Mastering Project Tracking in QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online’s Projects feature can help you track your job-related costs and income, giving you a clearer picture of each project’s profitability and helping you decide on future work. Available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced, Projects is a must for businesses looking to streamline project accounting. Here’s how to get started!

Setting Up Projects

Before creating your first project, make sure the feature is enabled.

1. Click the gear icon > Account and settings.

2. Under Advanced, scroll to Projects, switch it on if needed, and click Save.

With Projects active, you can assign expenses, sales, and even time entries to specific projects, helping you keep tabs on profitability at every stage.

1. Creating Your First Project

To create a project record:

1. Click Projects in the left toolbar.

2. Select New project in the upper right.

3. Enter the Customer and Project name, and add optional details like Start/End dates, Status, and Notes.

Your project’s name will appear under the associated customer on transaction screens, making it easy to tag income and expenses.

2. Assigning Transactions to a Project

Once your project is set up, you can assign seven transaction types to it: Invoices, Payments, Expenses, Estimates, Time, Bills, and Purchase Orders. Depending on the transaction type, you’ll assign the project name either at the top or in the Customer/Project field of each form.

For example, if you’re logging expenses that will be billed to a client:

• Enter the Vendor and items in the table below.

• Select the Customer/Project from the dropdown and mark it as Billable if applicable.

Tip: You can add a markup percentage for billable expenses, which is useful for covering extra costs.

3. Monitoring Project Progress

Each project has its own “homepage” where you can track:

• Income vs. Costs with a real-time line graph

• Profit margin percentage

• Quick links to open invoices, overdue amounts, and other reports

Click New transaction in the upper right to add project-specific entries, or work directly from the main QuickBooks pages, linking transactions to the project as needed.

4. Project Reports and Insights

Your project’s homepage also offers valuable tools for tracking:

• Overview: Shows income, costs, and profit breakdowns

• Transactions: List all project transactions, filterable by type and date

• Time Activity: View billable work hours

• Reports: Access project profitability, time costs, and unbilled expenses

• Attachments: Add documents and supporting materials