QuickBooks for Mac offers two ways to hook up your accounting to your accounts—WebConnect and DirectConnect. Whichever of these you choose, you’ll save tons of time because you won’t be entering all those transactions by hand. You’ll be downloading them from your financial institutions, which means you’ll be decreasing the introduction of errors into your books.
So that’s great, right? But which option will work better for your business: WebConnect or DirectConnect?
WebConnect
After a one-time setup process, every time you want to reconcile your accounts, you log into your financial institution’s website and manually download a QuickBooks-compatible file to your computer. Then you import the downloaded file into QuickBooks.
Here’s how a WebConnect user might look:
- Works with a financial institution that supports WebConnect
- Might not have constant connection to the Internet (such as dial-up)
- Prefers to keep a close hand on all steps of the process, including the transfer of information from the bank to QuickBooks
- Often needs to download statements with specific date ranges
- Doesn’t want to pay a fee for DirectConnect
DirectConnect
QuickBooks for Mac connects directly to your financial institution’s computers. After you complete a one-time setup process, all you need to do is click a button and enter your login and password. DirectConnect retrieves your statements and uploads them into QuickBooks, ready for you to reconcile at your convenience.
Here’s a portrait of a DirectConnect user:
- Works with a financial institution that supports DirectConnect
- Has a high-speed, constant Internet connection
- Prefers that QuickBooks do most of the work, including retrieving more than one statement in a single session
- Likes using the Mac “keychain” function to store passwords
- Doesn’t mind paying a small fee to financial institutions that support DirectConnect
There’s no rule that says you must use only WebConnect or only DirectConnect. Many small business owners keep accounts with more than one financial institution—a local credit union for checking accounts, PayPal for receiving payments, and American Express for corporate credit cards, perhaps. Knowing how to use both QuickBooks online banking systems gives you the flexibility to keep your online accounts running smoothly.
Do you want to see whether your financial institutions support online banking with QuickBooks for Mac? This list is updated every day. If your bank doesn’t support QuickBooks for Mac, contact them to request support.
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