When Member365 is connected to QuickBooks Online (QBO), creating an invoice or recording a payment or refund can affect your accounting records. Review your customer names, general ledger accounts and invoice correction process with your bookkeeper before connecting, and whenever your billing setup changes.

This article explains the accounting considerations for the integration. Your bookkeeper or accountant should confirm the accounts, tax treatment and revenue recognition timing that apply to your organization.

Before You Begin

Have the following available:

• Administrator access to Member365 financial settings
• Access to your organization’s QuickBooks Online account
• Your QuickBooks Chart of Accounts
• Your fiscal year and membership renewal dates
• Your bookkeeper or accountant’s guidance on account mapping, taxes, and revenue recognition

1. Make Sure Company Names Match

Compare company names in Member365 with the customer names used for invoicing in QBO. Names must match exactly, including spelling, spaces and punctuation. A difference can create a duplicate customer instead of matching the existing record.

Compare against the QBO customer record, even if the organization also has a separate vendor record. Resolve differences with your bookkeeper before syncing transactions.

2. Review Your General Ledger Accounts

A general ledger (GL) account determines where a charge is recorded in your books. Review the account names and numbers in Member365 alongside your QBO chart of accounts, then confirm that each charge maps to the intended QBO account.

• Review both new membership fees and renewal fees. Separate ledgers can make these charges easier to track and map.
• Confirm which charges belong in revenue and which need a deferred revenue account.
• Check the actual mapping as well as the account labels. Matching labels alone does not confirm the destination account.

The QBO reference number shown for an invoice identifies the QBO invoice. It is not a GL account number.

3. Understand How Unpaid Invoices Affect Your Books

An invoice records what a customer owes. A payment records that money has been received. A synced invoice can therefore create an accounts receivable balance and record a charge and applicable tax before the customer pays.

For Canadian GST/HST registrants, tax charged on an invoice generally belongs in the reporting period that includes the invoice date, even if payment has not arrived. Your reporting period may be monthly, quarterly or annual. Ask your bookkeeper to confirm the rules that apply to your organization. [1]

An unpaid invoice may already have affected a tax return. Correcting it needs to address both the original charge and the related tax.

4. Use the Correct Process to Correct a Synced Invoice

If an invoice has already synced to QBO, use the payment and refund correction process rather than simply voiding it in Member365. For example, a renewal invoice may need to be replaced because the member was billed for the wrong membership category.

Before making the correction, confirm the payment type and refund method with your bookkeeper and Member365 Support. If no money was received, this is an accounting correction: the process must not charge the customer or send them an actual refund.

1. Record a payment against the original invoice using the payment type agreed upon with your bookkeeper.
2. Refund that recorded payment using the agreed correction method so the original charge and applicable tax can be reversed in QBO.
3. Add an invoice note explaining why the correction was made. If no money moved, state that no payment was received and no funds were returned.
4. Create a replacement invoice with the correct membership category and charges, if the customer still owes an amount.
5. Have your bookkeeper verify the original invoice, payment, refund, related tax and replacement invoice in QBO. Confirm that the customer balance is correct.

Example invoice note: “Original invoice corrected because the wrong membership category was selected. Payment and refund entries were recorded for accounting correction only. No funds were received or returned. Replacement invoice: [invoice number].”

A correction in Member365 does not by itself confirm that the tax adjustment has been included correctly in a return. Your bookkeeper should verify the supporting records and reporting period. CRA guidance describes the documentation required for GST/HST adjustments, refunds and credits. [2]

5. Review Fees Billed for a Future Membership Period

Money received today may relate to a future membership period. Revenue is income earned for the applicable period. Deferred revenue represents amounts billed or collected for services or membership benefits that have not yet been earned.

Example: Your fiscal and membership years begin January 1, and you issue next year’s renewal invoices from October through December. Your bookkeeper may direct you to map those fees to deferred revenue during that billing period, then change the mapping for new invoices when the new year begins.

• Confirm the relevant fiscal year, membership dates and account with your bookkeeper. The January example will not apply to every organization.
• Review new membership fees as well as renewal fees if either can cover a future period.
• Assign someone to make mapping changes on the agreed dates and verify the next transactions in QBO.

Changing a GL mapping affects new transactions. It does not move earlier invoices into a different account. Your bookkeeper must separately transfer previously deferred amounts into revenue in QBO according to your organization’s revenue recognition policy.

Deferring revenue does not automatically defer the GST/HST obligation. Review tax timing separately with your bookkeeper.

Key Notes

• Customer names match exactly, and GL account names, numbers and mappings have been reviewed.
• Future membership fees have an agreed account and revenue recognition schedule.
• Staff understand the correction process for synced invoices, including corrections where no money moved.
• Representative invoices, payments and refunds have been checked in QBO for the correct customer, account, tax and balance.
• Your team understands that a $0 event invoice can also create a $0 invoice in QBO. Confirm the current behaviour with Member365 Support if this affects your workflow.

If an invoice has already been voided, a customer was duplicated or a charge went to the wrong account, contact Member365 Support with the invoice references and a description of the issue. Involve your bookkeeper before making further corrections, particularly for a period already reported or closed.

Related Articles

• Connect Member365 to QuickBooks Online
• How Credit Card Purchases Sync to QuickBooks
• How to Process Refunds and Sync Them to QuickBooks