Connecting QuickBooks to AXEL

What QuickBooks Integration Does

The QuickBooks integration syncs your AXEL data to QuickBooks Online automatically. Your customers, invoices, expenses, and payments flow from AXEL into QuickBooks without manual data entry — keeping your books up to date and saving hours of admin work.

Perfect for tradesmen who want professional accounting software but don't want the faff of entering everything twice.

Which Plans Include It

QuickBooks integration is available on:

• The Grafter (£29/month) and above
• The Gaffer (£39/month)
• The Guv'nor (£59/month)

Not available on The Apprentice (Free) or Lead Goblin plans.

How to Connect QuickBooks

1. Go to Settings → Integrations tab
2. Find the QuickBooks card and click Connect
3. You'll be redirected to Intuit to log in and authorize AXEL
4. Select your QuickBooks company if you have multiple
5. Click Connect to authorize the connection
6. You'll be redirected back to AXEL
7. You'll see "Connected" status with your company name displayed

The whole process takes about 2 minutes. Once connected, AXEL can start syncing your data immediately.

Auto-Sync Settings

After connecting, you can toggle which entity types sync automatically:

• Customers — AXEL customers → QuickBooks Customers
• Invoices — AXEL invoices → QuickBooks Invoices
• Expenses — AXEL expenses → QuickBooks Purchases
• Payments — AXEL payments → QuickBooks Payments

When auto-sync is enabled for a type, new items are pushed to QuickBooks as soon as they're created in AXEL. Turn off auto-sync if you prefer manual control.

Manual Sync ("Sync Now")

Use the Sync Now button to push all unsynced data at once. This is particularly useful:

• After first connecting — syncs all your existing AXEL data to QuickBooks
• When auto-sync is disabled — push data when you're ready
• To catch up missed items — if something didn't sync automatically

After clicking Sync Now, you'll see a results summary showing how many of each type were synced successfully.

Account Mappings

Every QuickBooks company has different account IDs and names. A.X.E.L lets you map your expense categories to the exact accounts in your QuickBooks — so expenses, payments, and revenue land in the right places without manual journal entries.

How It Works

When you connect QuickBooks, A.X.E.L automatically fetches your full chart of accounts. You'll find an Account Mappings section on your integration card in Settings. Expand it and you'll see every A.X.E.L category with a dropdown next to it.

Each dropdown shows your QuickBooks accounts — the real ones from your company file, not generic defaults. Pick the account you want each category posted to and hit Save Mappings.

What You Can Map

• Expense categories — Materials, Tools & Equipment, Fuel & Vehicle, Insurance, Subcontractors, Office, Marketing, Utilities, Rent, Phone & Internet, Software, and Other. Each maps to an expense-type account in your QuickBooks.
• Bank / Cash Account — the account used when recording expense purchases and payment deposits (e.g. your business current account or "Undeposited Funds").
• Sales / Revenue Account — where invoice revenue is posted.

Smart Defaults

If you don't configure any mappings, A.X.E.L uses reasonable defaults. But every QuickBooks company is different — what's account 48 in one company might be something completely different in another. We strongly recommend setting your own mappings so your books stay accurate from day one.

Refreshing Accounts

Added new accounts in QuickBooks since you connected? Hit the ↻ Refresh Accounts button to re-fetch your chart of accounts without disconnecting. This is also useful if your accountant restructures your chart of accounts.

How Data Maps Between Systems

AXEL Customers → QuickBooks Customers

• Customer name, phone, email, and address
• Existing customers are matched by name to avoid duplicates
• Customer type set appropriately in QuickBooks

AXEL Invoices → QuickBooks Invoices

• Line items with descriptions, quantities, and unit prices
• Customer details and due dates
• VAT handling matches your QuickBooks VAT settings
• Invoice numbers and references

AXEL Expenses → QuickBooks Purchases

• Expense amounts, categories, and descriptions
• Supplier information (if provided)
• VAT amounts separated correctly
• Receipt attachments (where available)

AXEL Payments → QuickBooks Payments

• Payment amounts and dates
• Linked to the corresponding invoice or purchase
• Payment method information

Currency Conversion

All amounts are converted correctly — AXEL stores money in pence internally, but QuickBooks uses pounds, so £1,234.56 in AXEL becomes £1,234.56 in QuickBooks automatically.

Disconnecting QuickBooks

If you need to disconnect:

1. Go to Settings → Integrations
2. Find your connected QuickBooks company
3. Click Disconnect
4. Confirm the disconnection

Important: Disconnecting stops future syncing, but your existing QuickBooks data isn't deleted. Everything that's already in QuickBooks stays there.

Can I Use Both Xero and QuickBooks?

No — you can only connect one accounting integration at a time. If you want to switch from Xero to QuickBooks (or vice versa), you need to disconnect the current integration before connecting the new one.

This prevents data conflicts and ensures your accounting records stay clean and consistent.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

"Token expired" errors:

• This happens when the connection to QuickBooks expires
• Simply disconnect and reconnect following the setup steps above
• Your data won't be lost — just needs re-authorization

Sync failures:

• Check the sync log in Settings → Integrations for detailed error messages
• Common issues include missing customer details or VAT configuration mismatches
• Contact support if errors persist

Slow sync speeds:

• QuickBooks rate limits are generous (500 requests per minute)
• Large bulk syncs (like initial sync with hundreds of records) may take a few moments
• The system will automatically pace requests to stay within limits

Duplicate records:

• AXEL tries to match existing records by name to avoid duplicates
• If you see duplicates, check for slight name differences (extra spaces, punctuation)
• Clean up duplicates in QuickBooks if needed

Xero Integration

Also supported! Xero integration works the same way as QuickBooks — simple connection process, automatic syncing, and the same data mapping. See our Xero integration guide for full details.

Remember: you can only connect one accounting system at a time, so choose the one that best fits your business needs.

Security

Your accounting data is sensitive. Here's how A.X.E.L protects the connection:

• OAuth 2.0 with PKCE — we never see your QuickBooks password. The connection uses industry-standard OAuth with Proof Key for Code Exchange (S256), the same security method used by banking apps
• Encrypted token storage — your access tokens are stored securely and refreshed automatically. Token refresh uses optimistic locking to prevent race conditions
• One-way sync — data only flows from A.X.E.L to QuickBooks. We never read, modify, or delete anything in your QuickBooks account
• Owner-only access — only the account owner can connect, disconnect, or manage integrations. Team members cannot access OAuth flows
• Clean disconnection — when you disconnect, we revoke all tokens at Intuit's servers and clean up sync records. No stale credentials left behind
• Duplicate prevention — A.X.E.L checks sync records and queries QuickBooks by name before creating entities, preventing duplicate customers and invoices
• State validation — every OAuth flow uses a cryptographically random state token with a 10-minute expiry to prevent CSRF attacks
• VAT-accurate tax handling — full TaxLine detail is sent to QuickBooks so your tax records are precise, not estimated

For more details, see our Integration Security article.

Tips for Best Results

• Clean up your AXEL data first — remove test customers and incomplete records before connecting
• Set up your QuickBooks chart of accounts — make sure you have appropriate expense categories
• Start with a small test — sync just a few records first to check everything looks right
• Enable auto-sync once you're happy — saves manual work going forward
• Check your QuickBooks regularly — especially in the first few weeks after connecting