Rippling QuickBooks Integration: How to Connect the Right Way

Rippling is an AI platform that promises to give your business “everything it needs to help run your company.” We know the power of this platform first-hand and its ability to connect finance, IT, HR and payroll into one neat package.

But integrating Rippling and QuickBooks can quickly go wrong due to:

• Configuration decisions
• Not fully understanding each platform’s strengths

When paired together the right way, you’ll supercharge your accounting and alleviate many of the manual tasks that cost you time and money.

How Rippling and QuickBooks Work Together

Rippling does a little bit of everything:

• HR: Automates benefits, recruiting, performance and more.
• IT: Manages access, devices and identity while enforcing security compliance.
• Finance: Controls your business’s corporate cards, expenses, bill pay, travel and even procurement.
• Payroll: Use Rippling for payroll if you have contractors and employees.

You can even create custom workflows and applications that are unique to your business inside of Rippling. When paired with QuickBooks, you can have many of the journal entries and data pushed from Rippling into QuickBooks, such as:

• Payroll entries
• Contractor payments
• Workforce cost data

You can sync multiple data points between Rippling and QuickBooks, including gross wages, employer taxes, benefits deductions, reimbursements and contractor payments.

But there is some data that will remain only in Rippling, such as HR information, time tracking data points, benefits administration details and others.

Since QuickBooks exists in two main forms: QuickBooks Online (QBO) and QuickBooks Desktop, it’s worth noting that the integration may vary between the two. Desktop integration often lags behind QBO, which means some functionality may not exist.

But when proper integration is leveraged within your company, it helps eliminate manual journal entries after payroll, reduces errors and also saves time at month-end close.

Taking the proper steps before connecting the two will help eliminate many of the issues companies face with their initial integration. Often, small steps are made that allow for accurate data flow between both platforms.

Before You Connect, Make Sure You Do This First

You’re eager to connect your most powerful tools – QuickBooks and Rippling – to power your business and automate integral tasks. If you avoid the common mistakes below, you can stop most of the issues in your integration before they pop up:

• Clean chart of accounts in QuickBooks: Payroll data needs to land in the right place. If your chart of accounts is “messy,” your data may end up in the wrong places, which is not ideal for integration.
• Defined payroll cost categories: Categorization is key to keeping your payroll costs accurate. What we recommend is that you break out wages, taxes, benefits and reimbursements in your books
• Rippling payroll fully configured and tested: Run at least one payroll cycle in Rippling first before you plan the integration. Testing will save a lot of problems in the future.
• Clarify your department/class structure: If you use class tracking or location tracking in QuickBooks, you need to map those to Rippling’s teams or departments before connecting.
• Decide who owns the integration: Don’t “set-it-and-forget-it.” Someone needs to be accountable for monitoring post-integrations to verify data accuracy.

Armed with the common issues that we see when businesses work on their Rippling QuickBooks integrations, you can now move to the actual step-by-step integration process.

How to Set Up the Integration and Make the Right Configuration Decisions

Step 1: Connect the Apps

Head to the App Shop in Rippling and search for QuickBooks Online. Click “Install” and authenticate your QBO credentials. 

Rippling will request access to your QBO account. Make sure you review the permissions carefully before approving.

Step 2: Map Your Pay Types

Here’s where the real configuration work comes into play. You will be asked to map each pay type to a corresponding account in QuickBooks.

Be sure to work through each one carefully.

Here’s an example map:

• Regular wages → Salaries expense account
• Overtime → Separate overtime expense account
• Employer payroll taxes → Payroll tax expense account
• Employee benefits → Benefits expense account
• Reimbursements → Clearing account
• Contractor payments → Contractor services expense

Take your time with this step. Improperly configured mappings will create problems that compound with each payroll run.

Step 3: Configure Class or Department Mapping

If you use class tracking in QBO, map your Rippling departments or teams to their corresponding classes. 

Step 4: Choose Your Journal Entry Format

Rippling allows you to choose between two types of journal entries:

• Lump-sum (one line per account)
• Itemized (one line per employee or pay type)

Make your decision carefully. 

Step 5: Run a Test Sync 

Before your next live payroll, take the time to run a test sync and review the journal entry in QBO. 

Make sure that:

• Every dollar is landing in the right account
• The total matches your Rippling payroll register
• Department or class tags are appearing correctly (if applicable)

A test sync will give you the opportunity to fix any mismatches now before your next live payroll. 

When to Get Help with Your Integration

Integrating QuickBooks and Rippling seems like a straightforward task. But it’s easy to overlook important steps or make mistakes along the way if this is your first time integrating these two tools.

Your DIY setup may not be working for you if:

• Accounts are misclassified or unclassified.
• You’ve had to manually correct entries more than once. 
• Your payroll summaries in Rippling don’t match your bank register or general ledger in QuickBooks.

For many small businesses, a professional setup is a smart investment. A proper implementation will include a review of your QuickBooks setup, intentional decisions about configuration choices and testing before going live. 

Getting it right from the start is less time- and resource-intensive than cleaning it up later. 

If you’re unsure whether your current setup is configured properly or you want help with a fresh integration, schedule a consultation today. 

We can also help you select the right platforms for your business (for example, should you choose Gusto vs Rippling?).