Set up your firm's chart of accounts and account mappings once. Then set up each new client's account codes in a few clicks, instead of mapping every channel by hand.
Before you start
Practice defaults are in beta. Check each client's result, and tell us if anything looks wrong.
Only your practice owner can switch them on and change them.
First time? Try it on a new client, not one that's already posting.
What practice defaults are
Your firm's standard setup, saved once at practice level:
Chart of accounts: the accounts LinkMyBooks creates in a client's QuickBooks or Xero.
Default mappings: which account each sales and fee category posts to, for each sales channel and marketplace. Each Amazon marketplace (US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Europe and so on) has its own defaults.
They work with QuickBooks and Xero, for clients in any country. They set account codes; tax is a separate choice you make when you apply them.
Defaults are never applied automatically. You choose when to apply them to each client.
1. Switch it on
Go to Practice settings › Practice defaults. Next to Try practice defaults (beta), click Turn on. You can turn it off at any time.
Who can do what
The practice owner can switch it on or off, build the defaults, upload a workbook and change client settings.
The owner or an admin can apply defaults to a client.
Everyone else can see the defaults and the history.
2. Build your defaults from your clients
You don't need to start from a blank sheet. LinkMyBooks copies the setup of one of your existing clients for each channel and marketplace. Building doesn't change any client's books.
Click Build starter defaults from your clients.
You see one row per channel and marketplace, for example "Amazon · US" or "Shopify (all)". Each Amazon marketplace gets its own row. For each, we suggest your most active client on it.
To copy a different client, pick one from the Copy from list.
Click Save defaults.
Only clients that have finished setup with a ledger connected can be copied. If none have, finish one client's setup wizard first.
To change a channel later, click Rebuild from your clients. For each channel, choose Keep my current defaults or a client to copy instead. Channels you keep, and your chart of accounts, aren't touched.
3. Fine-tune in Excel (optional)
Click Download defaults (Excel).
Edit the file. The Read me sheet explains every column.
Click Upload edited defaults, or drop the file onto the box.
We check the file and show you what will change. Nothing is saved yet. If there are problems, each one names its sheet and row.
Click Replace my defaults to save.
Uploading replaces all your defaults. Any channel you delete from the file is removed (you'll be asked to confirm). Keep a copy of your current file first.
See Workbook reference at the end for the details of each sheet.
4. Apply them to a client
Open the client. On the Channels tab (or the alert on Overview), click Set up with practice defaults.
Check what will happen. The confirm lists the channels it will set up, the ones your defaults don't cover yet, and the ones already set up (these are never changed).
Choose how tax is set up (below).
Click Set up with practice defaults.
Any missing accounts are created in the client's QuickBooks or Xero, and the account codes are set. It takes up to a minute, and you get an email when it's done.
If the client already has mappings, tick Replace [client]'s existing mappings to continue.
Choosing how tax is set up
Set tax defaults: we set the same standard tax the setup wizard would, mark the channel's setup complete, and start posting its settlements. Available for UK and US clients.
Finish in wizard: only the account codes are set. Tax is finished in the usual setup wizard, which skips straight to the tax step. Settlements post once it's finished. Clients outside the UK and US always use this.
Choose Finish in wizard whenever a client's tax isn't standard, for example a UK client registered for EU VAT or OSS.
Reading the result
The result appears on the client's Practice defaults card, and in your email.
Complete (green): accounts and tax are done, and settlements will post.
Accounts set (amber): account codes are done, and tax is left for the wizard. Nothing is wrong.
Partly done: some channels or categories weren't set up. Each one says what's missing.
To finish a channel, click Complete wizard, or fix the cause (for example, add the missing account in the ledger) and apply again.
Messages you may see
"Not used for this client": your defaults include categories this client doesn't have. Nothing is wrong.
"Your defaults don't have a Xero (or QuickBooks) account for this yet": fill in that ledger's column in the workbook and upload again.
"Account '…' isn't in this client's QuickBooks/Xero": add it in the ledger, or to your Chart of Accounts sheet, and apply again.
"This account needs a code before Xero can create it": add a code in the workbook.
Client setting: split Amazon sales by marketplace
Under Client settings in Practice defaults. It's off by default, and it only affects clients whose setup isn't finished yet. It makes the client's category tree much bigger and slows processing, so contact support before turning it on.
History and reporting a problem
History (in Practice defaults) shows who switched it on or off, built or uploaded defaults, changed a setting or applied defaults to a client, and when.
Something not right? Click Report a problem at the bottom of Practice defaults or on the client's Practice defaults card. Tell us the client, the channel and what you expected.
Workbook reference
The workbook has four sheets: Read me, Chart of Accounts, Default Mappings and Valid Types. Don't rename the sheets or column headings.
Default Mappings
Account (QuickBooks) and Account (Xero): each client reads only its own ledger's column. Write names exactly as they are in the ledger (capitals and spaces don't matter). For QuickBooks use the account's own name, not "Parent:Sub". For Xero the code works too.
Account Type: explicit (this row sets the account) or inherit (leave the account blank). A sub-category that inherits uses its parent's account; a top-level category that inherits keeps the client's current account.
Rows with a note in the Note column are channels a client sells on that you have no defaults for yet. Fill them in, or leave them blank to skip.
Chart of Accounts
Code: required for Xero (accounts without one are skipped for Xero clients), optional for QuickBooks.
Parent Account: QuickBooks only, and the sub-account must have the same QuickBooks Account Type as its parent. Xero accounts are created flat.
Pick account types from the dropdowns rather than typing them.
Firms using both QuickBooks and Xero
Keep and fill in both Account columns. Account Type is shared by both ledgers. If you delete a ledger's column, the names already saved for it are kept. To clear them, empty the cells instead. Building from a QuickBooks client fills in only the QuickBooks names, and the other way round.
Using an AI assistant
An AI assistant can fill in the workbook. Give it the file, the client's chart of accounts and the instructions on the Read me sheet, and say which ledger to fill in. Ask for the full .xlsx back, then upload it. We check everything before anything is saved.
Common upload errors
"We couldn't open this file": save it as an Excel Workbook (.xlsx) and upload again.
"…needs an Account (QuickBooks) or Account (Xero) column": a heading was changed or deleted. Download your defaults again and copy your changes across.
"Account Type is explicit, but … is blank" / "is inherit but Account is filled in": fill in or clear the account, or change the type.
"…is not a Xero / QuickBooks account type" or "…is not a sales channel LMB supports": pick the value from the dropdown.
"Parent Account … is not an account on this sheet" / "its parent … is …": the parent must be on the sheet, spelled the same, with the same QuickBooks Account Type.
"…is already used on row …": names and codes must be unique.