How Do I Post Approved Vendor Invoices to Quickbooks?

This guide explains how to post approved vendor invoices from Discovery to QuickBooks, supporting both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop integrations. This process ensures your financial records in QuickBooks match the invoices processed and audited in Discovery.


Important: Invoices posted from Discovery to QuickBooks become locked and cannot be edited in Discovery. Double-check the fiscal period and invoice amounts prior to posting.

Prerequisites

  • Your tenant must be integrated with QuickBooks. The links below contain directions for integrating with either QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop.
  • Accounts Payable GL Account and Accounts Receivable GL Account must be configured in Tenant Integration Settings.
  • Each vendor must have an External Accounting ID set.
  • All invoice line items must have valid Cost GL Codes.

How to Post Invoices Individually

Once a vendor invoice has been approved, it can be posted. Follow these steps to post your invoice.

  1. Find your desired vendor invoice and open it's view page.
  2. Under the invoice progress tracker, click on Posted to move the invoice status from Approved to Posted.

Discovery will validate the invoice (status, GL codes, vendor accounting ID, fiscal period, etc.) and attempt to post the invoice to QuickBooks.

If successful, the invoice status will update to Posted. If there are any errors, you will see an error message, indicating what steps should be taken before the invoice can be posted.

An invoice progress tracker, showing the status of a Posted Invoice.

How to Post Invoices in Bulk

  1. On the Audited Vendor Invoices Page, use the multi-select tool to select the approved vendor invoice(s) you wish to post.
    1. Please note that in order to perform bulk actions, all invoices selected using the multi-select tool must have the same status. You will not be able to post a bulk selection of invoices if any of your selected invoices have a status other than Approved.
  2. Once you have made your selection, click on Post in the bulk actions menu.

Discovery will validate the invoices and attempt to post them to QuickBooks. If there are any errors, you will see an error message, indicating what steps should be taken before the invoice can be posted.


Post All Approved

You also have the option to force post all approved invoices at one time. To do so, follow these steps.

  1. On the Audited Vendor Invoices Page, click on Post All Approved.

Discovery will validate the invoices and attempt to post them to QuickBooks. If there are any errors, you will see an error message, indicating what steps should be taken before the invoice can be posted.


What is “Force Post” and When Should You Use It?

Force Posting:

  • Normally, posting an invoice to QuickBooks requires all validations to pass, including revenue matching (if Discovery's Revenue tier is enabled).
  • Sometimes, an invoice cannot be posted due to revenue matching failures or other validation issues, but you may need to push it to QuickBooks anyway (e.g., for month-end close.)
  • “Force post” bypasses certain validations (notably revenue matching) and attempts to post the invoice regardless of those errors.

When to Use:

  • Use “force post” only when you are certain the invoice should be in QuickBooks.
  • Typical scenarios: end-of-period close, audit requirements, or when a validation error is not material to your accounting.

How to Force Post an Invoice

Force posting can be performed individually or in bulk, but it can only be initiated from the Audited Vendor Invoices index page.

How to Force Post Selected Invoice(s)

  1. On the Audited Vendor Invoices Page, use the multi-select tool to select the approved vendor invoice(s) you wish to post.
    1. Please note that in order to perform bulk actions, all invoices selected using the multi-select tool must have the same status. You will not be able to post a bulk selection of invoices if any of your selected invoices have a status other than Approved.
  2. Once you have made your selection, click on Force Post in the bulk actions menu.


Force Post All Approved

You also have the option to force post all approved invoices at one time. To do so, follow these steps.

  1. On the Audited Vendor Invoices Page, click on Force Post All Approved.

Discovery will validate the invoices and attempt to post them to QuickBooks. If there are any errors, you will see an error message, indicating what steps should be taken before the invoice can be posted.

Common Errors and Troubleshooting Tips:

Below are some common errors that may prevent an invoice from posting to QuickBooks and what you can do to address those errors.

  • Missing GL Code: Set the Cost GL Code for the affected line item category.
  • Missing Vendor External Accounting ID: Set the External Accounting ID for the vendor.
  • Duplicate Document Number: Ensure each invoice number is unique in QuickBooks.

If you have additional questions or need more in depth information, please feel free to send us a message using the help beacon in the lower right-hand corner.

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