Management fees between related companies in QuickBooks Online
Last updated: Oct 6, 2026
Recording a management fee between a client’s related companies in both QuickBooks Online files, keeping the two sides in step, and eliminating it.
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A management company charging a fee to a related property company is one of the most common transactions between a client’s companies. Each side lives in its own QuickBooks Online file, and the two have to agree.
Record both sides in the same month
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Due from Cedar Properties LLC | Debit3,000.00 | No amount |
| Management fee income | No amount | Credit3,000.00 |
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Management fees | Debit3,000.00 | No amount |
| Due to Cedar Management Co | No amount | Credit3,000.00 |
Some bookkeepers have the management company invoice the property company as a customer, and the property company enter the bill from the management company as a vendor. Then the balance lives in Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, and the monthly tie-out compares that customer’s balance with that vendor’s balance.
Where the two sides usually split
- The fee is recorded in different months, often because one side waits for the payment.
- One side posts it to owner’s draws or a distribution instead of an expense.
- The fee is a percentage of rent, and the two sides calculate it on different figures, such as rent billed and rent collected.
- The fee is paid in cash, and one side records the payment as a transfer between accounts.
Eliminate it in the group report
In the group report the fee is income in one company and an expense in the other, so both are eliminated, together with any balance still owed between the companies. Group net income doesn’t change. The worked example shows the full worksheet.
Whether a fee should be charged, and how much, is a question for the client and their tax adviser. This guide covers recording it consistently once it is.
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.