QuickBooks Online (QBO) Integration

Modified on Wed, 11 Mar at 5:31 PM

Save Time! QuickBooks Online (QBO) Integration

Accounting Integration • Financial Setup • Revised May 2023

Overview — What You Can Do

Once you've mapped GL Codes/Types from Cornerstone's GL Table to your QBO Accounts, you'll be able to quickly send the following TO QuickBooks Online:

Bank deposits for payments your team posts in Cornerstone
Bank deposits for payments Cornerstone has processed and posted
The final ‘month end Net Due deposit’ for Cornerstone-posted payments
After month end, a permanent cash basis journal entry to allocate deposits/payments to the correct revenue categories in QBO based on your previous mapping

ℹ️ Start with the videos! Cornerstone has two training videos available at alarmbills.com/training-videos/quickbooks-online-integration/ fully covering both setup and pushing transactions. This article refers to those videos throughout.

Step 1 – Cornerstone to QBO Mapping

The first step is mapping the QBO Chart of Accounts to the GL Table in Cornerstone. Follow these steps to navigate to the GL Codes Table:

Go to Utilities > Manage Lists
Navigate to the Invoice Tab
Select the GL Codes Table
All GL Table items will need to be mapped for pushing deposits to QB

⚠️ First-time setup: If this is the first time you are linking the Cornerstone Chart of Accounts to QBO, click the Online Setup button (bottom left) to connect to CFN and pull in the relevant CFN fields that must be mapped to QBO. Watch Video 1 for full details.

Activate QB Assistance & Refresh Accounts

Activate QB Assistance

The button with the green QB icon will Activate QB Assistance, which lets you log into your QBO account. Enter your username and password when prompted. You'll briefly see the connection happen, then be returned to the Cornerstone Chart of Accounts to begin mapping accounts. See Video 1 for details.

Login Steps:
1. Click the Activate QB Assistance button (green QB icon)
2. Enter your Intuit email/user ID and password
3. Wait briefly for the connection to establish
4. You'll be returned to the Chart of Accounts Table to begin mapping

Refresh Accounts

Clicking Refresh Accounts (near bottom left) pulls in the available Chart of Accounts data from QBO. You may need to add items to the QBO Chart of Accounts to map everything showing in Cornerstone. After refreshing, click the Online Setup button to begin mapping (see Video 1).

Use the Dropdowns in the QuickBooks Options section to select the appropriate QBO Account Type and Account Name, then assign the Account Classification.

ℹ️ If you make additions in QBO to the Chart of Accounts, remember to hit Refresh Accounts to access the updated QBO information before continuing to map.

Completing the Mapping

Continue editing to assign all Cornerstone items to QBO items. Keep in mind:

The Account Type and Description do not need to be the same in both Cornerstone and QB
Cornerstone categories are used for the Billing Detail Report
For example: receipts are treated as Income in Cornerstone but are mapped to your QuickBooks Bank Account Type to record the checking deposit
Your mappings can be as detailed as you wish — a generic approach aggregates all recurring charge GL codes into a single “Recurring Services” bucket in QBO

ℹ️ Once all accounts are mapped (excluding the “CFI Posting” account), you’re ready to start pushing transactions! Consult with your accountant if you have questions about which Chart of Accounts to use in QuickBooks.

Step 2 – Pushing Transactions to QBO

To access QBO from Cornerstone, navigate as follows:

Open the Report Menu
Click the Financial Tab
Click Connect to QuickBooks button (right side, second from bottom)
The QuickBooks Dashboard will open

On the QuickBooks Dashboard, you will see two key buttons (center left, blue report icon):

Bank Deposit — Pushes deposits to QBO during the month
Billing Detail — Pushes the journal entry after month end to allocate payments received to the correct revenue bucket

⚠️ Watch Video 2 before pushing transactions. The second QBO Integration video shows exactly how to push (a) deposits and (b) the end-of-month journal entry. There are several steps and the video walks through all of them.

Error checking during Post to QuickBooks will identify errors you can troubleshoot using the General Tab. The data collected helps Cornerstone identify missing account linkages between Cornerstone and QBO.

Using the Filters at the top of the QuickBooks Dashboard:

Pending Only — Show only records not yet pushed to QBO
Month / Year — Filter by time period
Source — Filter by *Local Postings or CFI

Example QBO Entry — Deposit Push from Cornerstone:

#	Account	Debits	Credits	Description
1	Checking	$14,586.51	—	Bank Deposits 06/01/22–06/14/22
2	Subscriber Pmts *Local	—	$14,586.51	Bank Deposits 06/01/22–06/14/22

Journal Entry #19 • Journal Date: 06/14/2022

Month-End Journal Entry

As Video 2 shows, the month-end Journal Entry will allocate receipts processed to the mapped income (or other) accounts. Important considerations:

Any CFN Adjustments (such as prior period payments to the dealer that have been reversed in the current period) will have their own GL code/mapping to QBO
Line items in the invoice in Cornerstone that do not have a GL assignment will be captured as Missing GL Assignment
We recommend generating the Billing Detail Report in Detail mode to find inventory items or recurring charge codes that require GL assignment to improve data for posting to QBO

Other Accounting Systems

If you use QuickBooks Desktop or another accounting package, you can still set up the GL Table in Cornerstone and run these same reports to generate Journal Entries in CSV format. You can use these to import or copy/paste the data into your accounting system.

ℹ️ The GL mapping and report generation workflow in Cornerstone works regardless of which accounting platform you use. QBO simply adds the ability to push entries directly rather than exporting CSV.

Exhibit – Sample GL Code Mappings (Sandbox Account)

Below are sample mappings where Cornerstone GL codes are mapped to QuickBooks Accounts. It is easy to add to the QuickBooks Chart of Accounts. Note that “Sample” mappings can be made more granular at your discretion.

GL Code	Account Type	Description	QB Account Type	QB Acct Name	QB Class	Notes
CFI Posting	Income	CFI Posting	Leave Blank	Leave Blank		Leave Blank – Alarm only
CFN:ADJUPRIORRECEIPT	Income	CFI Prior Payment Adj	Income	Uncategorized Income	Revenue	CFN
CFN:DEALER	Income	CFI Payments to Dealer	Bank	Checking	Asset	CFN
CFN:DEALERRADJCFIPMT	Income	CFI Pmt Adjustments By Dealer	Income	Uncategorized Income	Revenue	CFN
CFN:DEALERBANK	Income	Dealer Bank Account	Bank	Checking	Asset	CFN
CFN:DUEFROMCFI	Income	EOM Receipts Due From CFI	Other Current Asset	Due From Cornerstone	Asset	CFN
CFN:EXP	Income	Special Payment To Dealer	Bank	Checking	Asset	CFN
CFN:FEES	Expense	Cornerstone Fees	Expense	Legal & Professional Fees	Expense	CFN
CFN:RECEIPTS	Income	Subscriber Pmts Via Cornerstone	Income	Subscriber Pmts via Cornerstone	Revenue	CFN
CFN:RESERVE	Other Current Asset	Reserves	Other Current Asset	Cornerstone Reserve	Asset	CFN
CFN:SHORTFALL	Other Current Liability	Due to Cornerstone	Other Current Liability	Due to Cornerstone	Liability	CFN
CFN:V:AFS	Other Current Liability	Alarm Financial Services	Other Current Liability	Loan Payable	Liability	CFN
CFN:V:RRMS	Expense	Central Station Bill Payment	Expense	Monitoring Fees	Expense	CFN
*PREPAID	Other Current Liability	Dealer Posted Prepaid CR	Income	Unapplied Cash Payment Income	Revenue	New needed
blank-SER:GL_Code	Accounts Receivable	Missing GL Assignment	Income	Subscriber Pmts *Local	Revenue	New needed
Dealer Posting	Income	Dealer Posting	Income	Subscriber Pmts *Local	Revenue	Sample
DISCOUNT	Expense	Discount Credit	Income	Discounts Given	Revenue	Sample
EQUIP	Accounts Receivable	Equipment	Income	Job Materials	Revenue	Sample
EXTRA	Accounts Receivable	Expanded Zone List	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
F&F	Accounts Receivable	Friend & Family Rate	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
FIREMON	Accounts Receivable	Fire Alarm Mon	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
LABOR	Accounts Receivable	Labor	Income	Labor	Revenue	Sample
LATE	Accounts Receivable	Late Fee	Income	Other Income	Revenue	Sample
MAINT	Accounts Receivable	Maintenance	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
Misc.	Accounts Receivable	Miscellaneous Fees	Income	Uncategorized Income	Revenue	Sample
MON	Accounts Receivable	Monitoring	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
MON CELL	Accounts Receivable	Cellular Monitoring	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
OCR	Accounts Receivable	Open Close Reports	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
PMTPLAN	Accounts Receivable	Payment Plan	Income	Other Income	Revenue	Sample
PREPAID	Other Current Liability	PREPAID Credit	Income	Unapplied Cash Payment Income	Revenue	Sample
RADIO BCKUP	Accounts Receivable	Radio Backup Monitoring	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
SERVICE	Accounts Receivable	Service Call	Income	Services	Revenue	Sample
SPDISC	Accounts Receivable	Spec Pond Dis Rate	Income	Discounts given	Revenue	Sample
TAX	Expense	Tax Receipts Collected	Income	Uncategorized Income	Revenue	Sample
VIDEO	Accounts Receivable	Video Services	Income	RECURRING SERVICES	Revenue	Sample – Can be more detailed
Writeoff	Expense	Writeoff	Expense	Uncategorized Expense	Expense	Sample

Still Have Questions About QBO Integration?

Our support team is ready to help you get set up and push your first transactions. You can also access both training videos at alarmbills.com/training-videos/quickbooks-online-integration/

? Call Support: 847.405.9517 ▶ Watch the Training Videos