QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual

Setting Up Your Accounts for Online Services

Connecting your bank accounts to your accounts in QuickBooks is a lot like running a dating service: You have to prepare each participant for the relationship and then get them together.

The services you can subscribe to and the price you pay depends on your financial institution, but the services fall into one of these three categories:

• Online account access. This service is often free. It lets you check transaction status and download transactions into QuickBooks. Your bank won’t admit it, but letting you check your account balance and transaction status online is cheaper than having you chat on the phone with customer service representatives.

• Online credit card access. You can download credit card transactions as you do checking transactions, as long as you set up your credit card in QuickBooks as a liability account (Creating a Transaction in an Account Register) and enter individual credit card charges. Setting up a credit card as a vendor and entering only the monthly bill payment won’t work.

• Online bill paying. This service usually comes with a fee, which is often a good deal when you consider the price of stamps and printed checks.

Note

QuickBooks’ online banking works only with U.S. dollar–based accounts. If you have a bank account that uses a foreign currency, you have to handle your transactions the old-fashioned way.

Applying for Online Services

The first step in linking QuickBooks to your bank accounts is to apply for online banking ...