A Guide to QuickBooks for Oil & Gas Businesses

The secret to any successful oil and gas business is keeping track of your earnings and expenses. Without good money management, it’s almost impossible to tell which jobs are most profitable, how healthy your business is, or whether you should claim back expenses.

Want to predict the future of your cash flow? Use our free calculator!

QuickBooks accounting software is one of the most trusted tools amongst oil and gas professionals. Want to know more about how QuickBooks could help your oil and gas business? Below, we’ll explain the main features of QuickBooks, how it works, and the great benefits of integrating it with job management software like Tradify.

1. What is accounting or bookkeeping software?
2. QuickBooks for oil & gas professionals
3. QuickBooks plans
4. What is oil & gas business software?
5. Benefits of bringing the two systems together
6. How to integrate QuickBooks & Tradify
7. Get your accounts in order

1. What is accounting or bookkeeping software?

Accounting software tracks your business’s financial data and helps get all your bookkeeping tasks completed—hopefully, with minimal hassle. Bookkeeping software usually offers online access - like secure cloud storage, which you can access from anywhere with an internet connection. 

Not all accounting software is equal. But you can tell the best ones by looking out for the following set of services:

• Invoicing
• Payroll
• Bill payments
• Accounting
• Financial reporting

2. QuickBooks for oil and gas professionals - what is it, and how does it work?

Most oil and gas businesses use online accounting software, like QuickBooks, because they’ve discovered how much easier it makes running a business. Say goodbye to the stress of manual admin as QuickBooks automatically reconciles expenses, organises the payroll, and generates financial statements.

What’s the best QuickBooks version for your oil and gas business?

QuickBooks has different versions providing compatibility with most devices. The best option for your oil and gas business depends on factors like job turnover, number of staff employed, and work or office locations.

Available versions include:

QuickBooks Online - Perfect for oil and gas professionals who are always on the move and need to access their accounts easily from the palm of their hands.
QuickBooks Desktop - The best option for larger oil and gas businesses with a permanent office team who need access to a greater range of features.

What are some of QuickBooks’ core features?

Accounting - Manage money in and out of your business. Receive statements to track your company’s financial health. Scan and save receipts to claim business expenses.

Payments - Provide your customers with the flexibility of different payment methods, including credit and debit cards, ACH and eCheck, making it easier for you to receive payments quickly.

Payroll - Pay your employees promptly and accurately. Relax whilst QuickBooks automatically calculates, files, and pays taxes on your behalf. Manage HR and employee benefits.

3. QuickBooks plans

QuickBooks offers three different plans, just pick the one that’s right for your business and budget requirements! Tempted, but not sure you’re ready to make the commitment yet? When you sign up, you’re able to choose a free 30-day trial so you can see if it’s right for you!

Simple Start - best for new businesses

• Track income and expenses
• Send custom invoices and quotes
• Connect to your bank
• Track Sales Tax, GST, VAT
• Insights and reports
• Capture and organise receipts
• Progress invoicing
• For one user, plus your accountant
  

Essentials - ideal for streamlining your business

The same features as Simple Start, plus:

• Manage bills and payments
• Track employee time
• Multi-currency
• For three users, plus an accountant

Plus  - designed for upscaling and established businesses

The same features as Essentials & Simple Start, plus:

• Pay recurring transactions and bills
• Track inventory
• Track project profitability
• Manage budgets
• For five users, plus an accountant

4. What is oil and gas business software?

Everyone in the oil and gas business knows how valuable tools are that make your work life simpler. So why stop at accounting software? Tradify’s all-in-one job management software is the perfect tool to help you manage your business.

Here’s what Tradify can do for you:

• Track jobs on the go, from any device.
• Use customisable estimates, and upload material lists with prices.
• Send quotes and invoices from anywhere, helping you get paid faster.
• Schedule appointments with other oil & gas professionals through our Connections feature.
• Record enquiries so you never miss a lead. Tradify will automatically turn them into quotes.
• Connect Tradify with Google Calendar to see who’s closest to a job for faster uptake.

5. The benefits of bringing the two systems together

Digital tools are just as vital to the smooth running of modern oil and gas businesses as physical tools and machinery. But the last thing you need is an overcomplicated cauldron of software and apps which you can’t make head nor tail of. 

Covering all the admin between them, QuickBooks and Tradify’s integrated system is the only software your oil and gas business will ever need. Running a business is easier when things are kept simple.  

One source of truth. Thanks to the automatic sharing of data between each other, QuickBooks and Tradify are always on the same page. For instance, when you create an estimate for a customer in Tradify, that information gets synced to your QuickBooks account too. That means you’ll only ever have to manually input the same data once. 

Work faster, not harder. The pace of work life is fast as an oil and gas professional - so there’s never a good moment for the admin and manual data entries. But thanks to QuickBooks and Tradify’s integrated system you don’t have to spend so much of your precious time on that anymore. That estimate you created? Automatically made an invoice from the data on it. That’ll help you get paid faster too!

Take control of your finances. Neither you nor your accountant have time to waste chasing each other for important financial data. With this end-to-end business management solution, you and your accountant get instant access to all the same business data with a single click. That means you can get your taxes filed on time and monitor your finances to make clever business decisions.

6. How to integrate QuickBooks and Tradify

Connecting Tradify with your QuickBooks couldn’t be easier:

1. Head to Settings, click ‘Integrations’, and then ‘QuickBooks’.
2. Select ‘Log in to QuickBooks’. You’ll be redirected to QuickBooks to log in and authorise Tradify.
3. Enter your QuickBooks login details and select ‘Sign in’.
4. Select ‘Authorise’ to allow data sharing between Tradify and QuickBooks.
5. Next, you’ll be redirected to Tradify and four new account fields.
6. Choose the appropriate account codes for labour, materials, your bank account, and purchases using the fields provided, and click ‘OK’.

7. Get your accounts in order

It’s a long time ago now that a paper diary, Word, and Excel were the tools to run an oil and gas business. Today, QuickBooks has made keeping on top of your financial accounts easier than it’s ever been in the past. And when you combine it with a job management software like Tradify you get the ultimate end-to-end business management solution. Which oil and gas professional wouldn’t want to make their work life better organised and less stressful?

Want to find out how to save 10+ hours/week of manual admin? Sign up for a 14-day free trial with Tradify - no credit card required, strings attached. 

Or visit one of our live demo webinars to see Tradify in action.

This article is not intended to be financial advice. Please discuss your individual financial situation with your registered financial advisor, bookkeeper, or accountant.