Software and accounting guide
QuickBooks Online: accounting, bank feeds and integrations
QuickBooks Online is cloud accounting software for keeping business books, invoicing customers, recording costs and reviewing financial reports. A bank feed imports bank transactions for review so you can match them to entries already in the books.
By Sam Yang · Updated
How QuickBooks Online supports the workflow
Who this guide is for: Owners, office managers and accountants who need a shared view of what the business earned, owes and has in cash.
Everyday uses
- Create customer invoices and track the money owed to the business.
- Record business costs and review bank activity against existing entries.
- Review profit and loss, balance sheet and account reports; available features depend on the plan.
How it connects to accounting: QuickBooks can be the destination for invoices, bills, payments and payroll entries from other systems. The accounting question is whether each source record reached the right company, account and period, not simply whether the connection is on.
How to connect it and get the records you need
A built-in connection transfers the records its vendor supports. An API lets software read or exchange specific records directly. Browser automation may use the screens and reports your role can access when a direct connection leaves a gap. Its coverage and reliability need checking for the specific workflow. Start with the options available in your account, then check what actually reaches your books.
Supported API
Use Intuit’s accounting API for documented transactions and reports. An API is a software connection; check the report settings and collect every page of results.
Reports and source files
Use a QuickBooks report to see what is recorded in the books and a bank statement to check what happened at the bank. Keep the two sources separate.
Browser assistance
Use the signed-in interface to inspect an unresolved bank-feed item, the selected account and any linked accounting entry. This helps investigate one transaction; the visible feed does not show every entry in the books.
Start here: Start with one question, such as an unexplained bank transaction or this month’s profit. Select the company, period and cash or accrual basis before collecting records. Cash basis follows receipts and payments; accrual basis follows income earned and costs incurred. Use the basis your accountant uses for the report being checked.
Integration options and their limits
An API gives software direct access to supported records. Native reports are the files and reports available inside the product. Browser automation collects through the screens you can access. Choose the route that supplies the missing records, then check that it covers the accounts and dates you need. Reports may contain filters or omit rows. Browser work depends on permitted account access and can fail when screens change. Check record IDs, counts and dates whichever route you use.
Accounting API
- What it supplies
- Intuit documents accounting records and report requests for collecting entries already in the books. These can support repeated transaction-register and report checks.
- What to check first
- This accounting API does not by itself prove that every item awaiting bank-feed review is included. Check the report, fields, cash or accrual basis and selected account.
Choose it when: Use it for supported accounting entries and reports. Identify exactly which bank or accounting records are missing before choosing another collection method.
Accounting reports and bank files
- What it supplies
- A report from QuickBooks shows the entries in the books; the bank statement shows activity at the bank. Keep both complete files and their original totals.
- What to check first
- In the saved collection, a CSV from the posted-feed view contained the selected page. Check the current file’s coverage rather than assuming that every export has this limit.
Choose it when: Use files for statement controls and the particular detail not covered by the verified API.
Authorized browser inspection
- What it supplies
- Saved procedures show how to inspect the selected account, the origin of a feed item and its linked accounting entry without changing them.
- What to check first
- A page indicator can change before its rows finish loading. Confirm the account and actual rows on the current screen. Inspecting a transaction does not decide how it should be classified.
Choose it when: Use the interface for a small unresolved set of transactions or a needed source file that the verified API does not supply.
What to automate and what an accountant should review
Good work for automation
- Automation is useful for checking statement totals, listing accounts, comparing monthly balances and making exception checklists. Keep the source account and chosen end date with every run.
Keep a person on these decisions
- A reviewer determines whether a bank transaction represents a bill payment, new expense, transfer, refund or other event, and approves any accounting change. An AI should expose ambiguous candidates rather than convert similarity into a posting.
Lessons from accounting and operations
Known problems and what to check
Is the missing transaction unbooked, unmatched or merely on another page?
Choose the next source according to what happened to the transaction. The Pending queue shows items awaiting review; it cannot establish that the bank history or entries in the books are complete.
Evidence basis: Saved bank-feed and payment-review observations. This is a collection method, not a promise of every account menu. Some checks are Level’s own review requirements, rather than observed vendor behavior.
Start with the accounting records and reports the supported API provides. Collect bank statements or bank-feed details only for the specific transactions or periods those records do not explain.
The item already names a matched or categorized posting
Inspect that existing entry and its source identity. Do not add a second entry because the amount resembles an expected charge.
The feed queue is empty but a bank movement remains unexplained
Use the selected bank account statement and posted ledger history. Reconnecting the feed is not the first diagnostic step.
Start with an API, connection or built-in report that your account offers and you have confirmed. An authorized browser session may collect records those routes leave out; test its coverage for the workflow. Still check the totals against the books and confirm that all relevant costs are included.
Pitfalls and when to pause
A downloaded first page, uncategorized feed item or connected bank is not a complete posted ledger. Reconnect can map to the wrong account. Same-value suggestions can name different vendors. Genuine repeated charges are not duplicate downloads. An existing posting may already represent a feed transaction; inspect its identity instead of adding or matching. An empty feed queue is not statement reconciliation.
How a plausible answer can go wrong
A nearby deposit of the same amount can be a different transaction. Similarity is a lead for investigation, not permission to match or change the books.
Pause if you cannot confirm the account, permission, reporting dates or completeness of the records. Return the missing evidence for review. Do not fill the gap with an invented record, a balancing entry or an assumed zero.
When the result does not make sense
Closing balances match, but the owner disputes a receipt.
Check: Count and identify unmatched bank and book rows separately; test whether equal and opposite errors mask the net difference.
Resolve the question: Show the offsetting transactions with their original references. Keep both open for review instead of declaring the account reconciled because the total agrees.
A same-value suggestion names a different vendor.
Check: Compare the actual customer or vendor, bank description, account, date and the link between the bill and payment.
Resolve the question: Reject the suggested identity as unproven and return the competing candidates. Do not choose the nearest amount automatically.
After changing accounts or pages, the table still looks familiar.
Check: After loading finishes, check the account heading, selected page and actual transaction dates. Compare the export’s row count and total with the rows shown for that selection.
Resolve the question: Collect the affected page again and mark the earlier capture as out of date. Do not count the unchanged rows from the previous page as a new page.
Collect the records and check nothing is missing
- Bank activity
- Confirm the intended account, actual bank transaction and statement period, including reversals or later repeats.
- Feed row and existing posting
- After the page finishes loading, check that its heading and actual rows show the same selection. Keep the ID of any existing accounting entry.
- Invoice, payment and credit records
- Keep cash received separate from credit applied. An invoice marked paid does not by itself identify the cash deposit.
Choose the bank account and exact period. Keep complete original statements and reports, or every bank-feed page collected, with transaction IDs. Check feed coverage separately from the balances in the books. After switching accounts, pages or Categorized views, wait until the heading and actual rows agree. If a row already names a matched or categorized entry, record its ID and amounts and inspect that entry without changing it.
Checks before using the records
- Confirm the bank account header after each account or tab switch.
- Keep uncategorized feed transactions separate from posted transactions.
- Inspect an existing matched or categorized entry by identity without changing it.
Fictional collection example
A fictional checking account has an empty uncategorized queue, but the statement contains a transaction outside the collected date range. Return the missing period as an exception. Do not label the account reconciled because the queue is empty.
Invented teaching scenario, not a customer result or a reproduced vendor defect.
Capture the setup with the evidence
- Company, legal entity or account, report name, period, cash or accrual accounting basis, currency and timezone.
- Selected filters, status, page count, original record identifiers, record counts and totals used to check completeness.
- Collection time, source route and authorized role. Record browser and automation versions when using a browser.
- Original files and exceptions. Keep credentials, customer identifiers and financial artifacts private.
A browser version helps reproduce an interface issue. It does not validate the financial conclusion.
Practical workflows
Practical checks you can follow
The bank feed is empty and the bank balance agrees. Can we close the account?
Those are two useful controls, but they do not prove the transactions are right. A missing receipt and an extra receipt can offset. Review the statement period, opening balance and individual bank transactions against the booked register before treating the account as reconciled. The feed queue describes work awaiting review, not the whole statement. A bank feed contains bank transactions imported into QuickBooks; its review queue shows items awaiting a decision. Reconciling means comparing the bank statement with the books and explaining every difference.
Trace one bank transaction before considering a correction
- Identify the QuickBooks Online company, the bank account in the books, its record ID and masked account number. Choose the completed statement period, then list any other accounting accounts that might contain the same bank activity.
- Find the transaction on the bank statement or in the bank’s own activity records. Keep its date, whether money went in or out, amount and bank reference. Two equal amounts are not the same transaction until the supporting records establish the link.
- Collect the accounting entry and, where useful, the bank-feed row. After switching accounts, tabs or pages, wait until the account heading and actual table rows show the same selection.
- Inspect any existing linked posting. Keep its transaction type, ID, account and party separate from the feed status. For receipts, distinguish cash received from invoice credit applied. For Bill Pay questions, keep the original remittance and current payment-history status together; an estimated refund date is not settled cash.
- Record one of three findings: an existing accounting entry supported by the bank records, a bank transaction still unmatched, or records that disagree. Keep both records when they disagree.
Bring to the review: A transaction checklist showing the bank reference, any accounting entry ID, the account, supporting file and difference still to resolve.
Then decide: An accountant can review a specific correction after these checks are complete. A similar name or amount is a possible match to investigate, not a reason to add, match or remove a transaction.
Find the first month a cash difference appears
- Keep every completed statement in sequence, with its opening balance, closing balance and section totals. If software reads the transaction detail, check its totals against the original statement.
- Collect the same bank account’s general ledger, the detailed record of entries in the books, for each period using the same end date. Keep the partial current month separate.
- Calculate each monthly closing difference and activity difference. Compare the prior statement ending balance with the next opening balance.
- Investigate the earliest unexplained difference, then carry its effect forward. Inspect activity in possible duplicate ledger accounts without silently combining them.
- Check unmatched transactions even when the final balance difference is zero. Use the original bank references and accounting entry IDs to explain equal and opposite differences, rather than creating a journal entry just to make the balance agree.
Bring to the review: A month-by-month balance comparison and a list of individual unmatched transactions. Show missing source records separately from differences in the books.
Then decide: Resolve the first transaction without adequate support, or the first mismatch in accounts or dates being compared, before proposing a cleanup. A zero final difference can still hide errors in earlier months or equal and opposite errors.
Worked example
Matching balances can hide two unsupported transactions
All records and amounts below are fictional teaching inputs. CSV files are spreadsheet-compatible text files. This example demonstrates the calculation, not a customer outcome or a reproduced software defect.
Statement movement is 500 - 200 = 300. Book movement is -200 + 500 = 300. Both end at 2,300, but statement occurrence S-01 has no supported posting and B-02 has no supported statement occurrence.
What the CSV columns mean
- All rows and identifiers are fictional teaching data in USD, not customer results or QBO-native exports.
- amount is signed bank-account movement: receipts positive, payments negative. occurrence_id identifies the hypothetical bank event.
- review_state is a supplied teaching classification after occurrence investigation, not an amount-only automated match. The account opens at USD 2,000 in both sources.
- Statement movement
- 300 USD
- Net movement in the complete fictional statement.
- Book movement
- 300 USD
- Net movement in the fictional register.
- Net movement difference
- 0 USD
- Equality of totals does not resolve identities.
- Unmatched statement occurrences
- 1 rows
- S-01 requires investigation.
- Unmatched booked entries
- 1 rows
- B-02 requires investigation.
Inspect statement.csv
occurrence_id,date,amount,review_state S-01,2026-09-04,500,unmatched S-02,2026-09-08,-200,supportedDownload this CSV
Inspect book.csv
book_id,date,amount,occurrence_id,review_state B-01,2026-09-08,-200,S-02,supported B-02,2026-09-12,500,UNKNOWN,unmatchedDownload this CSV
Next decision: Investigate S-01 and B-02 separately. The example supplies no authority to remove B-02, create S-01 or classify either receipt as revenue.
Run the example locally
Save the CSV files, expected-results.json and reproduce.mjs in one folder. With Node.js installed, run the command below. It calculates the checks from the CSV bytes and rejects a changed input or expected result.
node reproduce.mjs expected-results.json
No software login, customer records or API key is required.
AI prompt for collecting records without changing them
Replace the bracketed scope before use. This prompt collects evidence; it does not permit edits, approvals or accounting execution. Requesting an emailed report is a separate account action and requires explicit authorization.
Collect read-only evidence for QuickBooks Online to answer [financial question]. Confirm [company], [account/entity], [period], [basis], [currency] and [allowed reports]. Read the selected account and exact period; retain complete original statement or report files or every observed feed page, with transaction identifiers. Compare feed coverage separately from booked balances. Wait for final account header, selected page and table population to agree, including after switching to Categorized. If a row already shows a matched or categorized entry, record its identity and amounts without changing it. Retain original files, complete record IDs, counts, filters, collection timestamp and exceptions. A downloaded first page, uncategorized feed item or connected bank is not a complete posted ledger. A reconnection can map to the wrong account. Same-value suggestions can name different vendors. Genuine repeated charges are not duplicate downloads. Record any existing posting that may represent the feed occurrence for financial review. Do not match, add or categorize. An empty feed queue is not statement reconciliation. Stop if the source or scope is uncertain. Do not post, match, reconnect, delete or change settings. Return the evidence for financial review; do not claim the books are correct. Do not approve, submit payroll, pay, transfer, refund, send messages, invite users or accept terms. Stop at any login, MFA or credential prompt and hand back to the account owner. Store files only in [approved private location]. Do not paste customer artifacts into public tools. Use only preauthorized collection actions. Request an emailed report only when its delivery is explicitly authorized; otherwise ask the account owner to supply the file.
Next decision
What can you decide from these records?
Can the owner identify the bank transaction, any existing accounting entry and the remaining difference? If the supporting records are incomplete, hold the proposed correction instead of creating an entry just to make the balance agree.
Compare the same records, accounts and reporting dates. List costs or payments you cannot yet verify before using the result for pricing, cash planning or month-end review.
Read the next finance check →References behind these workflows
Each product reference supports only the features and limits described beside that source. Level's checks and fictional calculations are separate from what the vendor documents.
Read the product and workflow references with their scopes and review datesExplore the financial diagnostic examplesSources and scope
Base product-reference scopes were reviewed . No end-to-end dated native UI walkthrough is published for this software. Individual source rechecks are dated with their citations. Operator decision guidance was reviewed 2026-10-09. The references below support their stated product scope, not every observed interface detail. It is not a vendor capability certification, a measured customer result or an independently reconciled account. Verify current features and what your plan includes in the account you use.
- QuickBooks Online Accounting API overview
Product reference: Accounting API reference, not native bank-feed completeness.
Product reference: Booked accounting API scope; not proof of bank-feed completeness. Reviewed .
Workflow reference: Booked accounting API scope; not proof of bank-feed completeness. Reviewed .
- QuickBooks Online product overview
Product reference: Business accounting, invoicing, expenses and plan-dependent financial reports; no price or universal feature availability claim. Reviewed .
- Intuit report workflow
Product reference: Supported report workflow, with exact request scope to verify. Reviewed .
Workflow reference: Supported report workflow, with exact request scope to verify. Reviewed .
- Intuit duplicate transaction guidance
Product reference: Reconnect/import overlap and existing-entry identity, not a license for automated deletion. Reviewed .
Workflow reference: Reconnect/import overlap and existing-entry identity, not a license for automated deletion. Reviewed .