QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale tracks your daily point-of-sale business transactions like purchasing, receiving and selling merchandise as well as tracking inventory and customers. QuickBooks Desktop, on the other hand, helps you pay bills, manage cash flow, invoice customers and run financial reports.
Financial Exchange is a process of sharing information between these two programs usually done anytime or as part of your end of day procedure. Financial Exchange significantly reduces your workload as it keeps you from entering the information twice since:
This article helps you understand the process of integration between Point of Sale and QuickBooks Desktop. It also outlines the features of both programs that are allowed during Financial Exchange.
Financial Exchange Setup
Before you can connect QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale to your QuickBooks Desktop software and share data, the following requirements must be performed:
- Install supported versions of QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, or Enterprise on the same computer where POS is installed. Take note that POS v18 will properly integrate with any supported version of Quickbooks Desktop.
- Make a backup copy of both your QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale and QuickBooks Desktop files. Create a name that will allow you to differentiate the backup such as QBPOS backup before QB.
- Do the following in QuickBooks Desktop:
- Turn on sales tax
- Turn on inventory
- Set you preferences to allow Financial Exchange without having QuickBooks Desktop open. While financial Exchange should be run while QuickBooks Desktop is open, you can also do this while the program is closed. To make this possible, set your QuickBooks preferences:
- From the Edit menu, select Preferences.
- On the left pane, choose Integrated Applications then go to the Company Preferences tab.
- From the Applications list, select QuickBooks Point of Sale then select Properties.
- In Access Rights tab, select the option Allow this application to read and modify this company file.
- Select OK in the Properties window, and in the Preferences window.
Set up QuickBooks Desktop Connection Now in Point of Sale
- From the File menu, go to Preferences > Company > Financial > Set Up QuickBooks Dekstop Conenction Now in Point of Sale.
- If you have previously connected to QuickBooks, you may see a screen that says:
- Continue to use this company file
or
- Let me choose a new company file
Always select Let me choose a new company file.
Note: Choosing new does not affect your data in any way. - You will be prompted to start QuickBooks and log in as Admin. Click Next.
- QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale is now ready to share data with your QuickBooks financial software. Hit Finish.
Initiate a Financial Exchange
Take note of the following before you initiate a financial exchange:
- Financial exchange can only be done from the Server Workstation.
- Your QuickBooks Desktop financial software company file must be open or you must have your financial software preferences set to allow automatic access during exchanges.
- When the exchange is completed, a summary window displays the number of records exchanged and whether any errors occurred. Select View Activity Log from this window for help in information any errors that are listed.
There are two ways to perform a financial exchange:
As part of End of Day procedure
- On the QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale Server Workstation, choose Point of Sale > End of Day Procedure.
- On the End of Day window, ensure that the Exchange data with QuickBooks check-box is selected.
- Choose other End of Day options, as desired.
- Select OK.
Manual exchange
From the Financial menu, select Financial Center then select Update QuickBooks Now.
You can use manual exchange if you want to do mid-day billings from QuickBooks Desktop or if you want to be sure that you have up-to-the-minute QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale data.
Data, activities, and accounts affected during the exchange
Data transferred during the exchange
When performing financial exchange, data is transferred from Point of Sale to QuickBooks Desktop and vice versa.
Note that to avoid discrepancies and to save data review time, we strongly recommend that you add or edit items, customers, and vendors in POS only after you have begun sharing data with QuickBooks Desktop
From Point of Sale to QuickBooks Desktop
- New customers and updated customer information (except for account limits and balances.
- New vendors and updated vendor information
- Sales information (receipts)
- Receiving information (vouchers)
- Inventory cost or quantity adjustments (as a summary adjustment Journal Entry)
- New vendor payment terms
From QuickBooks Desktop to Point of Sale
- New customers
- Updated customer account limits and account balances
- New vendors
- New vendor payment terms
Activities done between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale
Financial Exchange allows you to get the most from the specialized features of each program by splitting key business activities between them as shown below.
Note: This is not an all-inclusive list of the features in either program
| Activity | POS | QBDT |
| Add/track inventory | X | |
| Order and receive merchandise | X | |
| Make sales and collect sales tax | X | |
| Run sales and merchandise reports | X | |
| Add customers or vendors* | X | X |
| Enter vendor billing info (invoices)** | X | X |
| Track cost of goods and expenses | X | |
| Pay bills and sales taxes | X | |
| Invoice customers | X | |
| Process payroll | X | |
| Run financial reports | X | |
| Banking activities | X |
* It is recommended to perform this in Point of Sale.
** Preference option: controls how receiving information is share.
Accounts affected during Financial Exchange
| Accounts affected in QuickBooks Desktop | QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale data affecting the Accounts |
| Inventory Asset Account | Vouchers, Return vouchers, Sales receipt, Returns, Adjustments, and other transactions |
| Cost of Goods Sold | Sales and Returns |
| Bank accounts, undeposited funds and cash in drawer Accounts | Sales, Returns, and Pay outs |
| Accounts Payable | Vouchers and Return vouchers |
| Accounts Receivable | Sales and Returns |
| Unbilled Purchases Account | Vouchers |
| Document Offset account | Adjustments |
| Sales Tax Payable account | Sales and Returns |
| Gift certificate accounts | Sale and Redemption of Gift Certificate |
| Vendor discounts account | Vouchers |
| Sales related income accounts | Sales and Returns |
| Purchasing expense account | Vouchers |
| Shipping and handling account | Sales |
| Paid out expense account | Pay outs |
Default accounts mappings
| QuickBooks Point of Sale | QuickBooks Account | Account Type |
| Cash in Drawer | Cash in Drawer | Bank |
| Check | Undeposited Funds | Other Current Asset |
| Credit Card | Undeposited Funds | Other Current Asset |
| Debit Card | Undeposited Funds | Other Current Asset |
| Gift Certificates | Gift Certificates Outstanding | Other Current Liability |
| Gift Card | Gift Cards Outstanding | Other Current Liability |
| Accounts Receivable | Account Receivable | Accounts Receivable |
| Sales Tax | Sales Tax Payable | Other Current Liability |
| Customer Order Deposit Taken | Customer Deposits | Other Current Liability |
| Purchase Clearing | Unbilled Purchases | Other Current Liability |
| Voucher Adjustment | Purchase Discounts | Cost of Goods Sold |
| Freight In | Freight & Shipping Costs | Expense |
| Voucher Fee | Freight & Shipping Costs | Expense |
| Accounts Payable | Accounts Payable | Accounts Payable |
| Document Offset | POS Inventory Adjustments | Cost of Goods Sold |
| Shipping | Shipping and Delivery Income | Income |
| Pay out Expense | Cash Drawer Payouts | Expense |
| Tips | Employee Tips Payable | Other Current Liability |
| POS Balancing Adjustments | Balancing Adjustments | Other Expense |
Default item account mappings
Item accounts specify where Point of Sale transfers item sales (Income), cost (COGS), and inventory value (Asset) amounts when the various item types items are sold. These are default accounts, assigned to new items as they are added to inventory. Optionally, you can apply changes to all existing items, create sub-accounts by department, or assign accounts on an item-by-item basis on the item record in Point of Sale inventory.
| POS Item Type | Income Account | COGS Account | Asset Account |
| Inventory | Merchandise Sales | Cost of Goods Sold | Inventory Asset |
| Non-inventory | Merchandise Sales | Purchases- Resale Items | Purchases- Resale Items |
| Service | Service Sales | Subcontracted services | Subcontracted services |
| Assembly | Merchandise Sales | Cost of Goods Sold | Inventory Asset |
| Special Order | Merchandise Sales | Cost of Goods Sold | Inventory Asset |
| Group | Not applicable. Group items will map to their component items. | ||