QuickBooks AI Agents Guide

In five minutes you will know how to:

• Enable QuickBooks AI agents and the Business Feed
• Map clean vendor and customer lists for better suggestions
• Approve invoices, bills, and matches with clear thresholds
• Tighten collections using simple AR reminders
• Keep accuracy with weekly bank and credit card reconciliations

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Who this guide is for

If you run a small business in Littleton, Centennial, the Denver Metro and beyond, this is your practical walkthrough to use QuickBooks AI agents without losing control. You will see exactly what to turn on, what to review, and how to keep your books accurate using plain language, real steps.

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What are QuickBooks AI agents

QuickBooks AI agents are built into the Intuit platform to handle routine financial tasks while you stay in charge with review and approval settings. Intuit began rolling out these agentic features across QuickBooks Online this summer with expanded updates in September 2025. They focus on work like creating and sending invoices, tracking payments, drafting bills, and surfacing next actions in the Business Feed. The promise is time saved with you approving the final step. Intuit Inc.+2QuickBooks+2

Why it matters for small business owners: when AI handles predictable tasks, your team can focus on estimates, jobs in progress, client care, and decisions. The guardrail is non-negotiable reviews so posted entries still match your real bank and credit card activity.

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What changed in September 2025

Intuit’s September product notes highlight a more powerful QuickBooks experience with AI agents tied to the Business Feed and customizable navigation. That means clearer prompts that tell you what to review next and where to click to approve or correct before posting. QuickBooks

Plain English translation: QuickBooks is getting better at teeing up work. Your job is to confirm the details and keep reconciliations tight so accuracy never slips.

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Ground rules before you turn anything on

1. You approve every posting. Require manual approval for invoices, bills, vendor matches, and expense categorizations.
2. Reconcile weekly. Bank and credit card reconciliations are your early warning system for drift.
3. Track exceptions. Anything the agent cannot match should go to a queue with a person’s name on it.
4. Log changes. Keep an internal note of settings you enable and who reviews them.
5. Keep a rollback plan. If something looks off, you can pause features and revert to your prior workflow while you investigate.

These simple guardrails let your company benefit from automation while keeping accurate accounting as the standard.

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First week setup checklist

Follow these steps in order. Print it or share it with your team.

1) Turn on the Business Feed and AI experiences

Open QuickBooks Online and verify access to the updated experience and agent prompts in the Business Feed. If you do not see them, check whether your company has opted in to the new QuickBooks interface and AI features. Intuit’s product updates confirm the rollout, the new layout, and the role of AI agents inside QuickBooks. QuickBooks Online for September 2025

Action: enable the feed and confirm you can see suggested tasks such as draft invoices, invoice reminders, or suggested bill entries.

2) Set review before post on all agent tasks

Every AI suggested action should route to an approval queue. Intuit positions these agents as always in your control with review and approval. Keep that front and center.

Action: require review for invoices, bills, expense categories, vendor matches, and payment reminders.

3) Clean vendor and customer lists

AI suggestions are only as good as your lists. Merge duplicates and update legal names. Add standard email addresses for bill intake such as ap@yourcompany and ar@yourcompany to keep flows clean.

Action: run the Vendor Contact List and Customer Contact List. Fix duplicates, add missing EIN legal names, and add default terms.

4) Standardize chart of accounts

Give the agent a clean map. Remove unused accounts, keep names clear, and set default expense and income accounts for common vendors and items.

Action: lock in your account types and map common vendors to the correct expense categories. This improves suggested categorizations.

5) Turn on structured intake for AP and AR

Set one intake email for bills and one for sales documents. If you use a bill pay tool inside QBO, agents can draft bills from PDFs and route them to approval. Intuit’s help and product pages confirm agent support for drafting and tracking transactions.

Action: publish one accounts payable intake address to vendors and one accounts receivable address to your team for sending signed estimates or sales docs.

6) Create thresholds and two person approvals

Pick a dollar amount where a second approver is required. This removes the risk of a single click sending out a large payment or posting a large invoice.

Action: set two person approvals for any bill above your threshold and any new vendor.

7) Schedule weekly reconciliations

Agents can help draft and match, but reconciliations are where accuracy is confirmed. Pick a day and stick with it.

Action: reconcile bank and credit card accounts every week. Investigate any out of balance the same day.

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Day to day workflow that works

Here is a plain checklist your team can follow.

1. Open the Business Feed each morning. Triage all suggested tasks. Approve what is correct. Send exceptions to a named person.
2. Run the Unmatched Transactions view and clear it. Anything the agent cannot place gets human attention.
3. Check the Approvals queue for bills over your threshold and vendors marked as new.
4. Send invoice reminders for any past due customers that the agent suggests, but verify the dates and terms first.
5. Reconcile accounts weekly and lock the prior month once it is clean.
6. Export a weekly audit log and save it to your month folder. You now have a trail of what was suggested and who approved it.

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How to keep AR clean with agents

Agents can draft invoices from notes and trigger reminders. That helps you collect faster, but you should still control the tone and timing. Intuit’s AI pages describe creation of invoices and expense records from notes, emails, and photos with your approval in the loop.

Your AR routine

1. Review draft invoices the agent created.
2. Check items, class, project, and tax.
3. Approve and send.
4. Accept suggested reminders for invoices past terms after a quick scan of customer history.
5. Every Friday, run Open Invoices and the Aged Receivables report. Call or email any customer past 30 days.

This simple loop improves cash collection while you keep your brand voice intact.

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How to keep AP accurate with agents

Agents can extract bill details from PDFs and prepare a bill draft. You still approve vendor, date, terms, category, and class. Intuit product updates and documentation point to agents preparing and tracking entries with human review.

Your AP routine

1. Bills arrive at the AP intake email.
2. The agent drafts bills for review.
3. Reviewer approves or corrects.
4. A second approver signs off above your threshold.
5. Payment runs happen twice a week to control cash flow.
6. Reconcile payments to the bank feed inside the same week.

This stops late fees and removes the scramble that hurts cash flow.

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Reporting that proves it is working

Use these three metrics to know AI agents are helping rather than hiding problems.

1. Close time from month end to financials delivered. Track days to close.
2. Unmatched transactions count. Lower is better if reconciliations are weekly.
3. Average days to collect. If agents are helping with reminders, this should drop over a quarter.

Intuit’s Small Business Insights research this year shows growing adoption of AI by small businesses. Use your own numbers to confirm you are getting a real return and not just new features.

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Security, privacy, and common myths

Myth 1: Agents will post without me. You can set review required for every posting. Keep it that way. Intuit positions the customer as always in control. Intuit Inc.

Myth 2: I cannot see what changed. Use the audit log and weekly exports to keep a paper trail.

Myth 3: Reconciliations are optional now. Reconciliations are your control. Keep them weekly.

Myth 4: This is only helpful for big companies. The newest QuickBooks experience is aimed at small businesses and is rolling out widely in 2025.

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Local setup help in Colorado

Perlinger Consulting offers hands on QuickBooks training and accurate accounting services for small business. We work with contractors, trades, and service companies that need clear approvals, clean reconciliations, and less busywork. We serve Littleton, Centennial, the Denver Metro and beyond. Call 720-290-4389 or visit Perlinger Consulting to book QuickBooks training.

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Frequently asked questions

Are QuickBooks AI agents available in every subscription today
Access is expanding during 2025. If you do not see agent prompts or the Business Feed, check whether your company has opted in to the new QuickBooks experience and watch Intuit’s official product updates page. QuickBooks

Can agents handle complex projects with custom revenue rules
Keep complex revenue work in human hands. Use agents for predictable intake and reminders, then let your accountant or controller review project level entries.

How do I keep my Bookkeeper (hopefully Perlinger Consulting) in the loop
Invite your accountant to your company file, keep the weekly audit log export, and share a short change log of features you have enabled.

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The one page setup plan

Copy this and give it to your team.

1. Enable the Business Feed and confirm agent prompts.
2. Require review before posting on invoices, bills, matches, and reminders.
3. Clean vendor and customer lists and set default terms.
4. Standardize your chart of accounts and vendor mappings.
5. Turn on single intake addresses for AP and AR.
6. Set two person approvals above your chosen threshold.
7. Reconcile bank and credit cards every week.
8. Track three metrics for 90 days and decide what to keep or adjust.

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Get QuickBooks training from a Colorado team that works with small business owners every day. We serve Littleton, Centennial, the Denver Metro and beyond. Call 720-290-4389 or visit perlingerconsulting.com to schedule.

Website: Perlinger Consulting

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Friendly disclaimer

This article is for general education. Software changes quickly and features may roll out in stages. Always review settings in your own QuickBooks file, keep reconciliations current, and consult your accountant or attorney for advice specific to your situation. We are not affiliated with Intuit and do not provide tax or legal services. For the latest on QuickBooks features, see Intuit’s official product updates.