The QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) integration with Karbon allows you to manage your client billing and payment processes. This guide walks you through the essential steps for setting up the integration, ensuring your contact sync is properly configured, and understanding how invoices and payments sync between Karbon and QuickBooks Online Accountant. Whether you're syncing contacts, managing work types, or troubleshooting errors, this article will provide the key information you need to get the most out of the integration.
Index
Important: Prior to connecting your QuickBooks Online Accountant integration, also review QuickBooks Online Accountant Integration: FAQ and Setup Guide for important details to help ensure clients in QBOA are successfully matched to existing Contacts in Karbon. |
What You Can Sync Between QBOA and Karbon
Connecting QBOA with Karbon allows you to sync key data like contacts, invoices, and payments, making sure everything stays up to date across both systems.
Contacts: You can sync your client contact information between QBOA and Karbon, ensuring you have the same details in both systems.
Invoices: Invoices created in either QBOA or Karbon can be synced so your records stay consistent and up to date.
Payments: Payment statuses are synced between both systems, helping you track what’s been paid and what’s still due.
Connecting to QuickBooks Online Accountant
Log into QuickBooks Online Accountant: Start by logging into your QuickBooks Online Accountant account.
Access Karbon Settings: In Karbon, go to your Settings and click on Connected Apps.
Connect QuickBooks Online Accountant: Find QuickBooks Online Accountant in the list and click Connect.
Use Primary Admin Credentials: When prompted, log in using the Primary Admin credentials for your QuickBooks Online for Accountants account.
Manage Sync Settings: Once connected, Karbon will let you manage your contact sync settings and import clients directly from QuickBooks Online Accountant
Managing Contact Sync
Syncing contacts between QuickBooks Online Accountant and Karbon allows you to import and match clients, identify duplicates, and keep contact information up to date. This section details how Karbon automatically syncs contacts, how to resolve any duplicates when names or emails don't match exactly, and how to update contact details in both systems. It also covers managing contact sync settings, including specifying contact types for new or updated contacts, and explains how to push contacts from Karbon to QuickBooks Online Accountant.
Syncing Contacts
Once connected, click Sync Now under the QuickBooks Online Accountant section in Connected Apps to import contacts from QBOA into Karbon.
Karbon will attempt to match imported QBOA clients to existing Karbon contacts. You’ll be able to:
View which contacts were automatically synced
Resolve any duplicates
Imported info includes:
Name
Email
Phone number(s)
Physical address
Mailing address
Matching logic:
Exact match on name + email: contact is auto-matched.
No match: Karbon creates a new contact.
Partial match (e.g. name or email only): shown in the duplicate resolution screen for you to match or create new.
Please Note: Clicking Sync Now only pulls contacts from QBOA to Karbon. It does not push Karbon contacts to QBOA. See below for how to sync contacts from Karbon to QBOA.app.
Viewing Mapped Contacts
To view contacts that were already mapped, click on 'View Client List' and you will be presented with the contacts that are in QuickBooks Online Accountant that have been connected in Karbon.
Here you can view the contacts that have been mapped. If you feel that the mapping is incorrect, you can remove the match by clicking the options menu (...) to the right of the match and clicking 'Remove Match'.
Identifying Duplicates
If duplicates have been identified after syncing it's likely that the contacts share the same associated email address but the name is differs from one another. You can reconcile this by selecting the potential match given or you can create a new contact in Karbon to connect the QuickBooks Online Accountant contact
To do this, click on 'Resolve Duplicates' and you'll be taken to a page that shows you which contacts came up as duplicates. You can confirm the match that was prompted by Karbon or you can create a new contact if it's not correct.
Updating Contacts
If the following updates are made to connected Clients in QuickBooks Online Accountant or Karbon, it will be updated to the subsequent system:
Name change
Email change / addition
Phone number(s) change / addition
Physical address change / addition
Mailing address change / addition
If the change isn't occurring quickly, you can manually update your contacts by going to Karbon Settings > clicking on Connected Apps > Mange your QuickBooks Online Accountant and click Sync Now.
Managing Contact Sync Settings
With the integration, you are able to control what contacts get synced from either Karbon to the integrated app or vice versa using the Contact Sync Settings.
The top section in the settings area will let you specify the Contact Type assigned to any new contact from the integrated app to Karbon. The default is "Client" but you may decide to create a new Contact Type and have your synced contacts obtain that Contact Type to easily identify and filter those throughout Karbon (e.g. "Client - QuickBooks").
The second section allows you to specify which contacts based on their assigned Contact Type in Karbon will be pushed to the integrated app. Only contacts with this Contact Type will be synced. Once the first sync is completed, any new contact with a selected Contact Type will be created in the integrated app and will be updated going forward if a change to the contact is made (e.g. name, email, phone and/or address change).
Tip: Pushing Contacts from Karbon to QBOA
When clicking Sync Now, Karbon will not create new clients in QBOA during the initial sync. However, new or updated Karbon contacts can be pushed to QBOA if:
The Contact Type matches one of the types configured in QBOA Contact Sync Settings
The contact is newly created OR has been updated (e.g. name, email, phone, address, or contact type changes)
Best practice: Create a new Contact Type in Karbon, like "Client - QuickBooks", and assign it to any contacts you want to push to QBOA. This triggers Karbon to sync them across.
To assign or update Contact Types in bulk, use the Contact Export/Import option in Karbon.Looking to update Contact Types in bulk for contacts? Use the export/import bulk contact update file from the Contact Export/Import icon.
Syncing Invoices and Payments
Note: Lacerte or ProConnect cannot be used with this integration.
This section covers essential setup steps, syncing processes, common error troubleshooting, and important limitations to help maintain smooth financial operations between the two systems.
Setting Up Your QBOA Billing Integration
Before getting started, ensure your contact sync is set up and working properly. This is essential for invoices to have the correct associated contacts.
Permissions Required
To enable the QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) billing integration, you’ll need:
Billing Admin permissions in your Karbon account.
Send Invoices permission turned on.
Steps to Set Up the Integration
Navigate to Settings:
Go to Settings > Connected Apps > QBOA > Setup.
Follow the setup steps:
Run a Contact Sync: Ensures invoices are linked to the correct contacts in QuickBooks Online Accountants.
Work Type Mapping: Map Karbon Work Types to QuickBooks Online Accountants services. A default service will apply to unmapped Work Types.
Tax Mapping: Match Karbon Tax Rates to QuickBooks Online Accountant tax rates, including parent and sub-taxes for combined rates.
Sync Start Date: Choose a start date that aligns with your accounting period. Invoices created before this date will not sync.
Once set up, invoices and payments will sync between Karbon and QBOA based on the selected configurations.
For troubleshooting steps, refer to the Managing Sync Errors section or contact Karbon Support for further assistance.
Syncing Invoices
Once your QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) integration is set up, invoices created in Karbon will automatically sync to QuickBooks Online based on your configuration.
This is a one-way sync, meaning invoices will sync from Karbon to QuickBooks Online, but any changes made in QuickBooks will not sync back to Karbon. To ensure accuracy, all edits should be made directly in Karbon before sending.
Invoices will sync to QBOA when they are sent or posted in Karbon:
One-off invoices can be created and sent individually by navigating to Billing > Unbilled, selecting work items, and following Draft Invoice > Approve > Send.
Bulk invoices can be processed through Billing Runs, allowing you to close and send multiple invoices at once from Billing > Close > Send.
Only invoices with an Invoice Date on or after the Sync Start Date (set during your initial QBOA billing setup) will sync.
Each synced invoice is sent to both QuickBooks Online Accountants and the billing contact in Karbon.
Syncing Payments
Once your QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) integration is set up, payments can sync both ways between Karbon and QuickBooks Online, ensuring accurate and up-to-date records.
Payments from Karbon to QuickBooks Online Accountants
Karbon Payments: Payments made in Karbon will automatically sync to QuickBooks Online Accountants when invoices are paid.
Payments from QuickBooks Online Accountants to Karbon
Manual Payments: Payments can be recorded manually in QuickBooks Online Accountants by navigating to Sales > Find Invoice > Receive Payment > Save.
Partial Payments: If a payment covers only part of an invoice, it can still be recorded manually in QBOA.
Splitting Payments: Payments can be applied across multiple invoices if necessary.
Once an invoice’s balance reaches $0, it will move from Awaiting Payment to Paid, and an activity log will appear under Invoice Activities.
Managing Payment Sync Errors
When there’s an issue with your QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) integration, you can easily manage and resolve the errors directly from Karbon’s Error Management Area. This section helps you monitor and fix syncing errors to ensure smooth operation.
Accessing the Error Management Area
To view and manage errors:
Navigate to Settings > Connected Apps > QuickBooks Online Accountant.
Click on View Errors (this option only appears when errors exist).
Fixing and Retrying Errors
Once in the error management area, you’ll see the specific issues that need attention. From here, you can:
Fix the issues directly as needed.
Use the Retry button to attempt to resolve the issue. Currently, this action will retry all errors at once.
Important Note:
Karbon limits the retry action to once every 3 minutes to avoid hitting system limits from too many retries. Be sure to resolve any underlying issues before retrying.
Error Message | Explanation |
CustomerRef is required | We can't find your billing contact in QuickBooks Online Accountants. Check your contact sync settings and make sure you're syncing this client. See How to push contacts from Karbon to QuickBooks Online Accountant |
Duplicate Document Number Error | There's already an item in QuickBooks Online Accountants with this exact invoice number. You'll need to manually change this duplicated number in QuickBooks Online Accountants to be a different number and then try again. |
KarbonTaxRateInvalid | Make sure all your tax rates are mapped in the QuickBooks Online Accountants set-up — Settings > Connected Apps > Edit Billing Integration > Next > Map Missing Tax Rate. Once the tax rate is mapped retry syncing from the error management area. |
Failed to create manual payment. | We haven't got a Payment back for this invoice. This can happen for a number of reasons, most likely because you are outside of a valid accounting period. Open the accounting period and then try again. |
message=AuthenticationFailed; errorCode=003200; statusCode=401 | Disconnect from QuickBooks Online Accountants and then make sure your QuickBooks Online Accountants is connected in the Connected App screen and then try again. |
QboaUsInvoiceMultipleTaxRates | Currently, QuickBooks Online Accountants US Invoices cannot have multiple tax rates. Ensure that all invoice lines have the same tax rate. |
Invoice customer differs from payment customer | The client on the invoice request is different than the client on the inbound payment. Change the customer to match, and retry the payment. |
Payment Date is in the future | The payment date on an inbound payment is more than 2 days from the current UTC date. |
Payment date is not in an open accounting period | For an inbound payment, there is no accounting period spanning the payment date. Or the accounting period spanning the payment is closed. Go to Finance > Accounting Periods and make sure the payment date is in the period. |
Payment will overpay the invoice | For an inbound payment, the payment amount is greater than the amount due on the invoice. Edit the amount in QBOA and retry payment of the invoice. |