This article walks you through connecting Boatyard to QuickBooks Online and mapping your accounts, so purchase orders, invoices, retail sales, and payments sync correctly.
Before You Get Started
Account mapping is the part of setup that trips people up most, mainly because it asks for information that your bookkeeper or accountant usually manages, not you.
Before you begin, gather the following from them (or from your own QuickBooks Chart of Accounts if you manage it yourself).
You will need:
Boatyard Setting | QuickBooks Account Type | QuickBooks Account Detail Type | What it's used for |
Parts Purchase Account | Cost of Goods Sold | - | The account where parts costs post when parts are purchased. |
Parts Purchase Tax Type | - | - | Sets tax status (taxable or exempt) for parts on purchase orders. |
Parts Sales Account | Income | Sale of Product Income | The income account where part prices post when parts are on an invoice or retail sale. |
Parts Cost of Goods Account | Cost of Goods Sold | - | The account where the cost of a part posts when it's sold. |
Labor Sales Account | Income | Sale of Product Income | The income account where labor charges post on invoices. |
Service Sales Account | Income | Sale of Product Income | The income account for flat rate services (services with no parts or labor attached). |
Shipping Fee Account | Income | Sale of Product Income | Where shipping fees on purchase orders post. |
Accounts Payable Account | Accounts Payable | - | Defines the payable account for purchase orders. |
Refund Account | Other Current Asset. Also accepts Current Asset for CAN accounts |
| Used when refunds are processed in Boatyard. |
Deposits Liability Account | Other Current Liability | Deferred Revenue | Liability account that holds the deposits until they are applied to an invoice. |
Miscellaneous Fees Account | Income | Sale of Product Income | The income account for any miscellaneous fees that you use in Boatyard. |
If you use QuickBooks Classes, also gather:
Classes are optional and you only need to set thse if you already use them in QuickBooks.
A class to apply at the global or location level (optional, one class can cover everything Boatyard sends to QuickBooks)
A class for each labor type, if you want different labor types tracked separately (optional)
A class for each service, if you want different services tracked separately (optional)
Optional, only if you want overrides:
Specific purchase, cost of goods, or class settings for individual parts (otherwise they use your global settings)
Specific income account or class settings for individual services (otherwise they use your global settings)
Having this list in hand before you start means you won't need to stop mid-setup to track someone down.
Don't see your income account in the dropdown?
Boatyard only shows QuickBooks accounts with the account type Sale of Product Income for the income sales fields. If an account you expect to see is missing, it's usually because that account is set up in QuickBooks under a different type (for example, "Service/Fee Income").
To fix this, ask your bookkeeper or accountant to change the account type to Sale of Product Income in QuickBooks (under Chart of Accounts), or set up a new account with that type. Once it's set correctly in QuickBooks, it will appear in the Boatyard dropdown.
Step 1: Connect Your QuickBooks Account
1. Click your initials in the top right corner and select Settings.
2. Go to the Integrations tab.
3. Click Connect with QuickBooks.
4. Choose whether you want to import your existing customer list from QuickBooks. Uncheck this option if you don't want to import it.
5. Click Connect. You'll be redirected to QuickBooks.
6. Log in to QuickBooks and click Connect again to confirm.
7. You'll be redirected back to Boatyard. Your QuickBooks account is now connected.
You'll land on the new Account Settings page. All fields will initially appear grayed out. Refresh the page to activate them before continuing.
Step 2: Set Up Your Global Account Settings
These settings apply across your account by default. You can override individual parts or services later in Step 4.
Parts Purchase account: Select the cost of goods account for parts purchased on a purchase order, or keep the default BY Parts Clearing account. Click here for more information about how Boatyard handles cost of goods sold.
Parts tax setting: Select whether parts on purchase orders are taxable or tax exempt.
Parts Sales account: Select your income account for part sales (Must be Sale of Product Income type).
Parts Cost of Goods account: Select the account where part costs post when sold. Click here for more information about how Boatyard handles cost of goods sold.
Labor Sales account: Select your income account for labor charges (Must be Sale of Product Income type).
Service Sales account: Select your income account for flat rate services (Must be Sale of Product Income type).
Shipping Fee account: Select the account for shipping fees on purchase orders.
Accounts Payable account: Select your accounts payable account.
Refund account: Select the account refunds should post to.
Deposits Liability Account: Select where you want to hold deposits until you send the final invoice. Click here for more information about how Boatyard handles deposits.
QuickBooks Class (optional): Select a class to apply to everything Boatyard sends to QuickBooks. This is set per location, so each location can use a different class.
Click Save.
Your global settings are now complete.
Step 3: Set Up Labor Types, Misc Charges, and Sales Tax Mapping
This step happens in the Taxes and Fees tab.
Go to the Taxes and Fees tab.
For each labor type in Boatyard, click to edit it and select its income account (and class, if used). This lets different labor types post to different accounts on the same invoice.
Set the income account for Miscellaneous Charges.
Scroll to the Sales Tax section. For each sales tax rate you have set up in Boatyard, select the matching QuickBooks sales tax code. Click here for more information about setting up sales tax rates in Boatyard.
Click Save.
Step 4: Set Account Overrides for Individual Parts or Services (Optional)
Skip this step if your global settings cover everything. Use it only if specific parts or services need to post to different accounts.
For a part:
Go to the part's detail page.
Open the Accounting Settings section.
Set a different purchase account, cost of goods account, or class for that part.
For a service:
Open the service.
Select a different income account and/or class for that service.
Any part or service without an override will continue to use your global settings.
What Happens Next
Once setup is complete, purchase orders, invoices, retail sales, and payments processed in Boatyard will sync automatically to QuickBooks Online.
Learn more about how this QuickBooks integration works here: