MYOB and QuickBooks Job Sync: How It Actually Works
Most job software talks to Xero. Plenty of Australian tradies are on MYOB or QuickBooks instead — here's what a sync moves, what it never touches, and how to set one up so it doesn't make a mess.
Xero gets most of the attention in Australian trade software, but a lot of businesses are on MYOB because their accountant always has been, or on QuickBooks because that's where they started. The question is the same either way: if I run my jobs in one system, will the invoices land in my books without me typing them twice? This guide covers what a job-to-accounting sync actually moves, what stays behind, how MYOB and QuickBooks differ for a trade business, and the setup order that stops it going wrong.
Doing this job for a living? See job management in ServiceYak.
What a sync actually moves
A job-to-accounting sync is narrower than most people expect. It isn't two systems merging — it's a handful of specific records crossing a bridge, each in one direction. Knowing which records those are tells you exactly what the integration will and won't save you.
| Record | Direction | What it means day to day |
|---|---|---|
| Invoices | Job software → accounting | The invoice you raise against a job appears in your books without retyping |
| Payments | Usually accounting → job software | An invoice marked paid in the books shows as paid against the job |
| Customers and contacts | Both ways, once | Your client list is imported, then kept in step as you add people |
| Suppliers and bills | Varies by tool | Some integrations push supplier bills across; many don't |
| Accounts | Accounting → job software | Your chart of accounts is pulled in so invoice lines can be coded |
| Tax codes | Accounting → job software | GST codes come from the books so the two systems agree on the tax treatment |
The single most valuable line in that table is the first one. Everything else is convenience; the invoice push is the one that removes real, repeated typing — and it's the one to test properly before you rely on it.
What never crosses the bridge
This is the part that surprises people, and it's worth being clear about before you buy anything on the strength of an integration logo.
- Quotes. The quote lives in your job software. Accounting packages send their own quotes, but the two are separate documents and generally don't reconcile.
- The schedule. Nothing about who's on what job on Thursday means anything to a set of books.
- Labour hours against a job. Payroll knows hours worked; it doesn't know which job they went to. That link only exists where you captured it.
- Photos, notes and variations. These hang off the job record and stay there.
- Job costing detail. The invoice crosses as an invoice. The breakdown of what that job cost you doesn't come with it.
That last one is the common misunderstanding: connecting the two systems doesn't turn your accounting package into a job-costing tool. If you want to know what a job made, the answer is the same for MYOB and QuickBooks as it is for Xero — the detail has to be captured while the job is running, on the job side. We've covered that ground in full in Can Xero Do Job Costing?, and the reasoning transfers directly.
How MYOB and QuickBooks differ for a trade business
Both do the books properly, and neither is a wrong answer. They differ in shape rather than quality, and the differences that matter to a tradie are these:
| MYOB | QuickBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Heritage | Long-established in Australia and New Zealand, with a strong payroll and inventory reputation | Cloud-first, with projects and class tracking used for rough job-level reporting |
| Product range | Several products under one brand, with genuinely different capabilities | Broadly one online product with tiers |
| Suits | Businesses with staff, stock, or an accountant who has always worked in it | Sole traders and small teams who want a straightforward cloud package |
| Integration watch-out | Confirm which MYOB product the integration supports — they're not interchangeable | Confirm the integration covers the online product you're on, not a legacy version |
Pricing and tier inclusions for both change regularly, and payroll is often the thing that decides the real monthly cost. Get current numbers from the vendor rather than from any comparison table, including this one.
The MYOB point is the one that catches tradies out. "Integrates with MYOB" is not a complete sentence — ask which MYOB product, and check it against the file your bookkeeper actually works in, before you commit to a job management tool on that basis.
The order to set it up in
Almost every sync mess comes from connecting the two systems before deciding how they relate. Do it in this order and you'll avoid the common ones.
- Decide which system owns your contacts. One of them is the source of truth for customer names, addresses and emails. Pick it now. Editing the same client in both is how you end up with three versions of the same builder.
- Tidy the contact list before you connect. Duplicates, misspelt business names and old addresses all come across. Cleaning fifty contacts once is far quicker than untangling them afterwards.
- Map your accounts and tax codes. Decide which income account trade sales land in, and confirm the GST codes line up on both sides. Do this with whoever does your books — it's a five-minute conversation that prevents a quarter of quiet miscoding.
- Push one real invoice end to end. One job, one invoice, all the way through: raised in the job software, landed in the books, marked paid, reconciled. Check the totals, the GST and the account coding line by line before you trust it with a hundred more.
- Agree who fixes what, and where. If an invoice needs changing after it's synced, everyone needs to know whether that happens on the job side or in the books. Write it down. This is the rule that stops the two systems drifting apart.
What goes wrong, and how to spot it early
- Duplicate customers. The same client under two slightly different names. Usually caused by skipping the tidy-up, and it splits their history in half.
- Tax codes that don't match. The invoice looks right and the books are coded wrong. Your bookkeeper finds it at BAS time, which is the expensive way to find it.
- Edits on both sides. An invoice amended in the books and again in the job software gives you two versions and no way to tell which is right.
- Payments recorded twice. Marking an invoice paid in the job software *and* in the accounting package, when the sync was already going to do it.
- Voided or deleted invoices. Deleting on one side rarely tidies up the other. Void rather than delete, and do it on whichever side you agreed owns invoices.
- Silent failures. A sync that stops working doesn't always announce itself. Check that this week's invoices actually landed, weekly, until you've seen it hold for a month.
ServiceYak runs the job side — enquiry, quote, schedule, job record, invoice and payment — and syncs the invoicing across to your accounting software, so the books stay exactly where your accountant wants them and nothing gets typed twice.
Frequently asked questions
Does job management software work with MYOB?
Most established job management tools connect to MYOB, but MYOB sells more than one product and integrations don't always cover all of them. Ask which specific MYOB product is supported and check it matches the file your bookkeeper works in — that's the detail that decides whether the sync is useful or theoretical.
What actually syncs between job software and QuickBooks?
In practice: invoices push from the job software into QuickBooks, payment status comes back, and customers, accounts and tax codes are kept in step. Quotes, schedules, labour hours, photos and variations stay on the job side — they have no equivalent record in a set of books.
Can I use MYOB or QuickBooks for job costing instead?
Only partly, and for the same reason Xero can't do it properly. MYOB has job codes and QuickBooks has projects and class tracking, so both will attribute income and entered costs to a job. Neither captures labour hours on site or a variation agreed in a driveway, which is where most of the cost actually sits.
Will connecting them cause double-entry in my books?
It shouldn't, but it can if two people record the same thing in two places. Decide up front which system owns invoices and which owns payments, push one real invoice through end to end before relying on it, and check for a fortnight that nothing is landing twice.