Overview
The Simpli Management + QuickBooks Online integration is built specifically for landlords and real estate investors who want clean books without double-entering every invoice, payment, and loan transaction.
This guide walks you through how to connect QuickBooks Online to your Simpli Management account, map the right accounts, and understand what data flows between the two systems.
- See what the QuickBooks integration does—and what it doesn’t.
- Review prerequisites so your connection goes smoothly.
- Follow step-by-step instructions to connect QuickBooks Online.
- Learn how to map buildings, income, expenses, and loans to your chart of accounts.
- Get best practices for keeping your rent roll and financial statements in sync.
What the QuickBooks Integration Does
At a high level, Simpli Management becomes your operations and rent platform, while QuickBooks Online remains your general ledger. The integration keeps the two in lockstep.
Data that flows from Simpli → QuickBooks Online
- Rent and fee invoices: Monthly rent, application fees, additional charges, and credits.
- Tenant payments: Payments collected through Simpli (ACH or card) and applied to invoices.
- Loan-related entries: Principal and interest activity when you track loans on buildings.
- Selected adjustments and journal entries: Where applicable for clean financial statements.
What stays in QuickBooks Online
- Your full chart of accounts: Assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expense accounts.
- Bank and credit card feeds: Day-to-day bookkeeping workflows handled by your bookkeeper or accountant.
- Financial statements & tax workflows: P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and year-end reporting.
Who This Integration Is For
The QuickBooks Online integration is ideal if you:
- Manage small to mid-sized portfolios (from a handful of units up into the hundreds).
- Need clear separation between property operations and accounting, but don’t want to double-enter data.
- Work with a bookkeeper or CPA who prefers to stay in QuickBooks Online.
- Want reliable, GAAP-friendly records for lenders, partners, and investors.
Before You Begin: Prerequisites
A bit of setup work upfront will make your integration smoother and your reports cleaner.
1. QuickBooks Online company ready
- An active QuickBooks Online subscription.
- Admin access to the company you plan to connect.
2. Basic chart of accounts structure
At minimum, you’ll want:
- Income accounts for rent, CAM, parking, and other charges.
- Expense accounts for repairs, management fees, utilities, etc.
- Liability accounts for security deposits or unearned revenue (if you track them).
- Bank accounts that match how money actually flows in and out.
3. Simpli Management company & buildings set up
- Your company profile created in Simpli Management.
- At least one building configured, with units and leases if possible.
If you’d like help reviewing your chart of accounts structure before connecting, schedule a QuickBooks integration walkthrough.
Step 1: Connect QuickBooks Online to Simpli Management
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Navigate to the QuickBooks settings page in Simpli.
From the main navigation, go to User > Company > Create Account Connection (or the “Connect QuickBooks” button in your dashboard). -
Click “Connect to QuickBooks.”
This opens Intuit’s secure connection window in a new tab or popup. -
Sign in with your Intuit credentials.
Choose the QuickBooks Online company you want to link to Simpli Management. -
Review and approve permissions.
Intuit will show what data Simpli can read and write (invoices, payments, accounts, etc.). Click Connect to authorize. -
Wait for the initial handshake.
You’ll be redirected back to Simpli once the connection is complete. You should see a status indicator that your QuickBooks Online company is now linked.
Once connected, Simpli can see your QuickBooks chart of accounts and other metadata—this is what you’ll use in the next step when mapping buildings and income/expense categories.
Step 2: Map Your Buildings & Accounts
Mapping tells Simpli which QuickBooks accounts to use when it pushes rent, fees, and loan activity to your general ledger.
A. Company-level mappings
Start at the company level to set the defaults Simpli will use across all buildings:
- Accounts Receivable: Which A/R account should tenant invoices and payments hit?
- Default bank / cash account: Where should rental income deposits land by default?
- Unearned revenue / prepayments (optional): If you want pre-paid rent to go to a liability account first.
B. Building-level mappings
For each building in Simpli Management, choose how it maps into QuickBooks:
- Building asset account: Choose the fixed asset (or sub-account) that represents this property.
- Income accounts: Map rent, CAM, late fees, parking, and other income types to the correct income accounts.
- Expense accounts: Map repairs, utilities, management fees, and other common expenses.
- Loan / mortgage accounts (if applicable): Map principal and interest to the appropriate liability and expense accounts.
C. Save & test
After mapping, save your changes and run a test using a single sample entry to confirm entries land where you expect in QuickBooks Online.
Step 3: Sync Rent, Expenses & Loans
Once your mapping is in place, Simpli can start pushing accounting entries to QuickBooks Online.
Rent & fee invoices
- When Simpli generates a rent invoice, it creates a matching invoice in QuickBooks in your mapped A/R account.
- Line items are coded to the appropriate income accounts (rent, CAM, parking, etc.).
Tenant payments
- When tenants pay through Simpli, the payment is applied to the open invoice.
- Simpli posts a payment record in QuickBooks, reflecting the mapped bank/cash account.
Loans & debt service
- Loan payments tracked in Simpli can be split into principal (liability reduction) and interest (expense).
- These entries sync to your mapped loan liability account and interest expense account in QuickBooks.
Best Practices for Clean Books
- Decide “source of truth” per workflow. Use Simpli as the source of truth for rent and leases, and QuickBooks as the source of truth for the GL and financial statements.
- Avoid editing synced invoices directly in QuickBooks. When possible, edit in Simpli so changes flow downstream.
- Use consistent naming. Align building names, tenant names, and income categories between Simpli and QuickBooks to simplify reconciliation.
- Review a monthly sync report. At month-end, compare your rent roll in Simpli to your income in QuickBooks to catch any anomalies early.
- Loop in your accountant. Share your mapping choices and workflow with your CPA so everyone is on the same page.
Troubleshooting & Common Issues
1. I don’t see my QuickBooks accounts in Simpli
Verify the QuickBooks connection status on the integration page. If needed, click Reconnect to QuickBooks and re-authorize access. Make sure you’re connecting the correct QuickBooks company.
2. A sync failed for a specific invoice or payment
Simpli will show an error message if a required mapping is missing or if QuickBooks rejected the entry. Common fixes:
- Confirm that the mapped income, expense, or bank account still exists and is active in QuickBooks.
- Check that Accounts Receivable is mapped and hasn’t been merged or deleted.
- Retry the sync from the integration activity view after fixing the mapping.
3. My accountant sees duplicate invoices
Make sure you’re not manually creating rent invoices in QuickBooks in addition to those synced from Simpli. Decide which system owns rent invoicing (we recommend Simpli) and stick to that workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get Started with Simpli Management + QuickBooks Online
When your rent roll, leases, and work orders live in Simpli—and your financial statements stay in QuickBooks—you get the best of both worlds: clean, investor-ready books without manual data entry.
Whether you’re managing a single building or a growing multi-market portfolio, the integration is built to scale with you.
