Ways to Set Up Your Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online
- Basic: Accounts Only
The simplest setup is using accounts only. Each transaction posts to a specific general ledger (GL) account without any additional categorization.
- Example: Payroll taxes might go to a single "Payroll Tax Expense" account without breaking it down further.
- Using Classes and/or Locations
QBO allows you to categorize transactions further using Classes and Locations, which act as tags for additional reporting insights.- Classes track different departments, job types, or business segments.
- Locations track different offices, stores, or geographic regions.
- Example: If you want to see payroll expenses by department, you can assign wages for the Marketing team to one class and wages for Engineering to another.
- Using Projects
The Projects feature in QBO is designed for businesses that need to track income and expenses tied to specific jobs or initiatives.
- Example: A construction company might track payroll expenses per project to see total labor costs.
How GoCo Helps with Payroll Account Mapping
Currently, GoCo does not yet support direct mapping to Classes, Locations, or Projects in QBO. However, we may offer this in the future! In the meantime, our Split Accounts feature makes it easy to track payroll data in a way that aligns with your QuickBooks setup.
What is GoCo’s Split Accounts Feature?
The Split Accounts feature lets you divide payroll expenses across multiple accounts, helping you track costs more accurately.
Example: Let’s say you want to track how much each department pays for Social Security taxes. Instead of posting all Social Security taxes to one account, you can split them by department:
- Marketing Department → Payroll Tax Expense - Marketing
- Engineering Department → Payroll Tax Expense - Engineering
This ensures that when you export payroll data to QBO, it’s already structured for easy tagging or further breakdown within QBO’s system.
Next Steps
- If you only use accounts in QBO, GoCo’s Split Accounts feature may not be necessary.
- If you use Classes, Locations, or Projects, GoCo’s Split Accounts feature should provide everything you need, allowing you to easily tag transactions in QBO after importing your payroll data from GoCo.
- Stay tuned for future updates as we enhance our QBO integration!
Need more help? Check out our other guides or reach out to GoCo support. 💚