Accounting Technology: the Right Balance with Automation
Technology is rapidly evolving. In the last two years, we’ve seen a huge rise in artificial intelligence (AI). When you search on Google now, many top results come from Google AI. People use ChatGPT and other AI tools to write emails, answer questions, and complete tasks.
AI is being integrated into call systems, scheduling, financial software, and more. One area where AI has made significant advancements is in financial or accounting software. Companies aim to make their systems smarter and reduce the user’s workload. QuickBooks is a perfect example.
So, is this good or bad? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t straightforward.
QuickBooks Automation: Benefits and Risks
Focusing on QuickBooks Online, one example is the auto-add rule in the bank feed section. This tool can be great—if set up correctly. The problem is that many users don’t know how to set it up properly or lack the time to do it right.
Here’s where issues start. Suppose someone creates an auto-add rule for Shell, the gas station. If a transaction comes through from “Shell City” or a seafood place with “Shell” in the name, QuickBooks might apply the same rule. The system doesn’t always distinguish between a fuel charge and a meal at a seafood restaurant.
Auto-add rules can be an excellent way to start automating bookkeeping and reduce manual data entry time. But it’s essential to set rules thoughtfully to avoid mistakes that cause more work later. For example, to categorize Shell transactions as gas, you need more than the vendor’s name. You can use the full vendor’s name as it appears in your bank feed, such as “Shell City” or “Shell Seafood.”
You can also limit rules to a dollar range that matches typical fuel purchases. QuickBooks offers a guide for creating and customizing bank rules. Even well-set rules require regular review to avoid misclassification.
Why is this important? Gas stations don’t only sell fuel—they often have convenience stores selling snacks, drinks, and more. If your rule is too broad, a soda or meal might be wrongly categorized as fuel.
This misclassification throws off financial reports and budgets. Including additional parameters, such as transaction amount and description keywords, makes automation smarter and more accurate.
We primarily work with clients in trades like HVAC, electrical, and general contracting. These businesses have complex needs and busy field teams. Many don’t rely on QuickBooks Online as their primary invoicing platform. Instead, most businesses use specialized CRMs, such as ServiceTitan, HouseCall Pro, Jobber, Buildertrend, or Knowify, to manage business operations, scheduling, and billing.
Because these platforms focus on field service rather than accounting, they integrate with QuickBooks Online to handle finances. They input key financial data, such as invoices, payments, and sometimes bank deposits, into QuickBooks. This bridges the gap between service operations and bookkeeping.
A common concern from business owners is that the integration doesn’t work. But in our experience, it’s rarely a software malfunction.
More often, it’s a lack of understanding about how the integration works behind the scenes. When set up correctly, these systems reduce manual entry and streamline workflows. Without a clear understanding, automation can become confusing and may lead to costly mistakes.
Auto-add rules in QuickBooks allow automatic categorization of transactions in the bank feed, saving time. But these can conflict with data pushed from external CRMs. For example, a payment processed in HouseCall Pro sent to QuickBooks as a payment will typically land in “Undeposited Funds” waiting to be matched to a bank deposit.
If QuickBooks has an auto-add rule that categorizes the same deposit as income automatically, the income is recorded twice—once from invoicing software integration and once from the auto-add bank rule. Duplicating income in this way is common but often goes unnoticed.
The issue isn’t faulty software but overlapping automations running independently. When setting up automation, consider where the data originates and whether the process is already being handled.
When Automation Becomes a Liability
QuickBooks offers many automation tools beyond bank rules, like auto-sending invoices, follow-up reminders, and financial reports. While these save time, problems may arise if your business uses third-party platforms for invoicing and payments.
If your main invoicing software is ServiceTitan, Jobber, or HouseCall Pro, you likely don’t want QuickBooks sending customer emails. Duplicate invoices or reminders confuse clients and reduce trust.
Another problem occurs when reminders or invoices are deleted or updated in the invoicing platform, but remain active in QuickBooks. Customers may receive payment requests for invoices that have already been voided or paid, resulting in incorrect and outdated information, as well as potential overpayments.
QuickBooks and others use AI and optical text recognition to extract data from uploaded bills and enter it automatically. This seems convenient—you forward vendor bills, and the system inputs them. However, this convenience has risks. AI doesn’t understand your internal cost tracking or business preferences for classifying expenses.
For instance, many contractors distinguish between installation costs and service expenses. Some allocate costs among materials, subcontracted labor, equipment rentals, or specific jobs. AI lacks context for these distinctions and often categorizes entries under generic categories, such as “Repairs and Maintenance” or “Cost of Goods Sold,” based on prior data.
Misclassification causes inaccurate reports, flawed job costing, and potential tax reporting issues. Businesses that need precise reports by department, service, or job face significant headaches in correcting these errors, sometimes requiring hours or a full financial rework.
Automation isn’t useless. Automated processes such as bill entry and AI tools can be helpful when combined with thoughtful review and customization.
The key is oversight. Don’t assume the system knows what you know. If multiple people upload or approve bills, someone must regularly verify expense coding.
Used thoughtfully, automation streamlines accounting and frees time for strategic work. But without proper oversight, it creates more problems than it solves. The main argument: Embrace automation as a tool for efficiency, but always pair it with careful review and understanding of your workflows. Each process—auto-add rule, reminder, integration, or AI bill entry—should be implemented with intention and monitored regularly.
In trades like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and general contracting, tracking margins is very important. Understanding your systems is key. Explore automation and AI tools, but don’t abandon them. Review automations weekly, monitor integrations closely, and never assume “automated” means “accurate.”
For ServiceTitan Users: Automation Risks
If you use ServiceTitan’s automation—like auto-batching or auto-exporting—these risks increase. Many companies we’ve worked with have faced serious accounting issues due to misconfigured auto-exporting. ServiceTitan sometimes pushes incomplete data or journal entries into QuickBooks Online, making customer-level tracking and reconciliation nearly impossible.
To protect your business from costly mistakes, learn how these tools work, where they can go wrong, and how to configure them properly. If you want to explore this further, check out our full blog post: Understanding ServiceTitan’s Auto-Batching and Auto-Exporting Features.
