Accounting Problems with Jobber Payments

Ugh, that reminds me that I also have a bunch of those to fix.  

Why did they choose to sync net instead of gross?

A handful of conveniences, probably: existing hardcoded references, matching what users see in their bank deposits, and avoiding the extra work to handle partial payments, refunds, and other edge cases. Basically, it was the shortest line between points A and B. If they saved money or reduced friction by going with net instead of gross, that’s an obvious business decision for most companies. This is also why it won’t change; the decision was made deliberately a long time ago.

The fact that QuickBooks Sync is a tool specifically designed to send a transaction amount to a system that has expected the gross amount since people started trading beads and bobbles makes this nearly impossible to fathom or accept. Outside of a black and white business expense decision, it simply isn’t understandable.

However, there is a solution that eliminates the headache: use something like Zapier to deal with it automatically. After working it out just now, I think this is what I will do.

Workflow:

1. Send invoice from Jobber
2. Client pays via Jobber Payments
3. Jobber syncs invoice and net payment to QuickBooks Online
4. Zapier monitors QBO for new payments
5. Zapier fetches gross payment from Jobber
6. Zapier updates QBO and the invoice now clears correctly.

Optional: handle fees separately.

Pros:

• Invoice in QBO is cleared with the correct gross amount.
• Jobber remains the operational hub.
• The net vs gross problem is fixed automatically without manual reconciliation.
• You stop getting ALL CAPS texts from your bookkeeper.

Cons:

• The time to set it up: Like all automation, there's effort upfront, but the payoff far outweighs it.
• The frustration of having to do it in the first place: To borrow a line from the Italian philosopher, Rambo, John J.: "Let it go."