QBO-Accountant Users to Gain QuickBooks Business Network

Beginning October, 2025, QuickBooks Online-Accountant users will gain access to the QuickBooks Business Network. The network consists of more than 4.5-million members in the US using QuickBooks Online, provides a secure connection between members at automate accounts payable and receivable. 

Intuit has just announced that QuickBooks Online-Accountant users will be able to leverage the QuickBooks Business Network to enhance their firm's operations. QBO-Accountant users will become discoverable within the QuickBooks Business Network, enabling those users to connect with other network members. They will also be able to invite their QuickBooks Online clients to join the network if they are not already members.  

The QuickBooks Business Network helps businesses be more productive by streamlining the accounts payable process and vendor management. At the same time it streamlines the accounts receivable process on reverse side of the transaction. One Business Network member, connected to another Business Network members exchange A/P and A/R seamlessly. A member's Invoice (A/R on their side) automatically becomes the other member's Vendor Bill (A/P on their side). Then when that member makes payment via QuickBooks Bill Pay the Invoice on the A/R member's side is automatically posted as paid. 

Once the QuickBooks Business Network becomes available to you, you will be able to set up your network profile so you can get paid by customers. 

Note that you have the option to pre-configure your ACH Payment Information so that your customers can pay you directly through QuickBooks Bill Pay without having to go through the process of your providing each time one of your invoices needs to be paid by that customer. Your ACH payment information is securely hidden from the eyes of that customer even though their QuickBooks Business Network connection can read your payment information when they choose QuickBooks Bill Pay as their payment method for your invoice.

Once you are connected to the QuickBooks Business Network, you can send invoices to any of your customers who are already network members, you will also be able to receive invoices from your vendors. It's easy to search for network members by company name. If they are already members you will have immediate access to either invoice them, or receive invoices from them. If they are not already network members you can invite them to the network. 

This same kind of 'payment information' secure masking also applies when you send your vendors an invitation to participate in the Business Network if they are not already members. 

When both parties are part of the QuickBooks Business Network, invoices flow freely to and from the parties. You can send invoices to your customers, your invoices become vendor bills automatically within their QuickBooks Online. Your vendors can invoice you and their invoices show up as vendor bills in your QuickBooks Online-Accountant. 

Your customer QBN members can pay you via QuickBooks Bill Pay across the network and their payments show up as payments for their invoice(s). You can pay your vendor QBN members and your QuickBooks Bill Payments post across the network as payments to their invoices. 

If you are not interested in taking advantage of the direct A/P to A/R connectivity that the QuickBooks Business Network affords you, you can turn the QBN option off. Login as the Administrator for your QuickBooks Online-Accountant file, then go to Company Settings. Now choose Advanced, and then select Business Network. Turn the option OFF. 

It was at the very first QuickBooks Connect that I was invited to a briefing about the then "New QuickBooks Online." Brad Smith, then CEO of Intuit was touting the benefits of a cloud-based accounting solution that could connect millions of users. I asked a simple question, "If all of these QBO users are on the same Intuit solution, why can't one user's invoices (A/R) simply post to the other user's vendor bills (A/P) and when they are paid, both sides immediately see the exchange of funds and the offsetting A/R and A/P transactions?" 

It appears all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together... so long as the parties are on the same 'accounting solution' (QuickBooks Online). So now I will ask... when will all solutions be able to join a 'common business network' so that your vendors who are using Sage (or Xero, or NetSuite, or other accounting solutions) can transmit their invoice directly to your QBO, and you can pay that vendor from your QBO so that it directly posts to their Sage (or other accounting solution) to offset the invoice they sent you?

When that happens, will I be truly impressed. 

Disclosures:

Content (including graphic images) based on Intuit source materials, including media source content from Intuit and the QuickBooks Online 'help' websites. Intuit content adapted by Insightful Accountant from Intuit sources is furnished for educational purposes only.

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