How to Set Up A New QuickBooks Online Account

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to set up a brand new QuickBooks Online account.

Quick Instructions:

  1. Select the type of QBO account you’d like to subscribe to.
  2. Create an Intuit account
  3. Enter your billing information
  4. Follow the step-by-step setup process
  5. Optional: Take a quick tour of QuickBooks Online
  6. Go through the setup checklist

Keep reading for a complete walkthrough with screenshots:

Discounted QBO Subscriptions

If you go to the QuickBooks website directly you’ll be offered a free trial for 30 days and 50% off a 3-month subscription.

If you use my affiliate link you can get the free trial plus save 30% off the next 12 months. That would be an extra savings of over $500 with the Plus plan if you use my link. I will get a small cut, it helps pay for the free content: https://bit.ly/3gXpv3b

No matter how you get there, on the QuickBooks Online pricing page you’ll see all the different plan options from Simple Start through Advanced. Pricing may be different than what’s in the image below.

QuickBooks Online Account options

Look through the options for each account type and pick which one fits your business. Then click the Buy now button.

Intuit Account Creation

Before you pay for your new QuickBooks account you’ll first create an Intuit account. Enter your email address, phone number, and create a password.

Intuit Account Creation Screen

When you click the One More Step button you’ll be taken to the payment screen.

QuickBooks Online payment screen when creating a new account

Get Started With QuickBooks Online

Next QuickBooks will walk you step-by-step through a setup process. A lot of it can be skipped and set up later as needed.

It starts with your business name.

Entering your business name when setting up a new QBO account.

Next, they want to know how you’ve been managing your finances. Whether you’ve been using different software, spreadsheets, etc.

Select whatever methods you’ve been using and click Next.

How have you been managing your finances? QBO Online set up

How long has your business been in business? Select the number of years from the drop-down and click Next.

How long have you been in business? QuickBooks Online set up question

What kind of business is this? If you’re an LLC select Yes and click Next. If you’re not sure select I’m not sure and you’ll be presented with different options.

Select the option that best fits our business and click Next.

What kind of business is this? QuickBooks Online setup question.

It’s okay if you select “I’m not sure” this isn’t going to make or break anything it just sets things up a little differently in the equity section of QuickBooks. Any of those things can be set up later if needed.

Next, you’ll enter the industry your business is in. You can start typing and you’ll get suggestions, select whatever works best for your business.

What's your industry? QuickBooks Online Setup

Selecting an industry and the next step, your main role, gives the software an idea of what types of income you’ll have and what you’re business might need.

What's your main role? QuickBooks Online setup question.

Next, it wants to know who else works at your business. Is it just you? Do you have employees or contractors? Select your situation and click Next.

Who else works at your company? QuickBooks Online Setup question.

If you have someone doing your bookkeeping select Yes for Does a bookkeeper help with your books? Select No if you do it yourself. Then click Next.

Does a bookkeeper help with your books? QuickBooks Online setup question.

If you are doing your bookkeeping yourself you can always reach out to us for help or hire us to do your bookkeeping for you.

In the next question, you can select various apps that you use that QuickBooks integrates with and click Next.

You can click “Skip for now” if you don’t use any of these apps or if you want to do those integrations later.

What apps do you use for your business? QuickBooks Online setup question.

Once we get through this part of the setup and into QuickBooks Online there will be a checklist for us to go through. This question lets QuickBooks know what to include in that checklist. You can select as many things as you’d like and click Next or you can skip this step.

What do you want to do in QuickBooks? QuickBooks Online setup question.

You can now link bank and credit card accounts. You can click Link Accounts or skip and do this later.

Link your accounts and see everything in one place in QuickBooks Online setup.

For the how do you track your receipts question it will give you different options on the next screen depending on what you select. Once again, you can skip this step if you’d like and set this up later.

I’m going to show you what happens when you select “I save paper receipts”.

How do you track your receipts today? QuickBooks Online setup question.

When you say you use paper receipts you get links to download the QuickBooks mobile app. The app lets you take pictures of your receipts to easily enter them into QuickBooks. Click Next to continue.

QuickBooks mobile app download links in QBO setup.

If you get paid with invoices you can set this up now or skip it. I’m going to skip that section.

Start getting paid with invoices section of the QuickBooks Online setup.

You’ll see the mobile app download screen again. This is because the app lets you see payments, but only if you invoice through QuickBooks. Click Next to continue.

There are a couple more multiple-choice questions that I won’t bother showing you screenshots of.

“How confident are you that QuickBooks will help you do what you need?” and “How much progress have you made towards what you want to d in QuickBooks” answer these however you like and continue on…

You're on your way! screen of the QuickBooks Online setup.

We’re now on our way to actually using QuickBooks Online!

Welcome to QuickBooks!

Welcome to QuickBooks! screen after initial QuickBooks Online setup.

You’re finally in QuickBooks Online. A pop-up will appear asking if you’d like to “Take a quick tour”. Feel free to take the tour, I’m going to skip that part and move on to the Setup Checklist.

QuickBooks Online Setup Checklist

QuickBooks gives you a checklist to further help you get your QuickBooks setup.

I’m going to give a quick overview of each section but not walk through it.

Basic business info

Basic business info section of the QuickBooks Online setup checklist.

You’re dropped into the Checklist below Basic business info. That’s because we just finished that section.

If you click on it you’ll see it’s checked off and shows 100% completed. If you click the Take another look button you’ll go back through the setup process we previously went through.

Get ready to invoice

Get ready to invoice section of the QuickBooks Online setup checklist.

In this section, you’ll set up invoicing through QuickBooks Online. You don’t need to use QuickBooks for your invoicing. If you already use invoicing software you can switch to QuickBooks Online if you’d like or continue using what you’re using.

Get paid online

Get paid online section of the QuickBooks Online setup checklist.

This section lets you create an invoice or get a payment link.

Payment links are one-time use. It expires once you’ve been paid through the link. You can get paid by credit card, debit card, or ACH with payment links.

To use payment links you will need to create a QuickBooks Payment account. This is a merchant account that’s separate from your QuickBooks Online account.

See what you make and spend

See what you make and spend section of the QuickBooks Online setup checkllist.

From here you can link your business bank accounts to QuickBooks. This allows QuickBooks to automatically download transactions from your bank.

Once you link your accounts you can organize your transactions in the bank feed. You can learn more about bank feeds in my blog post How to Navigate Bank Feeds in QuickBooks online.

Get the free mobile app

Get the free mobile app section of the QuickBooks Online setup checklist.

If you haven’t already downloaded the mobile app here’s another link to get it. They really push this app.

It is helpful for scanning receipts and automatically tracking mileage.

Get support

Get support section of the QuickBooks Online setups checklist.

The last and final step, get support. Because QuickBooks knows you’ll probably need some help.

If you click on the button you get a “chat” box that takes you to a page with options for connecting with QuickBooks support.

How would you like to connect with us? QuickBooks Online support

If you’re not able to get your question answered by QuickBooks support Gentle Frog is always here to help: https://www.gentlefrog.com/meeting/

You now know how to set up the basics of your QuickBooks Online account. Watch for future blog posts where I’ll go over more of the QuickBooks Online setup process.

☕ If you found this helpful you can say “thanks” by buying me a coffee…
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/gentlefrog

Below is a video if you prefer to watch me show you how to do this.

If you have any questions about setting up or working with QuickBooks Online click the green button below to schedule a free consultation.

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This content is for information purposes only and should not be considered legal, accounting, or tax advice, or a substitute for obtaining such advice specific to your business. Additional information and exceptions may apply. Applicable laws may vary by state or locality. No assurance is given that the information is comprehensive in its coverage or that it is suitable in dealing with a customer’s particular situation. Gentle Frog, LLC does not have any responsibility for updating or revising any information presented herein. Accordingly, the information provided should not be relied upon as a substitute for independent research. Gentle Frog, LLC does not warrant that the material contained herein will continue to be accurate, nor that it is completely free of errors when published. Readers and viewers should verify statements before relying on them.

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Sign up now for this free mini-course and start mastering the essential bookkeeping skills that every small business owner needs to succeed!

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Sign up now and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing your bookkeeping is accurate, up-to-date, and free from costly errors.

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Review Your QuickBooks

Are you a small business owner struggling to make sense of your QuickBooks data?

  • Discover how to spot costly mistakes in your bookkeeping and fix them quickly and easily.

  • Save time and money by streamlining your bookkeeping process and reducing errors.

  • Learn how to identify trends in your financial data so you can make smarter business decisions.

  • Get organized and stay on top of your finances by tracking expenses, managing receipts, and closing your books effectively.

Sign up now for this free mini-course and start mastering the essential bookkeeping skills that every small business owner needs to succeed!

FREE Mini Course

Sign up now and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing your bookkeeping is accurate, up-to-date, and free from costly errors.

We won’t send spam. Unsubscribe at any time.