Automation in accounting? A game changer! Imagine that invoice processing costs fall from $40 at $1.42 each. That's why accounting automation is among the hottest trends today.
QuickBooks Online is an accounting powerhouse, but combine it with the automation magic of Zapier and you've got an unstoppable duo. You can connect QuickBooks with over 5,000 apps, no code required. Create an invoice from a form submission on your site? Check. Notify your team via Slack when an invoice is posted? Made.
Many more workflow automations are possible when you combine QuickBooks Online, Zapier, and ai-powered OCR tools like Nanonets. The possibilities are endless once you set up triggers and events, and data flows seamlessly between different platforms.
Five Workflow Ideas to Automate Accounting with Zapier and QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online offers a decent amount of automation capabilities within its platform, but its true power in automating accounting workflows comes to light when it integrates with Zapier and Nanonets. This trio unlocks a new world of possibilities, transforming your accounting workflows into a highly automated, efficient and error-free system.
Here are some workflow ideas to help you get started:
Invoice processing
Processing invoices manually can be time-consuming and susceptible to errors. By automating invoice processing with Zapier, QuickBooks Online, and Nanonets OCR, you can streamline the process, save time, and improve accuracy.
The workflow starts with a trigger in Zapier that detects when a new invoice is received. Monitor sources like email, Dropbox, or form submissions. The invoice data is then sent to Nanonets, which uses ai-powered optical character recognition to accurately extract relevant information from the invoice. You can configure validation rules and an approval routing hierarchy to ensure that the invoice can be processed with minimal manual intervention. After that, you can set up another Zapier trigger to automatically create a new invoice in QuickBooks Online, populating it with the extracted data. You can then continue for further processing and payment.
Automating workflow can improve efficiency, ensure accurate data entry, and simplify the invoice approval and payment process. This leads to faster invoice processing, better supplier relationships, and better financial management.
Expense reports
Simplify and streamline your expense reporting process by automating expense collection, categorization, and submission. With automated workflows, you can save time, improve accuracy, and improve expense management.
Set up a trigger in Zapier to detect new expenses, whether it's a receipt submission, a form submission, or any other source. Automate the expense data capture and validation process with Nanonets OCR. Then, send the extracted information directly to QuickBooks Online. This will allow you to automatically create a new expense entry, categorize it, and assign it to the appropriate account. You can also set up an automatic refund process if the employee needs a refund.
This will speed up the expense reporting process and ensure that each expense is accurately recorded, validated and reimbursed.
Three-way pairing
Triple matching is an essential process in accounting that verifies the purchase order, receipt, and invoice before paying an invoice. Automating this process can help reduce errors, prevent fraud, and streamline payments.
Configure Zapier to automatically extract documents from various sources, such as emails, scanned documents, digital files/images, cloud storage, and ERP, and send them to Nanonets. Then classify and organize these documents appropriately such as invoices, purchase orders and receipts.
The system then accurately reads and captures data from invoices, purchase orders, and receipts. Reconcile fields, expenses, balances, and SKU-level information on related invoices, purchase orders, and receipts, ensuring they match. Any discrepancies that violate tolerance levels are flagged and invoices that pass the three-way comparison are sent for further approval. QuickBooks Online can generate a payment for matching and approved invoices.
Supplier incorporation
Onboarding suppliers can be time-consuming, as information must be collected and validated from tax forms, export forms, and other documents.
To streamline the supplier onboarding process, you can upload supplier documents, such as tax forms or contracts, to Nanonets. Nanonets offers ai-powered document processing capabilities that automatically extract important supplier information such as name, address, tax ID, and contact details.
The information can then be used to quickly create supplier profiles in QuickBooks, easily update SKU-level details, and match GL codes. This process ensures that supplier information is centralized, accurate and validated, and that transactions are properly tagged and tracked for future reference.
Inventory management
Inventory management involves tracking and managing stock levels, generating sales orders, and initiating purchase orders. Automating it can save time, increase accuracy, make accurate forecasts and help maintain proper stock levels.
When a new sales order is placed on your WebFlow website form, Zapier can be configured to detect it and trigger an automatic process. The order details are sent to Nanonets, which accurately extracts relevant data such as product details, quantity and customer information. This data can then be compared to existing inventory details in QuickBooks Online. Set up Zaps to create a new sales order in QuickBooks Online with the extracted data. If the order quantity exceeds the current stock level, a purchase order for replenishment can also be automatically generated.
Tracking inventory in real time through this automation helps minimize the possibility of overstocking or understocking. This, in turn, leads to faster order processing and greater customer satisfaction.
Final thoughts
The Zapier and QuickBooks integration streamlines accounting workflows by providing an efficient and seamless automation solution. Businesses can efficiently perform invoice processing, expense reporting, three-way comparison, supplier onboarding, and inventory management. This saves valuable time, reduces errors, and improves overall efficiency and accuracy in financial management.
With the addition of ai-powered OCR from Nanonets, data extraction and validation can become even more robust, ensuring seamless synchronization with QuickBooks. This powerful combination allows companies to take control of their accounting processes, improve employee morale, reduce compliance risks, and achieve audit readiness. It will enable businesses to unlock new levels of productivity and drive success in today's fast-paced and competitive landscape. Start automating your accounting processes today and experience the transformative impact of workflow automation.
