Inventory tracking and data management are crucial for business efficiency and scalability. Fishbowl’s integration with Intuit’s suite of QuickBooks products, including QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, makes it possible to link your inventory and accounting, all in an integrated solution. Use Fishbowl to manage your day-to-day operations and projected business growth, without having to change your accounting practices and processes in QuickBooks.
The Fishbowl Difference
Core Functionality
To integrate Fishbowl Advanced with QuickBooks Desktop, install both of these solutions on the same computer. It’s possible to integrate them together if they are on different computers, but it is easiest if you install your QuickBooks file on your Fishbowl Server computer. Log into both of these solutions. Then follow these steps:
- Open Fishbowl’s Accounting Integration module and go to the Configure tab. Click the Connect to QuickBooks Desktop button.
- Fill out the required fields in the Accounting Integration Wizard. Be sure to map your accounts between Fishbowl and QuickBooks.
- Create a user in QuickBooks with full access. Fishbowl will make use of that user to export data to QuickBooks.
- Select your QuickBooks file. This is especially simple if you’ve already logged into QuickBooks before beginning this process.
- Specify which data to import from QuickBooks into Fishbowl.
- Turn off QuickBooks’ inventory and purchase order features. That way, Fishbowl will always handle these tasks and then send the appropriate information to QuickBooks Desktop.
Once you’re done, the integration will be up and running. You will be able to update the import and export settings, as well as other aspects of the QuickBooks integration in Fishbowl.
See how Fishbowl’s default account mapping interacts with QuickBooks’ suite of products.
Fishbowl + QuickBooks: Track inventory and manage money all on the same platform FAQs
Fishbowl offers powerful inventory management software to small and medium-sized businesses, but it does not offer accounting features. Since most SMBs use QuickBooks to handle their bookkeeping, it’s a natural fit for Fishbowl to integrate with QuickBooks in order to join their inventory management and accounting solutions together. This keeps their inventory and financial records in sync.
QuickBooks Desktop versions officially supported by Fishbowl:
- QuickBooks Pro 2021-2024
- QuickBooks Premier 2021-2024
- QuickBooks Enterprise 2021-2024
- QuickBooks Canada 2021-2024
- QuickBooks Australia/Reckon Accounts
- QuickBooks UK
- QuickBooks Multi-Currency
QuickBooks Online versions officially supported by Fishbowl:
- QuickBooks Online Plus
- QuickBooks Online Advanced
Fishbowl’s QuickBooks integration works on a scheduled basis. That means that changes in Fishbowl are not reflected in QuickBooks instantaneously. They must be imported and exported between the two solutions according to the schedule you set. You can map different accounts in Fishbowl to ones in QuickBooks to ensure they are recorded properly. This account mapping is part of the initial integration process.
With a QuickBooks integration, Fishbowl handles all of the inventory management and order fulfillment. Thus, any open sales orders or purchase orders in QuickBooks will need to be closed before integrating with Fishbowl or deleted and manually added in Fishbowl. There is no way to automatically transfer sales orders and purchase orders directly between Fishbowl and QuickBooks.
However, when Fishbowl becomes the source of truth for inventory and orders, it will send the financial data from those transactions to QuickBooks for safe storage in the appropriate accounts.
Yes. Fishbowl not only integrates with QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, but it also integrates with Xero, a cloud-based accounting solution, and Reckon, which is Intuit’s QuickBooks version for Australia and New Zealand.
For QuickBooks Desktop, it’s advisable to install the Fishbowl Server on the same computer you store your QuickBooks file on. It’s a good idea to at least be on the same operating system. It’s possible to connect to QuickBooks Desktop from a Mac or Linux Fishbowl installation, but there are extra steps to follow.
To integrate with QuickBooks, go to the Accounting Integration module in Fishbowl Advanced. Click the Configure tab and select the appropriate QuickBooks version, whether QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop. The Accounting Integration Wizard will pop up once you select the version you want to integrate with. Follow the steps in this wizard to complete the QuickBooks integration. You will need your QuickBooks login credentials and other information to proceed.