Using QuickBooks

Practical guide for working with QuickBooks invoices, reports, customers, and financial data through Fp Switchboard.

Quick Tips

• “Net Revenue” in reports = “Net Income” in standard accounting terminology
• Invoice line items reference Items, not Accounts directly
• Customer DisplayName must be unique — duplicates cause creation failures
• All dates must be ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD)
• One token per app per company — org members share the same connection automatically

Common Gotchas

Net Revenue vs Net Income Critical

QuickBooks reports show “Net Revenue” which equals “Net Income” in standard accounting.

	Example
Wrong	User asks for “net income” — searching for that term fails
Correct	Look for “Net Revenue” in Profit and Loss reports

Invoice Line Items Use Items Critical

Invoice lines must reference Item objects, not Account objects directly.

	Example
Wrong	{"Line": [{"AccountRef": {"value": "123"}}]}
Correct	{"Line": [{"SalesItemLineDetail": {"ItemRef": {"value": "1", "name": "Services"}}}]}

Unique DisplayName Required Important

Customer/Vendor DisplayName must be unique across all customers. Query customers first or append a unique identifier.

Error: Duplicate Name Exists Error

ISO 8601 Date Format Only Important

	Example
Wrong	"TxnDate": "12/15/2024"
Correct	"TxnDate": "2024-12-15"

One Token Per Company (Org Shared) Important

Intuit enforces one OAuth token per app per QuickBooks company. Fp Switchboard stores QuickBooks credentials at the organization level — when one member connects, all org members can use that connection.

Multi-Step Patterns

Create Invoice

1. Look up or create Customer (DisplayName must be unique)
2. Look up Item for each line item (or create if needed)
3. Create Invoice with CustomerRef and Line items with ItemRef

Run Financial Report

1. Determine report type (ProfitAndLoss, BalanceSheet, etc.)
2. Set date range with start_date and end_date
3. Parse response — look for “Net Revenue” not “Net Income”

ID Format Reference

ID Type	Format	Example
Entity ID	Numeric string	"123"
Realm ID	Numeric string	1234567890

Example Prompts

• “Show me the P&L for last quarter”
• “Create an invoice for Acme Corp for consulting services”
• “List all unpaid invoices”
• “What’s our current balance sheet?”
• “Find customer by name: Tech Solutions Inc”

Rate Limits

Limit	Value
Requests per minute	500
Concurrent connections	10
Token refresh	Automatic (hourly expiry)