Due to / due from accounts between related QuickBooks Online companies
Last updated: Oct 6, 2026
Setting up due to / due from accounts for a client’s related companies in QuickBooks Online, recording both sides, and tying them out each month.
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When one company pays for something on behalf of a related company, or lends it money, the paying company is owed the amount and the other company owes it. In QuickBooks Online each company keeps its own file, and nothing connects the two: the bookkeeper keeps both sides in step.
This guide covers setting the accounts up, recording both sides of a transaction, and the monthly tie-out.
Set up one pair for each related company
- In the company that is owed: an asset account named for the other company, such as “Due from Property Co” (Other Current Assets; a long-term loan belongs in Other Assets).
- In the company that owes: a liability account named for the first, such as “Due to Admin Co” (Other Current Liabilities, or Long Term Liabilities for a long-term loan).
- When money flows both ways between two companies, some bookkeepers keep a single “Due to / from” account per company and read its sign. Either works if it’s the same in both files.
- Avoid one combined “Intercompany” account for every related company: when it’s out, it can’t tell you which pair.
Record both sides
Admin Co pays a $2,000 roof repair bill for Property Co. Each company records its own side, in the same month:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Due from Property Co | Debit2,000.00 | No amount |
| Checking | No amount | Credit2,000.00 |
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Repairs & maintenance | Debit2,000.00 | No amount |
| Due to Admin Co | No amount | Credit2,000.00 |
When Property Co pays it back, the entries reverse: Property Co debits Due to Admin Co and credits its bank account; Admin Co debits its bank account and credits Due from Property Co.
Tie them out each month
- Run each company’s Balance Sheet at the same month-end date and on the same basis.
- For every pair, compare the asset in one company with the liability in the other. They should be equal.
- Investigate any difference before the month is closed, and correct the side that’s wrong.
- Keep the tie-out with the month’s workpapers: the pair, both balances, the difference, and its cause.
| Pair | Owed (asset) | Owes (liability) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admin Co ↔ Property Co | $50,000.00 | $50,000.00 | $0.00 |
Common mistakes
- Recording only one side, and leaving the other for “later”.
- Posting a payment for a related company to an expense or to owner’s draws, instead of the due to / due from account.
- Different account names in each file, so nobody can tell which accounts pair up.
- Letting a small difference roll from month to month until nobody remembers its cause.
Free template: tie out every due to / due from pair in Excel, with a worked example. Get the reconciliation template
Where Flatbooks fits
Flatbooks reads a client’s related QuickBooks Online companies for the month you choose and puts each due to / due from pair side by side, with the difference between the two sides. To help find the entries behind a difference, it can lay the two companies’ ledgers for the period next to each other.
When you’ve found the cause, it prepares one correcting journal entry for the company you choose. The intercompany side is calculated; the other account is yours to pick, with a note of the cause and source. Nothing posts to QuickBooks until you approve it, Flatbooks reads QuickBooks again afterwards to check the result, and a posted correction can be reversed.
Once the pairs agree, it exports the consolidated workbook: the group statements, the eliminations, and a verification sheet tying every company back to its own QuickBooks report. The client’s companies stay in QuickBooks Online. It handles due to / due from balances and management fees between sibling companies; when one company owns another, or other group adjustments are needed, it says so and pauses the export.
The sample is fictional and needs no account. Your first client’s diagnostic is free. No card needed.