QuickBooks setup checklist
The QuickBooks setup checklist for a new file
The setup checklist, phase by phase
This is a phased QuickBooks setup checklist for a brand-new company file — settle the company and fiscal-year basics, build the chart of accounts, enter opening balances, then connect banks, add products and sales tax, and set up users. Work it top to bottom; your progress saves in your browser, so you can close the tab and come back.
Last reviewed October 2026 by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
The setup checklist, phase by phase
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The setup checklist, phase by phase
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Company & fiscal year
Chart of accounts
Opening balances
Bank connections
Products, services & sales tax
Users & finish
The list is print-friendly — to keep a copy, use your browser's print option and choose Save as PDF.
Before you start, and two steps people skip
- Gather first: legal name and EIN, entity type, fiscal year start, the books' start date, every bank, card and loan statement for that date, open invoices and unpaid bills at that date, and your sales-tax registrations.
- Invite your accountant as an accountant user: Settings → Manage users → Accounting firms; it doesn't count toward your user limit (Intuit, checked October 2026).
- Set up payroll last, once the wage, tax and liability accounts it posts to exist.
How to use this checklist
Set a new file up in phases, top to bottom. The company and fiscal-year settings shape every report, so they come first; the chart of accounts has to exist before balances can land in it; and opening balances have to be right before you connect the bank feeds, or the feed will pull in transactions your opening balances already account for. Get those three phases in order and the rest — products, sales tax, users — is straightforward.
Tick items as you finish them — your progress saves in your browser on this device, so you can stop and come back. Nothing here is sent to us unless you ask for a review. For the reasoning behind each choice, the QuickBooks setup guide walks through the why; the chart of accounts explainer covers the one phase people most often get wrong.
Questions about the setup checklist
What order should I set up a new QuickBooks file in?
Company and fiscal-year settings first, then the chart of accounts, then opening balances — in that order. Balances have to land in accounts that already exist, and the accounting method and fiscal year shape every report you'll run, so those decisions come before you enter a single transaction.
What opening balance date should I use?
Pick a clean start date — usually the first day of a month, quarter, or fiscal year — and enter each account's balance as of the day before. Everything dated on or after the start date gets entered as normal transactions; everything before it is captured in the opening balances.
Does my progress save?
Yes. Each item you tick is stored in your browser on this device, so you can close the tab and pick up where you left off. It is not sent anywhere; clearing your browser data or switching devices starts the list fresh.
What if I get stuck setting up the file?
Opening balances that won't tie out, a chart of accounts you're unsure about, or sales tax across multiple jurisdictions are the parts people hand off. A free QuickBooks review will tell you whether a new file is set up right before you build months of data on top of it.
- Catch-up bookkeeping checklist— when the new file starts behind
- Desktop to Online checklist— when the setup starts from a Desktop file being moved