QuickBooks standard reports don’t provide real-time visibility into department spending. You’re stuck manually regenerating reports throughout the day to see current budget performance, which means you’re always working with outdated information.
Here’s how to build dashboards that update automatically as transactions hit QuickBooks.
Create live department spend dashboards using Coefficient
Coefficient transforms QuickBooks data into real-time department spend monitoring dashboards. You get automated data synchronization and live calculations that eliminate the lag time between transactions and dashboard updates.
How to make it work
Step 1. Set up live data imports with hourly refresh schedules.
Import Transaction List reports filtered by Class (department) with hourly refresh schedules. This ensures spending data updates throughout the day as transactions are entered in QuickBooks, giving you near real-time visibility.
Step 2. Create multi-department views and expense categorization.
Use Coefficient’s filtering to create department-specific imports or build a master dataset with department breakdowns. Import Account data to properly categorize spending by expense type and create meaningful budget comparisons.
Step 3. Build real-time calculations and visual indicators.
Create formulas that calculate daily, weekly, and monthly spend rates by department. Since Coefficient maintains live connections, these metrics update automatically. Add charts and conditional formatting that highlight departments approaching budget limits.
Step 4. Set up automated alerts and proactive budget management.
Use conditional formatting or Google Sheets notifications when departments exceed spending thresholds. This enables proactive budget management instead of reactive month-end surprises.
Monitor department spending as it happens
The key advantage is eliminating the lag time between QuickBooks transactions and dashboard updates. You get true real-time budget monitoring that QuickBooks alone can’t deliver. Build your dashboard and start monitoring department spending in real-time.