Quick Guide: Getting Started with QuickBooks Online

This cheat sheet covers the fundamentals of QuickBooks Online, including choosing your subscription, key setup steps, and leveraging the new AI-powered tools.

1. Choosing Your Subscription

When selecting Simple Start, Plus, orAdvanced, ask yourself:

• Do user limits matter? (How many people need access?)
• Do I need inventory or time tracking? (Required for Plus and Advanced).

Pro Tip: Use existing Intuit login credentials if you have them to keep all your subscriptions under one account.

2. Essential First Steps

Once signed up, immediately check your settings before you start working.

A. Initial Setup

1. Go to the Settings Gear Icon .
2. Select Account and Settings.
3. Go line by line through the tabs (Company, Sales, Expenses, Advanced) to confirm:
• Your legal business info is correct.
• Your preferred accounting method (cash/accrual) and sales payment terms are set.
4. Review your Chart of Accounts (also under the Gear Icon) to ensure your financial accounts are correct.

B. Navigation Basics

• Left Menu: The main control panel. Use the + Create button at the top to quickly start a new invoice, expense, or bill.
• Top Tabs: Quick access to major business functions like Accounting (bank transactions) and Sales (income/invoices).

3. Meet Your AI Agent Team

QuickBooks Online now has an integrated team of AI agents designed to automate, analyze, and communicate for you.

• Intuit Assist (Business Feed): Acts as your virtual assistant. Drafts personalized invoice reminders, generates bills from forwarded emails, and autofills forms.
• Accounting Agent: Automates bookkeeping. Categorizes transactions, helps with reconciliation, and flags items needing your approval ("Ready to Post").
• Payments Agent: Manages cash flow. Optimizes your payment strategy, sends smart communications, and accelerates invoice collections.
• Collaboration Agent: Streamlines communication. Allows you and your accountant to chat directly on transactions or reports inside QuickBooks.
• Customer Agent (Plus/Advanced): Sales and lead management. Sources leads from your email, tracks sales opportunities, and drafts personalized email responses.
• Finance Agent (Advanced Only): Strategic oversight. Provides financial performance summaries, risk identification, and helps measure against budgets and goals.
• Payroll Agent: Manages payroll. Proactively handles data collection, automatically runs payroll drafts, and ensures your team is paid accurately.

Unlock Your Potential!

You've got the QuickBooks Online basics down. Ready to master the time-saving features?

Tune in to our next Answer Room segment on October 29th where we’ll take a deep dive into Intuit Assist and Advanced Automation tools to help you save hours every week. Don't miss out!