Use QuickBooks AI for Job Cost Tracking

What This Does

Automatically categorizes your business expenses by job, flags uncategorized transactions, and scans receipts so you always know where your money is going — without manually entering every purchase.

Before You Start

• You have QuickBooks Online (Simple Start $35/mo or above)
• You're connected to your bank account or credit card
• You have your current active projects added as Customers or Jobs in QuickBooks

Steps

1. Connect your bank and cards (if not already done)

Click Banking in the left menu → Link account → Select your bank → Log in. QuickBooks will pull in your last 90 days of transactions automatically.

2. Review the AI-suggested categories

Go to Banking → For Review. Each transaction has a suggested category in the "Category" column — QuickBooks AI has already categorized most of them based on your history and the merchant name. For example, Home Depot → "Materials & Supplies" or "Cost of Goods Sold."

For transactions that look right: click the checkmark to Accept them all at once. For anything that needs adjustment, click the transaction and change the category before accepting.

3. Assign expenses to specific jobs

This is the key for job costing. When you accept or edit a transaction, look for the Customer/Project field. Select the project it belongs to. Over time, QuickBooks learns which vendors go with which jobs — it will suggest the project automatically for recurring vendors.

4. Set up receipt scanning with the QuickBooks mobile app

Download the QuickBooks Online app on your phone. Go to Banking → Snap receipt. Point your camera at any paper receipt — from a lumber yard, a tile supplier, anywhere. The AI reads the merchant, amount, and date automatically and creates a transaction. Review and assign to the right job.

5. Run a job profitability report

Go to Reports → Job Profitability Summary (or search "Profitability" in the Reports search bar). This shows every project: total income, total costs, and profit — so you can see which jobs made money and which didn't.

Real Example

Scenario: You bought $847 in tile from a supplier, paid your plumber $1,200, and bought $340 in miscellaneous hardware. Three different jobs.

What you do: Open the Banking → For Review tab. QuickBooks has already pulled in the transactions. Assign each one to the correct customer/project. Accept. The Job Profitability report now shows the updated costs on each project in real time.

What you get: Instant visibility into which projects are on budget and which are running over — instead of discovering it when you close the books at the end of the month.

Tips

• Set up Rules in QuickBooks Banking to auto-categorize recurring vendors (your regular plumber, your main lumber yard). Go to Banking → Rules → Create rule.
• Run the Job Profitability report at the midpoint of every project — catching a cost overrun at 50% done gives you time to adjust; catching it at 95% done doesn't
• Use the Mileage tracking feature in the mobile app to automatically log site visit mileage as a deductible business expense

QuickBooks updates its interface regularly — if a menu item has moved, use the search bar at the top of the app to find any feature by name.