Connecting QuickBooks and Xero to AskBiz: Turn Your Accounting Data into Business Intelligence

How to connect QuickBooks or Xero#

Connect from the Sources page in your AskBiz dashboard. Select QuickBooks or Xero from the integration list. You will be redirected to the respective authentication screen — log in with your accounting credentials and grant AskBiz read-only access. AskBiz does not write to your accounting records, create transactions, or modify any data. Initial sync takes 5-20 minutes depending on your data volume. Historical data (up to 3 years) is imported on first sync. Ongoing sync happens automatically — new transactions appear in AskBiz within minutes of being recorded in your accounting software.

What financial data AskBiz analyses#

From QuickBooks or Xero, AskBiz pulls: Profit and Loss data (revenue, cost of goods sold, gross profit, operating expenses by category, operating profit, net profit — by period), Balance Sheet data (current assets, inventory value, accounts receivable, current liabilities, accounts payable, net working capital), Cash Flow data (operating, investing, and financing cash flows), Customer revenue data (revenue by customer from sales invoices), Supplier payment data (payments to suppliers from bills), and individual transaction level detail for deep queries.

The financial questions AskBiz answers from your accounting data#

Once connected, ask: What is my gross margin percentage this month compared to the same month last year? Which expense categories have grown fastest as a percentage of revenue in the last 6 months? What is my current accounts receivable balance and which customers owe the most? How many months of cash runway do I have at current monthly cash burn? What is my net working capital position today? Which months historically have the most negative cash flow — and am I on track to have adequate cash coverage? What is my revenue per employee based on current headcount?

Combining accounting data with eCommerce data#

The most powerful AskBiz analysis combines your accounting data with your eCommerce data in a single query. When both Shopify and Xero are connected, you can ask: what is the difference between the gross margin Shopify reports and the gross margin my accounts show — and what explains the gap? What is my marketing spend as a percentage of eCommerce revenue this quarter? How does my operational cash flow relate to my eCommerce revenue trend? These cross-source questions reveal insights that neither data source can produce independently.

Setting up financial KPI alerts from accounting data#

From your accounting data, configure alerts for: gross margin falling below your defined threshold (e.g. below 38%), accounts receivable days exceeding 45 days (indicating slow customer payment), cash balance falling below a minimum level, any single expense category growing more than 25% year-on-year, and monthly operating cash flow turning negative. These alerts ensure you catch financial deterioration signals in the accounting data before they show up as a crisis — typically 4-8 weeks earlier than you would notice through monthly accounts review.