Additional QuickBooks Settings for Pushing Billable Expenses from Buildwise

A billable expense is a cost you charge back to your client. You add it to their invoice so they pay for it. If you push billable expenses from Buildwise to QuickBooks, you need a few extra QuickBooks settings in place. This guide walks through them so each billable expense shows two ways at once: as a cost you paid, and as income from your client.

One thing to know first. Your Chart of Accounts is the list of accounts QuickBooks uses to track your money. There are several account types. For this setup you only care about two: Cost of Goods (COG) accounts, which hold your costs, and Income accounts, which hold your income.

Step 1: Turn on separate income tracking

First, tell QuickBooks to track billable expense income across more than one account. Here is where to find that setting:

1. Click the Gear icon in the top right, then choose Account and settings.
2. Open the Expenses tab.
3. In the Bills and expenses section, find Track billable expenses and items as income and turn it on.
4. Choose In multiple accounts.
5. Click Save, then Done.

With this on, each COG account you bill from has to be linked to its own income account. If it is not linked, that expense will not sync from Buildwise. Step 2 shows how to link them.

Step 2: Link each COG account to an income account

Do this for every COG account you use on billable expenses.

1. Click the Gear icon in the top right, then choose Chart of Accounts.
2. Find the COG account you want to set up and edit it.
3. Check the box for Use for billable expenses.
4. Pick the income account to link it to, like "Billable Expense Income."
5. Click Save.
6. Repeat for each COG account you bill from.

Don't see the "Use for billable expenses" box? Switch QuickBooks from Accountant View to Business View. Click the Gear icon in the top right to switch, then edit the account again.

Step 3: Sync from Buildwise

Once each COG account is linked, go back to Buildwise and sync the expense. It will show in QuickBooks as both a cost and income.

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