Accounting in Salesforce

As a small business owner, you know that taking care of your customers should be a top priority. One of the most effective ways of managing customer relationships is with customer relationship management (CRM) software. Of all the CRM software available, Salesforce is one of the most popular and widely used. Salesforce CRM comes with a suite of tools, such as sales forecasting, sales reports, and dashboards. However, when it comes to accounting, Salesforce is lacking. That’s where the QuickBooks Salesforce integration comes in.

With QuickBooks, accounting in Salesforce becomes easy. Our seamless integration allows you to share financial data metrics with your sales team, so you can focus on what matters most and drive results. Even better, both Salesforce and QuickBooks are extremely scalable, allowing them to follow you as you grow. From small businesses to medium-sized organizations and even international corporations, learn how accounting and Salesforce go together with the QuickBooks integration below.

• Is it possible to perform accounting activities in Salesforce?
• Salesforce accounting integrations and apps
• Benefits of integrating Salesforce with QuickBooks
• Frequently asked questions
• Final thoughts

Is it possible to perform accounting activities in Salesforce?

No, Salesforce does not provide accounting services. While many accounting processes are used within Salesforce, small business owners must invest in native accounting software add-ons to better streamline their accounting processes. Salesforce is a CRM software platform that specializes in managing customer relationships by keeping track of sales, storing client contact information, and so forth. While some features touch on accounting, such as the ability to track sales or export data to spreadsheets, it doesn’t actually perform accounting.

Fortunately, Salesforce is very flexible and has a wide range of native and nonnative applications that easily integrate into its CRM platform. Integrating accounting apps, such as QuickBooks, can give you a 360-degree view of how your business is performing. QuickBooks is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that easily integrates with Salesforce. Looking for accounting and ERP systems that incorporate well with your CRM software is essential. Let’s dive into the reasons why you should integrate accounting tools into your CRM below.

Salesforce accounting integrations and apps

Having a CRM platform to enhance productivity, manage customer accounts, and improve workplace collaboration is essential. Salesforce CRM is one of the top CRM software, as it’s customizable, comes with a variety of features, and has a host of integrations. If your business uses Salesforce to track sales, having an accounting system that integrates seamlessly with Salesforce should be a top priority. Below are some of the leading Salesforce accounting integrations and apps:

• QuickBooks Online: While the QuickBooks integration isn’t native to Salesforce, it’s one of the top accounting platforms for small and medium-sized businesses. Integrating QuickBooks Online with Salesforce makes it possible for companies to have a holistic view of their business. This means you can share data, such as customer information, expenses, invoices, and sales orders, between sales and accounting departments.
• FinancialForce: FinancialForce is an accounting software native to Salesforce and built right on the platform. As an enterprise resource planning system, FinancialForce provides a customer-centric view that allows you to track, analyze, and improve customer satisfaction. When paired with Salesforce, FinancialForce enables you to review customer billing, manage accounting and financial reporting, and streamline operations.
• Xero: As another nonnative Salesforce integration, Xero requires a third-party app to integrate. However, the process is simple and grants access to hundreds of Xero apps and integrations. When integrated with Salesforce, Xero allows you to track invoice statuses, make your billing process more efficient, and remove the need for double entry. You can also gain insight into customers’ overall financial well-being and use data to make informed decisions.
• NetSuite: NetSuite is another enterprise resource planning system native to Salesforce that makes it easy to gain visibility into customer financial data. Paired together, NetSuite and Salesforce allow businesses to lower manual data entry errors, review real-time customer financial data, and increase efficiency.
• FreshBooks: The FreshBooks integration with Salesforce allows businesses to keep everything in one place, such as sending invoices, tracking expenses, and managing projects. FreshBooks is geared more toward self-employed workers or small businesses with only one person in charge of bookkeeping. FreshBooks can help organize expenses, follow up with customers, and manage projects.

Benefits of integrating Salesforce with QuickBooks

Integrating QuickBooks with Salesforce can give you a 360-degree view of your business. There are many benefits that come with this integration, including:

• Spot areas of improvement: By having a complete view of your company, spotting areas of improvement becomes much easier. With CRM and accounting software combined, you can review financial metrics, gaps, and inconsistencies to help your business become more efficient and profitable.
• Save time: Accounting in Salesforce gives you more time to focus on other aspects of your business. With the QuickBooks Salesforce integration, you can eliminate the need for double entry, reduce manual errors, and streamline operations.
• Increased collaboration: It’s common for both sales and accounting departments within companies to run separately. The QuickBooks Salesforce integration helps bridge the gap, allowing these departments to share financial data and sales data together to produce better results.
• Business growth: Combining Salesforce and accounting allows you to bring crucial components of your business together: sales and finances. With real-time data coming from both teams, scaling your business becomes much easier. You’re able to spot pain points, areas for growth, and successes.
• Productivity: The QuickBooks Salesforce integration helps reduce and eliminate mundane tasks, such as manual and duplicate data entry. This integration also allows team members and departments to work on a project together in real-time, which increases productivity and efficiency.

Can Salesforce be used for accounting?

Salesforce is a CRM platform, which means it doesn’t have accounting capabilities. However, there are several Salesforce accounting apps that can easily integrate with the platform to keep data and information in one place. There are native Salesforce accounting apps and nonnative integrations to choose from, depending on your business needs. QuickBooks Online is a nonnative accounting integration that can provide you with a holistic view of your company.

What are accounts in Salesforce?

When using Salesforce, you’ll notice there are accounts. These accounts show what companies you’re working with and essential information, such as their name, address, industry, and billing and shipping details. Salesforce allows you to customize these accounts with various labels like customers, resellers, partners, investors, and competitors for quick access.

Does Salesforce work with QuickBooks?

Yes, Salesforce works with QuickBooks with the QuickBooks Salesforce integration. This integration helps businesses gain complete visibility into how their company is operating and where it can be improved. There are several QuickBooks Salesforce integrations to choose from, which can be completed in a few steps, such as the Salesforce Connector by QuickBooks.

What accounting software do most accountants use?

Businesses can choose from numerous accounting software on the market to handle bookkeeping and accounting. While each software is different and comes with its own set of features and functions, one of the most popular is QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses and comes with several features, such as:

• Invoicing and estimates
• Cloud-based
• Time tracking
• Inventory tracking
• Project management
• Budgeting
• Hundreds of integrations

These are just some of the many benefits of QuickBooks that can help your business automate tasks, streamline operations, and promote growth.

Why should you integrate accounting tools into your CRM?

The sales and accounting departments differ significantly, yet both are crucial to a company’s success. Typically, a small business’s sales and accounting departments use their own software and tools on a day-to-day basis. This separation can make it challenging to gather accurate data related to profit, cost analysis, efficiency, and more. To take your business to the next level, integrating your accounting tools into your CRM is a must.

Reasons why integrating your accounting system into your CRM can be beneficial include:

• Accurate reporting: With separate accounting and CRM software, staff will often have to input data more than once. This issue increases the likelihood of input errors, which can cause a string of other problems. Integrating your accounting tools into your CRM can help you generate more accurate reports, reduce data errors, and save time and money. If sales and accounting teams fail to communicate, further issues can arise, such as a customer not receiving credit or an invoice going unnoticed. Streamlining your sales and accounting efforts ensures accurate invoicing and a clean audit trail.
• Growth: As a small business, you’ll most likely experience growing pains at some point. By having separate sales and accounting systems, these growing pains can hurt far worse. As you grow, your financial information will become more complex, and having separate software can result in data getting lost. Integrated solutions, such as the QuickBooks Salesforce integration, are customizable and can grow with your company without losing any important data.
• Understanding profit: Streamlining your accounting processes can make it easy for both your sales and accounting teams to realize a profit. For example, if your sales team uses a separate software and notices a large influx in sales, they might think the company is profiting. However, they might not realize the marketing department just rolled out an expensive marketing campaign to boost sales. With an integrated accounting and CRM solution, accountants can track expenses and update the general ledger, while the sales team tracks sales. Then, both teams can review the data to understand whether the company’s profiting.
• Reducing costs: As a small business owner, you’ll use numerous tools and software on a daily basis. However, with each software comes a separate subscription, which can be digging into your bottom line. Integrating your accounting tools with your CRM can reduce costs and save your company money.

There are more reasons than one for why you should integrate accounting tools into your CRM. Overall, doing so can create a business management ecosystem that reduces data input errors, saves time, bridges gaps, and saves you money.

What are the benefits of accounting software?

You know how integrating your accounting tools into your CRM can help, but what are the benefits of using accounting software? There are many advantages of using accounting software, such as:

• Facilitates growth:  Accounting software can be difficult to manage, especially when it has a one-size-fits-all model. QuickBooks understands that not every business is the same, which is why it’s completely customizable to meet your business’s needs. As you grow, QuickBooks will grow with you to ensure company and customer success.
• Harnesses automation for improved efficiency:  One of the most time-consuming tasks is data entry. Streamlining your accounting processes with accounting software can automate mundane data entry tasks. This way, you can focus on growing your business and pleasing your customers rather than spending time in the back working on bookkeeping.
• Improves collaboration: Communication is key, especially when it comes to accounting and managing customer accounts. A collaborative accounting solution allows team members to work together to understand a customer’s account behavior better. It also speeds up the accounting process, so team members can analyze data to make the right decisions for your company.

What are essential accounting software features?

As you look for Salesforce compatible software to streamline your accounting, there are certain features to look out for, such as pricing and functionality. Below are essential accounting features your accounting software should have:

• Integration capabilities: When searching for accounting software to pair with your Salesforce platform, you want it to integrate smoothly. The QuickBooks Salesforce integration syncs your QuickBooks customer list with Salesforce accounts. You can then view customer details, such as their open balance, sales history, credit limit, existing estimates, invoices, and sales orders, in Salesforce without having to launch QuickBooks Online Advanced.
• Team collaboration: Your accounting software should improve workflows and make it easy for team members to collaborate with one another. Cloud-based accounting software makes it easy for teams to view information anywhere with an internet connection.
• Reporting and analytics: One of the most important features accounting software should have are robust reporting and analytic tools. Having the ability to analyze financial data allows staff to make real-time insights and projections that can help their company grow. Through reporting and analytics, staff will also be able to comply with industry and government regulations and publish accurate and timely financial information.
• Automation: Accounting software should help you save time with back-office work. A key feature of accounting software is automation. Through automation, businesses can get support for accounting transactions like payroll, employee expenses, department and company budgets, and other financial activities.
• Customization: In most cases, accounting software won’t meet all of your company’s needs. That’s why you’ll need to find one that’s customizable, allowing you to customize statements, reports, and other documents.

These are just some of the important features to look into when searching for Salesforce compatible accounting software.

What mistakes should you avoid when integrating accounting software with Salesforce?

CRM and accounting software are basically two separate databases. When you integrate accounting software with Salesforce, mistakes can be made along the way because so much information is transferred. To prevent mistakes from occurring, knowing what to look out for can help. Below are a few mistakes to avoid when integrating accounting software with Salesforce:

• Dynamic accounting software: Small businesses aren’t one and the same, which means your accounting software shouldn’t be either. Choosing a dynamic accounting software that comes with static fields and objects can be difficult to integrate with Salesforce. This is especially true if you’re already using Salesforce with customized fields and objects. As you look for accounting software, choose one with functionality that is customizable and integrates seamlessly.
• Failure to clear data: Integrating your accounting data with your CRM data is a big job. To ensure it goes smoothly, spend time to save time by clearing and cleaning customer data you no longer need. This prep work can help you start off with a clean slate.
• Failure to plan: Failing to take time to plan your integration can make the process complicated. Before you integrate your accounting software with Salesforce, determine the reason why you’re doing so. Then, outline the steps you need to take and the data that needs to be included or erased. You also want to ensure everything syncs properly, including customer information and invoices.

By avoiding mistakes like these, you can save yourself time and frustration when getting your accounting and Salesforce software up and running.

Final thoughts

Integrating accounting and Salesforce can help you bring together your accounting and sales teams to manage cash flow, generate reports, create receipts and invoices, and grow your business. Salesforce accounting compatible software like the QuickBooks Salesforce integration makes financial management easy, so you can gain full visibility into your business. With the Salesforce Connector by QuickBooks, you can speed up your sales cycle and keep all of your financial data in one place.