AccountLinx is a complementary software to assist with bridging the gap between your accounting software and ExakTime Connect. With AccountLinx, you can export your time data, and expenses if enabled, to your employees weekly timesheets in QuickBooks to help your payroll process.
If you have any questions or concerns during setup and/or use, you can contact us with the "Request Support" link at the top of the page and we will try to assist as best as possible. Keep in mind, however, that we are not QuickBooks support. We will try to assist you as much as we are able, but there are aspects of QuickBooks that are out of our area of expertise and your questions may be better served by QuickBooks support or your trusted contact to answer/assist.
As QuickBooks allows flexibility to fit various needs, we cannot take every unique setup into account. It is advised to read through this article before setting up AccountLinx to understand what is needed ahead of time.
Table of Contents
- Installing AccountLinx
- Connecting AccountLinx to QuickBooks
- Mapping Entities
- Additional Configuration
- Exporting Time Records
- Reviewing Exported Time Records in QuickBooks
Installing AccountLinx
If AccountLinx has not yet been installed, you can refer to the following article for more information about installing AccountLinx/SyncLinx.
Connecting AccountLinx to QuickBooks
Setting AccountLinx to Export to QuickBooks
To facilitate the connection between the two applications, you must have a copy of QuickBooks on the same computer as AccountLinx and you may need an administrator or equivalent log-in to create the connection between the two applications.
- Open QuickBooks and sign in to the desired company file.
- If this is the first time you are connecting AccountLinx and Quickbooks you must:
- Sign in to your QuickBooks company file with an Administrator or equivalent to allow AccountLinx to connect to QuickBooks.
- Connecting AccountLinx to the company file for the first time requires the QuickBooks company file to be set to "Single User Mode". Go to File and click Switch to Single User Mode. You can switch back to regular user mode after completing the connection between SyncLinx and QuickBooks.
- If this is the first time you are connecting AccountLinx and Quickbooks you must:
- Open AccountLinx and go to Tools and click Exporter Settings .
- Click Select Exporter from the Exporter Settings window.
- Select QuickBooks from the list of exporters and click OK. AccountLinx may pause for a moment. Then, it will prompt a Setup Wizard to help link QuickBooks properly with AccountLinx. The wizard guides through 13 slides of brief configuration steps.
Setup Wizard - Connecting AccountLinx to QuickBooks
- The first slide covers what will be accomplished by completing the subsequent prompts. Click Next on the steps to progress through the wizard and receive further information/instruction.
- If you have not already done so:
- Sign in to your QuickBooks company file with an Administrator or equivalent to allow AccountLinx to connect to QuickBooks.
- Connecting AccountLinx to the company file for the first time requires the QuickBooks company file to be set to "Single User Mode". Go to File and click Switch to Single User Mode. You can switch back to regular user mode after completing the connection between SyncLinx and QuickBooks.
- AccountLinx will now attempt a connection to QuickBooks. You will see a prompt in QuickBooks like below. Select "Yes, whenever this QuickBooks company file is open" and "Allow this application to access personal data such as Social Security Numbers and customer credit card information" and confirm the that AccountLinx can access QuickBooks information. After the certificate is approved on QuickBooks, click Next in AccountLinx.
- After successfully connecting, AccountLinx will guide you through setting up your preferences for exporting to QuickBooks. From this point forward, you can decide whether or not Jobs/Customers and Cost Codes/Service items are required per each time record before it can be exported into QuickBooks. The Setup Wizard does not need to be completed as you can set up AccountLinx
- When exporting your time records, we try to maximize the amount of usable time record data you can receive in QuickBooks with customer/jobs and service items. This is accomplished through mapping and will be shown in a later section.
- If Job/Customer is required, all QuickBooks Jobs & Customers will need to be mapped to an ExakTime Connect Location.
- If Cost Code/Service is required, all QuickBooks Service Items will need to be mapped to an ExakTime Connect Cost Code
- This setting can be changed later under the Exporter Settings for AccountLinx.
- Set which set of hours can be exported as billable QuickBooks time. Billable time allows you to invoice the imported time to Customers.
- AccountLinx can map billable to Cost Codes or Locations. Choosing Cost Code allows the marking of time accrued to specific Cost Code/Service Items as billable. Setting to Location allows time accrued to specific Jobs & Customers to be marked as billable.
- Set your default Payroll Wage Items for Regular, Overtime, and Overtime 2. If you do not use Overtime 2 (Doubletime), set this to the same Payroll Wage Item as Overtime.
- Any entity accruing time not specifically mapped to an alternate Payroll Wage Item will follow these default settings. Payroll Wage Items will need to have been set up in QuickBooks before hand; however, these settings can be adjusted at any time.
- Choose whether additional Payroll Wage Items can be mapped to Employees, Locations (Jobs/Customers), or Cost Code (Service Items)
- This step will instruct you that if you are not already using time data to create paychecks, you will need to enable it in QuickBooks. Otherwise, the time data cannot be used to help create your employee's paychecks.
- Employees must be mapped in order to export time. If you have vendors who are paid like employees, you can check the box on this slide to include them in the employee list for mapping.
- While this step allows you to map employees, we will provide additional information about mapping in a later section of this guide.
- The next two steps mapping Cost Codes and Locations respectively. As we will cover these in greater detail later in the guide, you can progress past these steps without doing anything.
- The last two slides confirm the settings and conclude the setup wizard. The final step covers where to find data in QuickBooks after exporting successfully. Click Finish to close the setup wizard.
Mapping Entities
Mapping entities tells AccountLinx who to give the imported to time, what customers/jobs get the accrued time, which Service Items are used, and more. While the Setup Wizard allows you to perform these mappings, we find it easier to access mapping from the AccountLinx home screen using the toolbar buttons found towards the top-left of AccountLinx as it also helps you get familiar with mapping in the future.
For more information about the overall mapping process, you can refer to the following article. The sections below provide QuickBooks specific mapping information.
Mapping Considerations
Employee Mapping
When mapping employees, you are only able to map a single ExakTime employee to a single equivalent QuickBooks employee/vendor.
Location Mapping
When mapping locations, it is possible for multiple ExakTime locations to be mapped to a singular QuickBooks customers/jobs. This allows you to track detailed locations in ExakTime, but have it all funnel to singular customers if the detail is not needed in QuickBooks.
For example, you may have a shopping complex entered as a QuickBooks customer, but do not have jobs for the customer. You can create multiple locations in ExakTime to track time intimately there, but have it all funnel into the shopping complex customer in QuickBooks. Please be aware that you cannot do the reverse of this with a single ExakTime location going into multiple QuickBooks customers.
Cost Code Mapping
Similar to locations, it is possible for multiple ExakTime cost codes to be mapped to a singular QuickBooks service item. This allows you to track detailed cost codes in ExakTime, but have it all funnel to singular service items if the detail is not needed in QuickBooks.
For example, you may have a simple "Labor" service item entered in QuickBooks. You can create multiple cost codes in ExakTime to track time intimately there, but have it all funnel into the "Labor" service item QuickBooks. Please be aware that you cannot do the reverse of this with a single ExakTime cost code going into multiple QuickBooks service items.
Additional Configuration
AccountLinx offers a few additional settings and options to further tune AccountLinx to suit your business needs.
Several of these were covered in the Setup Wizard, but you can find them all by navigating to going to Tools, clicking Exporter Settings, and clicking Configure....
Options
QuickBooks Connection
- Connection Type - Describes the type of connection, typically a locally open company file
- Company File Name - Displays the name of the QuickBooks company file currently connected
- Export to multiple QuickBooks companies - Allows AccountLinx to connect to multiple company files and preserves the mappings between two separate QuickBooks company files, if possible.
- AccountLinx can currently only map an ExakTime entity to a QuickBooks entity from one Company File at a time. For example, if employee Kevin Jones exists in two Company Files, you can only map the employee to one QuickBooks Company File at a time. If you need to export his time data to both QuickBooks Company Files, you will need to re-map the employee.
- If the option is not enabled, AccountLinx will remove all mappings when it connects to a QuickBooks Company File it does not recognize.
- For this to work as intended, the company files can not have overlapping data, for example, employee John Doe should not exist in both company files. If there are any overlapping data/entities, you will need to remap the data before exporting.
- If you would like more information on how this option can be utilized, please refer to the article: Switching to a Different QuickBooks Company File for SyncLinx/AccountLinx
Default Wage Items
These are the default QuickBooks Payroll Wage Items used for employees' regular, overtime, and doubletime pay. Clicking the drop-down menu will allow you to select from QuickBooks payroll wage items.
- Regular Payroll Wage Item - Define which payroll wage item Regular time defaults to.
- Overtime Payroll Wage Item - Define which payroll wage item Overtime defaults to.
- Overtime 2 Payroll Wage Item - Define which payroll wage item Overtime 2 (Doubletime) defaults to. If employees do not accrue Doubletime or Overtime 2, it is common practice to set this to the same wage item as Overtime.
If you need to specify alternate payroll wage items for certain circumstances, you can refer to the "Map Payroll Wage Item to" option.
Mappings
- Include vendors in employee list - Enabling will add vendors created within QuickBooks to the employee mapping list in AccountLinx
- Map Payroll Wage Item to - Specify what the payroll wage item should be associated to when exporting. This will add a set of Regular/Overtime/Overtime2 columns to the respective entity mapping window. For more information about alternative payroll wage items, you can refer to the dedicated article.
- If you pay based on an employee's hourly wage, choose "Employees".
- If pay is based on which customer site employees work at, choose "Location".
- If you pay based on what activities (service items) your employees are performing at any given time, choose "CostCode".
- Map class to - Select the type of item you use classes (or subgroups) with.
- Typically, classes are defined for Customers/Vendors, describing individual sub-jobs or sites for that customer or vendor. In that case, you would choose "Location". If you instead define classes based on activities (service items), choose "CostCode".
- This will add a class column to the respective entity mapping window
- Map billable to - If billable hours are associated with Customers, choose "Location". If billable hours are associated with Activities (service items), choose "CostCode".
- This will add a billable column to the respective entity mapping window
- Export as billable hours: Select which hours are considered to be billable to your customers by checking Regular, Overtime, and/or Overtime 2 boxes.
The most commonly used settings are mapping Wage item to Employee and mapping Class to Location.
Export Options
Auto-Map
- Map as billable - Marks any Location or Cost Code as billable when mapped using the "Auto-Map" function
- Map class as - Choose what class is used for mapping when using the "Auto-Map" function
- Include QuickBooks Customer in Location Match - Automatically map customers that match ExakTime Connect Locations (in addition to jobs)
Comments/Notes Export
Select the type (Employee, Location, Cost Code, or Time Record) of notes or comments to include with each time record during exports.
For example:
- If set to Location, the comment section for the location details will be exported to QuickBooks for any time record using the location.
- Location comments as they appear in QuickBooks under Employee > Enter Time > Use Weekly TimeSheet
Error Export Options
- Location mapping required - Enable to require all active Locations be mapped before an export can be successfully executed
- Cost Code mapping required - Set to require all active Cost Code to be mapped before completing a successful export
If left disabled, any data not mapped will be absent from QuickBooks after exporting. Turning on these features is a good way to have AccountLinx notify you when an export is attempted containing locations or Cost Codes that are not mapped but in use.
Location and Cost Code Export
- Export Location as Service items and Cost Code as Job/Customer - Switch Locations to map to QuickBooks Service Items and Cost Codes to map to QuickBooks Jobs/Customers
Expense Export Options
If enabled, allows you to export ExakTime expenses as adjustment register items in QuickBooks.
To enable expense exporting, you must:
- Enable "Export ExakTime Expenses as Adjustment Register Items"
- Select the Adjustment Register Account.
- Select the "Pay to the Order"
- Select the "Add Check Number As" format
To export your expenses, the employee must have time records and expenses. You will see them with an icon like below:
You will also need to map your expenses as well. The process for mapping expenses is similar to mapping employees/locations/cost codes.
Exporting Time Records
After configuring and mapping, you should now be able to export into QuickBooks. The process for exporting time records is covered in the following dedicated article.
Reviewing Exported Time Records in QuickBooks
Exported records can be found in QuickBooks under Employees>Enter Time>Use Weekly TimeSheets.
While you are able to manipulate the time data in QuickBooks, we recommend not adjusting them for data consistency.
