Can you trust the numbers in QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is cloud-based accounting software for businesses of all types. Its own help pages give 3 reasons its numbers can look different from what you expect. The first to rule out: A cash basis report can show lower income than an accrual one, because, as QuickBooks' help pages say, unpaid invoices and bills are not counted yet.
Is it broken, or just counted differently?
A number can look wrong because the business changed, or because of how QuickBooks counts it. Below is what QuickBooks keeps, where its help pages say the numbers can differ, and how to check them yourself.
What does QuickBooks keep track of?
QuickBooks keeps financial reports that sum up how the business is doing, such as income and expenses.
In QuickBooks's own words:
Financial reports provide a quick overview of your business performance to help you make informed decisions.
Run reports in QuickBooks Online, read 2026-11-12.An account total in a QuickBooks report is only as complete as the transactions assigned to that account in the dates chosen.
In QuickBooks's own words:
The totals for each account are a summary of all the transactions you assigned to the account in that date range.
Run reports in QuickBooks Online, read 2026-11-12.
What can make QuickBooks's numbers look wrong?
A cash basis report can show lower income than an accrual one, because, as QuickBooks' help pages say, unpaid invoices and bills are not counted yet.
In QuickBooks's own words:
This report counts income or expenses only once you get a payment or pay a bill.
Choose between cash and accrual accounting methods in QuickBooks Online, read 2026-11-12.Two people can open the same report and see different numbers if one is set to cash and the other to accrual, as QuickBooks' help pages explain.
In QuickBooks's own words:
The accountant's reports are displaying in a different Basis than that of the client.
How the same reports might show different data, read 2026-11-12.An aging report and a balance sheet for the same period can disagree when the aging report is showing today's date, as QuickBooks' help pages say.
In QuickBooks's own words:
If they don’t, it’s usually because the aging report defaults to current.
Match your aging reports, read 2026-11-12.
How do I check QuickBooks's numbers myself?
Before trusting a gap between two reports, an owner can set both to the same dates.
In QuickBooks's own words:
Make sure the date range on the reports matches.
Match your aging reports, read 2026-11-12.An owner can export a QuickBooks report to a spreadsheet and add up the lines by hand.
In QuickBooks's own words:
And you can export them to Excel if you want to use your reports outside of QuickBooks.
Export reports to Excel, read 2026-11-12.
How does QuickBooks work with Feder?
Connect QuickBooks to Feder and it joins your Money apps. Feder only reads. It never changes anything in QuickBooks.
When you connect QuickBooks, Feder checks the connection straight away and shows Connected only when that check passes. If a reading cannot be taken later, Feder shows it as not read, never as zero.
Other apps that feed Money
- Striperevenue
- PayPalrevenue
- WooCommercerevenue
- Rechargesubscription revenue
- Zohoinvoiced
- Wave Accountinginvoiced
Where do these answers come from?
Everything this page says about QuickBooks comes from QuickBooks's own pages, quoted above with the date we read them. Last reviewed 2026-11-12. We read them again by 2027-11-12. If one changes, this page changes or comes down.
Know the day a number breaks, not the month after.
Some numbers are too quiet to judge daily, such as a form filled in a few times a week. Until there is enough of your own history to judge a change, Feder says it is still learning and scores nothing, rather than guessing.