other item details. You can choose a different income account for an individual item or draft invoice line in both QuickBooks Online and Desktop. > **Where to find it:** Settings → Items Pricebook → edit an item → Revenue account. 1. Connect QuickBooks and load its chart of accounts. For Desktop, run the Web Connector sync first. 2. In **Settings → Invoicing → Accounting**, turn on **Map pricebook items to different revenue accounts**, choose the **Fallback revenue account**, and click **Save Account Mappings**. 3. Follow **Configure mappings in Items Pricebook** and edit an item. 4. Choose its **Revenue account**, or keep **Use default revenue account**. 5. Save the item. When you add or edit a line on a draft invoice, its **Revenue account** can override the item account. Custom items use the default unless you choose an override. A custom item does not acquire a pricebook mapping just because its name matches a catalog item. The order is: **invoice line override → first matching active revenue rule (when enabled) → item account (when enabled) → fallback revenue account**. The account is fixed when revenue is first recorded: invoice finalization for accrual accounting, or the first payment for cash accounting. Later payments, refunds, and reversals retain that destination. Updating a rule, item, custom field, or default mapping does not rewrite previously recorded revenue. ### Import revenue mappings from a spreadsheet Enable item mapping in **Settings → Invoicing → Accounting** to apply imported mappings. In **Settings → Items Pricebook**, open the actions menu and choose **Import revenue mappings**. Upload a CSV or Excel file with **Item** and **Account** columns, such as a QuickBooks Desktop item export. **Code** and **Revenue Account** are also accepted headings. Essential matches existing active items by their exact item code and accounts by their income account names. Capitalization and a leading account number don't matter, and a QuickBooks Desktop full name such as `Income:Services` matches the account named Services (a plain `Services` also matches an account stored as `Income:Services` when no other account ends in Services). Review the preview, then click **Save mappings** (the button includes the number of ready rows). Missing items, duplicate codes, blank accounts, and ambiguous or unavailable accounts need attention. Those rows keep their current mappings; import missing pricebook items separately before mapping them. Inactive items, tax items, discounts, subtotals, and groups are skipped. This import uses only revenue accounts. It does not import the spreadsheet's COGS or inventory asset accounts. Invoice discounts reduce revenue proportionally across the mapped accounts. ### Set revenue accounts while bulk uploading items When item mapping is on, the template from **Download Template** (the actions menu in **Settings → Items Pricebook**) also has a **Revenue account** column, with your own account names in the example rows. Fill in each item's income account name, or leave the cell blank to use the fallback revenue account, then upload the file with **Bulk Upload**. The preview shows the account each row resolved to. Account names match the same way as **Import revenue mappings**, including QuickBooks Desktop full names such as `Income:Services`. A name that matches no account (or more than one) is a preview warning, not an error: the row still imports and keeps its current revenue account (a new item uses the fallback). Without connected QuickBooks income accounts, the column is ignored with a warning. Use this when you're adding or updating items anyway; use **Import revenue mappings** to map items you already have from a QuickBooks item export. See [Bulk upload pricebook items from a spreadsheet](/administration/settings/bulk-upload-pricebook-items-from-a-spreadsheet.md). ## Route revenue using custom fields > **Where to find it:** Settings → Invoicing → Accounting → Use revenue mapping rules → Manage rules. Open **Manage rules** below **Use revenue mapping rules** in the same Revenue mapping block as the pricebook toggle. You can configure and test rules while they are off. Before connecting accounting, the same entry lets you prepare drafts; the enable switch becomes available after accounting accounts sync. The count beside **Use revenue mapping rules** includes all saved **Active** and **Draft** rules. Accounting setup permission is required to configure rules. Connect QuickBooks and sync active income accounts before activating a rule. You can save incomplete drafts while preparing your setup. 1. Click **Manage rules** to open the rules page, then **New rule** and name it. 2. Choose **Job** or **Invoice** custom fields and their conditions. Conditions use your business's own fields and choices. Choose whether all or any conditions must match; use a group when several conditions belong together. 3. Optionally select pricebook items or categories. If you select both, a line must satisfy both scopes as well as the custom field conditions. 4. Choose one income account and set the rule to **Active**. A rule with no scope or conditions requires confirmation that it applies to every line. 5. Click **Save draft** or **Save rule** to save and return to the list. This also saves any pending list changes, such as order or removals. Drag rules into priority order on the list and click **Save rules**: the first active rule that matches wins. Clear filters and sort by Priority ascending before reordering. 6. Return to Accounting, turn on **Use revenue mapping rules**, and click **Save Account Mappings**. Saving or activating a rule does not turn this setting on. To pause rules, turn off **Use revenue mapping rules** and save the account mappings. Their definitions, priority, and Active/Draft statuses remain saved. Manual line overrides still apply. For other revenue not yet recorded, Essential skips the rules and uses an enabled item mapping or the fallback account. Revenue already recorded keeps its accounts. New rule setups start off; businesses already using active rules retain their enabled behavior until you change it. Search or filter the table by status and revenue account to find a rule. The Priority column keeps each rule's position in the full list. **Cancel** discards only the open editor's changes; pending changes on the list remain. Leaving the rules pages with unsaved changes asks for confirmation. If several active rules need repair, such as after their accounts become unavailable, fix one rule and click **Apply to pending rules**. Repair the others before saving the complete list. Nothing is saved until you click **Save rules**, **Save draft**, or **Save rule**. Use **Test revenue mapping** below both toggles in **Settings → Invoicing → Accounting** to try an invoice line with sample Job and Invoice values. The tester uses your saved switches, active rules, pricebook item mappings, and fallback account together, and shows the final account and winning source. You can supply a manual revenue account to test an override. Save account mappings and rule changes before testing; draft rules and unsaved changes are excluded. If no fallback account is configured, the result shows **Not configured** and directs you to Accounting. Testing does not change settings, invoices, or recorded revenue. The rule editor's **Test this rule** panel tests the current rule order, including unsaved edits. Its **Include draft rules in this preview** option lets you try drafts, and when rules are off it shows what they would do if enabled. Use **Test revenue mapping** from Accounting to check the saved configuration that actually applies. In an invoice's item list, hover the calculator icon beside an item's name to see its revenue account, why that account applies, and its source Job when the invoice has linked Jobs. Once revenue is recorded, it shows the recorded account. A warning icon in its place means the line needs review. When you edit a line, its **Revenue account** shows the automatic destination and explanation. Choose a manual account when that line requires an exception. Missing values do not pass negative comparisons; use an explicit empty-value condition when that is the intended match. While rules are enabled, if an active rule refers to a removed field or choice, or a matching rule's account becomes unavailable, affected lines need review before revenue can be recorded. For an unpaid cash invoice with no payment in progress, you can correct its revenue account or source before the first payment. These corrections keep the issued line amounts and tax unchanged. Once revenue has been recorded, the destination is fixed. While rules are enabled, an active rule using Job fields keeps lines filled from different Jobs separate even when they use the same pricebook item. Job conditions use each line's source Job values directly. These automatic splits preserve the original subtotal, discounts, and tax total, including rounding cents; routing revenue does not change what the customer is billed. A single linked Job can supply the source automatically. Without enabled active Job conditions, matching billable items continue to combine into one line. An older combined line with an unclear source must be split by Job or assigned a manual revenue account when Job rules apply; selecting one Job for a mixed total would route the entire amount incorrectly. Editing linked Jobs later for reporting does not change revenue already recorded. ## Tax agency vendors (QuickBooks Desktop only) QuickBooks Desktop tracks sales tax by agency, and it rejects a journal line on its built-in **Sales Tax Payable** account unless that line names the tax agency vendor. When QuickBooks Desktop is connected, the account mapping card has a **Tax agency vendors** section below the account rows, with one row for each tax rate plus **Sales Tax Payable (fallback)**. If a tax row is mapped to QuickBooks' built-in Sales Tax Payable account, its vendor is required, marked with a red asterisk, and **Save Account Mappings** stays disabled until you choose one. Tax rows mapped to an ordinary liability account can leave the vendor blank. Vendors come from the Web Connector sync; if none have synced yet, Essential shows a warning and still lets you save. If an entry reaches QuickBooks without a required vendor, Essential holds it instead of sending it, and the status panel shows the entry with a message naming the missing vendor. Choose the vendor, save, then contact support to release the held entries. > **Where to find it:** Settings → Invoicing → Accounting, in the account mapping card under Tax agency vendors, after QuickBooks Desktop is connected. ## Related guides * [Connecting QuickBooks Online](/reporting-and-integrations/accounting/connecting-quickbooks-online.md) * [What syncs to QuickBooks](/reporting-and-integrations/accounting/what-syncs-to-quickbooks.md) * [Connecting QuickBooks Desktop (Web Connector)](/reporting-and-integrations/accounting/connecting-quickbooks-desktop-web-connector.md) Removed manual payment methods may remain visible for historical payments. Saved mappings are read-only and retained for history. If a removed method has no mapping, you may optionally choose an account to repair earlier unmapped payments. 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