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Unlock Better Profitability Insights with Projects in QuickBooks Online



As a business owner or manager, understanding your profitability on a job or project basis is crucial for making informed decisions and optimizing your operations. 


QuickBooks Online has a project tracking feature to gain this valuable insight, allowing you to accurately measure margins and profitability for each job or project you undertake. 




Level Copilot is a powerful notification system that scans your QuickBooks Online data to notify the user of potential errors it finds in your job costing process. 


If a ‘Cost of Goods Sold’ transaction does not have the ‘Project’ or ‘Sub-Customer’ entered in the transaction: 



Crickets. No warning.


It will not be assigned to a project within QuickBooks. 


QuickBooks Online isn’t there yet, they make a spectacular product, but they operate on accounting postings and error management is not something they’re ‘hired’ to do. Imagine this though! 



So something like this would be great the next day too, right: 


‘Cost of Sales (“COS”) is defined as any direct costs spent on delivering a good or service. Direct costs are defined as costs that can be easily and conveniently traced to a project or job. With this in mind, we’d like to bring to your attention the following cost of sales transactions that have not been assigned to customers within your accounting software.’


What’s the big deal? The expense isn’t recorded to that specific project. 


Well, the business owner thinks ‘Wow, I did amazing on that last project. The sales total was $25,000 and my Cost of Goods Sold was $10,000 - a $15,000 profit is superb. I thought I was only going to make $10,000’


Yes, because $5,000 was sitting there unassigned. Not ideal in the slightest. Maybe the owner buys a boat over the weekend because they think they’re $5,000 richer. 


Ok, so that’s really great, but let’s say you did enter something into that field, but you simply put in the Parent Customer. 


When posting to ‘Parent Customers’, you are not able to see those transactions in your project module in QuickBooks Online or your ‘Sub-Customer’ Profit and Loss. 


The Level Notification:  ‘‘Transactions Posted to Parent Customers’ which is when non-posting (e.g. estimates) or posting transactions are recorded against parent customers.


These notifications show you just that. Transactions posted to a Parent Customer instead of a ‘Project’ or ‘Sub Customer’. 


Ok but it’s all in the ‘Cost of Goods Sold’ so why does it matter? The gross margin is the gross margin… Shouldn’t the big picture be the point here? 


By tracking income and expenses against individual projects, you can:


  • Identify your most (and least) profitable jobs or service lines

  • Pinpoint inefficiencies or cost overruns on specific projects

  • Accurately bid on future work based on historical data (I can’t stress this enough)

  • Make data-driven decisions on pricing, resource allocation, and process improvements


Setting up project tracking in QuickBooks Online is straightforward, but it's essential to establish a consistent process from the outset. Be sure you are using the project feature for all your projects and you will have project transparency into your profit margins in no time. 


Say goodbye to missed opportunities and errors in job costing with Level Copilot's powerful notification system that scans your QuickBooks Online data to ensure accurate project assignments. With Level Copilot, you can effortlessly track your “Cost of Sales” transactions, identify unassigned costs, and optimize your project profitability.


Don't let hidden expenses impact your bottom line.


Elevate your project tracking with a Level Copilot 30-day free trial today! (No credit card necessary) Sign Up Here!


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