Lightspeed Accounting is currently available in select regions as a paid add-on to existing Lightspeed Restaurant subscriptions. Contact your Sales Account Manager or email sales@lightspeedhq.com to ask about purchasing Lightspeed Accounting.

Set up Lightspeed Accounting by enabling it in your Back Office, connecting supported accounting software, such as QuickBooks, and configuring its sync settings. Lightspeed sales data will sync to your accounting software daily or weekly, by item or accounting group, and to custom account mappings based on how you set it up.

Enabling Lightspeed Accounting

Begin setting up Lightspeed Accounting by enabling this feature in the Back Office. Once enabled, continue setup by connecting your accounting software to determine which program sales data will sync to.

Important: Lightspeed Accounting is currently available in select regions as a paid add-on to existing Lightspeed Restaurant subscriptions. Contact your Sales Account Manager or email sales@lightspeedhq.com to ask about purchasing Lightspeed Accounting.

1. Log in to the Back Office with your Lightspeed Restaurant credentials.
2. From the navigation menu, go to Integration > Accounting.
3. Click Enable.
   
   
4. Enter Lightspeed Restaurant credentials for an admin user and click Log in.
5. Enable all toggle options, then click Authorize to allow the integration to access your Lightspeed sales data.
6. Follow the steps in Connecting your accounting software to continue setting up Lightspeed Accounting.
   
   

Connecting your accounting software

After enabling Lightspeed Accounting, connect your accounting software to determine which program Lightspeed sales data will sync to. Available software options may vary based on where your business is located but can include QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Sage One, Xero, and/or Exact.

Select your accounting software to filter the steps in this section:

• 1. Ensure all users are logged out of your accounting software.
  2. Click Connect next to QuickBooks Online, Sage One, Xero, or Exact.
  3. In the pop-up window, enter the admin credentials for your accounting software and click Sign In or Log In.
     
     
  4. Click Connect or Allow access to authorize your accounting software to connect to Lightspeed Accounting.
     
     
  5. Follow all remaining prompts to finish connecting the accounting software.
  6. After the connection is established, close the pop-up window and click Done in the Back Office.
  7. Follow the steps in Setting a sync schedule and posting method to continue setting up Lightspeed Accounting.
• 1. Click Connect next to QuickBooks Desktop, and a QWC file (QuickBooks Web Connector) will download automatically.
  2. Make note of the password displayed on screen.
     
     
  3. Visit QuickBooks Support and follow the steps to download the QuickBooks Web Connector.
  4. Complete steps 4a–4i in QuickBooks Desktop:
     1. Open your company file.
     2. Go to File > App Management > Update Web Services to launch the Web Connector.
     3. In the Web Connector window, click Add an Application.
        
        
     4. Select the QWC file downloaded in step 1, then click Open.
     5. Click OK to allow Web Connector to access your company file.
     6. When asked to allow the application to read and modify the company file, select Yes, always; allow access even if QuickBooks is not running and click Continue.
        
        
     7. Enter the password from step 2 into the Password field, then press the tab key.
     8. Click Yes to save the password.
     9. Check the box next to your company and click Update Selected.
        
        
  5. In the Back Office, click Done.
  6. Follow the steps in Setting a sync schedule and posting method to continue setting up Lightspeed Accounting.

Setting a sync schedule and posting method

Once your accounting software is connected, set a sync schedule and posting method. The sync schedule controls how often Lightspeed will send sales data to your accounting software (daily or weekly). The posting method determines the format used for accounting invoices or journal entries.

1. Select an option from the Sync schedule drop-down menu to decide how often Lightspeed Accounting will sync sales data to your accounting software.
   • Sync daily - Sales data will sync once per day and will include a 24-hour period based on the hours of your business day as set in Lightspeed Restaurant (by default, 5:30 AM to 5:29 AM the next day). To change your business day hours, contact Support.
   • Sync weekly on… - Sales data will sync once per week on the chosen day of the week and include seven individual end-of-day summaries.
   • Pause - Sales data will not sync until a new sync schedule is selected.
2. Enter an email address in the Notification email field to receive an email alert when sales data fails to sync.
3. Select a posting method to decide the format in which sales data will sync to your accounting software.
   • Invoices by items - Invoices containing daily sales summaries and payment methods used will be sent to your accounting software. Item sales will be reported and mapped individually.
   • Invoices by accounting groups - Invoices containing daily sales summaries and payment methods used will be sent to your accounting software. Item sales will be grouped by accounting group.
   • Journal entry - General journal entries will be created based on your end-of-day summary, and product sales will be grouped by category. Payments will be posted based on your mapping configuration.
   To learn how to change the posting method after initial setup, visit Using Lightspeed Accounting.
4. If choosing an Invoices posting method, select whether to create reconciliation invoices as Approved or Draft.
   
   Approved invoices use your accounting software’s payments. Draft invoices use $0 invoices with payments appearing as line items.
5. Follow the steps in Mapping accounts and additional settings to finish setting up Lightspeed Accounting.
   
   

Mapping accounts and additional settings

Finish setting up Lightspeed Accounting by mapping your Lightspeed sales data to the general ledger (GL) accounts in your accounting software where you want that information to sync. Configure additional settings to add a default customer name or invoice number or to enable location tracking.

Important: Lightspeed cannot provide accounting advice on how to map accounts. For guidance, we recommend consulting a certified accountant.

1. If using QuickBooks Online, Sage, or Xero, complete the preliminary instructions listed under this step. If using different accounting software, go to step 2.
   
   Note: Click the relevant button below to expand the steps for your accounting software:
   • Ensure the Sales tax feature is enabled in QuickBooks Online so you can map sales tax from Lightspeed to QuickBooks.
     
     1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
     2. On the navigation menu, go to Taxes > Sales tax.
     3. Follow the prompts to set up sales tax.
     4. On the Lightspeed Accounting page in the Back Office, click Refresh accounts to sync the changes made in QuickBooks.
        
        
   • For any accounts in Sage that you want payment types to sync to, ensure that those accounts are assigned to the Bank category so they can be selected in Lightspeed Accounting.
     
     1. Sign in to Sage.
     2. On the navigation menu, go to Settings.
     3. Click Chart of Accounts under Financial Settings.
     4. Click the account you want all payment types to sync to.
     5. Select Bank from the Category drop-down menu.
        
        
     6. Click Save to save changes.
     7. (Optional) If you want to map individual payment types (e.g., cash, credit, etc.) to separate accounts, repeat steps 1d–1f for each additional payment type account.
     8. On the Lightspeed Accounting page in the Back Office, click Refresh accounts to sync the changes made in Sage.
        
        
   • Enable the payments setting for at least one account in Xero so you can map the payment types processed in Lightspeed to your accounting software.
     
     1. Sign in to Xero.
     2. On the navigation menu, go to Accounting > Chart of accounts.
     3. Select the account you want all payment types to sync to.
        Important: Only Current Asset type accounts in Xero are compatible for syncing payment types. Bank type accounts are not supported for this function.
     4. Turn on the Enable payments to this account setting.
        
        
     5. Click Save to save changes.
     6. (Optional) If you want to map individual payment types (e.g., cash, credit, etc.) to separate accounts, repeat steps 1b–1e for each additional payment type account.
     7. On the Lightspeed Accounting page in the Back Office, click Refresh accounts to sync the changes made in Xero.
        
        
2. Select a Default sales account for sales to sync to in your accounting software. All sales will post to this account unless individually mapped in the next step.
   
   Note: Sales are often mapped to an income or sales type account.
   Missing a particular account from the drop-down menu? Use Refresh accounts to resync the list with your accounting software.
   
3. (Optional) To map individual items or accounting groups to separate accounts, follow steps 3a–3d.
   
   Whether you will map items or accounting groups is based on the posting method selected.
   1. Click Map individual items or Map individual accounting groups.
   2. Select accounts for individual items or accounting groups to sync to. Unmapped item or accounting group sales will sync to the Default sales account set in step 2.
   3. Click Save changes to save.
   4. Click the back button to return to the main Lightspeed Accounting page.
4. Select a Default payment account for payment types to sync to in your accounting software. All payment types will post to this account unless individually mapped in step 6.
   
   Note: Payments are often mapped to an asset or bank type account.
   Missing a particular account from the drop-down menu? Ensure you completed step 1, then use Refresh accounts to resync the list with your accounting software.
   
5. (Optional) From the Split credit card payments by card type drop-down menu, select Yes or No to decide whether to map credit card payments individually by card type (e.g., Visa, Amex, etc.).
6. (Optional) To map individual payment types and credit card types to separate accounts, follow steps 6a–6d.
   1. Click Map individual payment types.
   2. Select accounts for individual payment or card types to sync to. Any unmapped payment type will sync to the default account set in step 4.
   3. Click Save changes to save.
   4. Click the back button to return to the main Lightspeed Accounting page.
7. Select a tax account or tax code to map each Lightspeed tax rate to.
   
   Note: Taxes are often mapped to a liability type account.
   Missing a particular account from the drop-down menu? Ensure you completed step 1, then use Refresh accounts to resync the list with your accounting software.
   
8. Select a tips account for tips to sync to in your accounting software.
   
   Note: Tips are often mapped to a liability type account.
   Missing a particular account from the drop-down menu? Use Refresh accounts to resync the list with your accounting software.
   
9. (Optional) Enable Auto-payout tips if you pay credit card tips in cash to staff each night and want Lightspeed Accounting to record these as payouts.
10. Configure the Additional settings section:
    • Default customer name (required) - Enter a generic customer name to appear in the customer field in your accounting software for any sale without a customer assigned (for example, Anonymous customer).
    • Custom transaction number (optional) - Enter a four-digit prefix to add to invoice numbers. This helps keep invoices in sequential order if you previously used a different accounting system.
    • Location/Class tracking (optional) - Adds a tracking field for assigning transactions to different locations or classes, such as restaurants, sales regions, and countries. Ensure the location/class tracking setting is enabled in your accounting software before toggling on this setting in Lightspeed Accounting. This setting is only available for QuickBooks and Xero.
    
11. Click Save changes to save and start syncing to your accounting software.
    To learn how to change account mappings after initial setup, visit Using Lightspeed Accounting.

What’s next?

After setting up Lightspeed Accounting, learn how to update your posting method and account mappings, repost and resync data, and view the sync history. See Using Lightspeed Accounting to learn more.