What QuickBooks gives through its API
Control.dev connects to QuickBooks Online with Intuit OAuth, signed in by a company administrator. Intuit has one accounting scope for both reading and updating, Control.dev only reads with it and never asks for the payments scope, and QuickBooks stays the book of record.
- Journal entries, general ledger reports and the chart of accounts
- Classes, departments, items, customers and vendors
- Invoices, bills, payments, deposits and transfers
What an AI client gets from QuickBooks alone today
Intuit runs two connections for QuickBooks users. The QuickBooks connector for Claude generates financial reports, benchmarks a business against its industry, imports transactions, creates invoices and estimates and accepts payment through payment links, and is available to US customers only1. The Intuit QuickBooks plugin in ChatGPT connects a QuickBooks Online account to ChatGPT, also for customers in the US2.
For developers, Intuit publishes an open source QuickBooks Online MCP Server with 145 tools across 29 entity types, journal entries among them, and 11 financial reports, which runs as a local process on the developer’s machine against a QuickBooks Online company3. Intuit’s hosted MCP server is by invitation only, for partners in its App Partner Program, with tools for customers, products, sales orders, invoices, estimates and payment links4.
What Control.dev’s MCP adds above QuickBooks
Control.dev reads QuickBooks and every other ledger the group runs, then gives the whole group to the same AI client over MCP.
- Every entity on one group chart Each entity’s accounts are mapped to one group chart of accounts, and the eliminations, currency translation and CTA are done before the client reads. The eliminations sit in a column of their own.
- Statements first, not a raw export The client starts from the statements and the group structure, not a raw export of the general ledger. It finds what needs attention there and traces it to the entries.
- Every figure opens to its entries Every actual opens to the transactions behind it, and every row stays connected to its source system and legal entity.
- Your role decides what it sees Over MCP the client gets at most the access your role allows in Control.dev, and a read-only session rejects write tools.
- A plan with a reason on every cell The client can also draft budget values over MCP, and every value it writes carries its reason. The budget version keeps its change history, so a later variance analysis compares the actuals with the assumptions.
- Other MCP servers in the same conversation The client can use its other MCP servers in the same conversation, a CRM for example, and bring that data into a plan or an analysis next to the group’s actuals.
How each AI client connects is on the Control.dev MCP server, every tool it exposes on MCP tools and reusable instructions on finance skills, every integration and what comes in from it on the integrations page, and how the group view is built on multi-entity consolidation.
Already connected Claude to QuickBooks yourself? Control.dev vs building it yourself with Claude compares what you build and keep alive, what the client reads, who may change what, and what it costs.
QuickBooks MCP in three steps
Our team sets up the integration with you. Most companies have live data in under two hours from the first call, a larger group takes days, the hardest a few weeks, and there is no setup fee.
- 01Connect QuickBooks with Intuit OAuth A QuickBooks company administrator, or an accountant with company admin access, adds QuickBooks as the entity’s data source in Control.dev, signs in with Intuit, selects the company and authorises the access. The scope and the steps are in the QuickBooks integration guide.
- 02Copy the server URL and the client ID into your client In Control.dev, open Data outputs and then MCP Server. Add the server URL and the client ID from the MCP Server page to Claude, ChatGPT or Codex as a remote MCP server, then sign in with your Control.dev login. If the page shows no client ID yet, ask us: registering your client is part of setup.
- 03Ask something you already know One company, one month, one figure. Check it against the same view in Control.dev, then ask the bigger questions.
Questions
How many integrations does a QuickBooks group need, and what does it cost?
One per QuickBooks company: one integration is one connected accounting system, such as one entity’s ledger. Control.dev publishes its monthly prices, excluding VAT: EUR 249 for one entity and one integration, EUR 499 for consolidation with three integrations and EUR 999 with five, where a Stripe connection counts as one integration, with no implementation fee, no multi-year contract and a notice period from one month. Larger groups are priced on request: book a demo.
Does Control.dev write to QuickBooks?
No. Control.dev sends only read requests to QuickBooks, so nothing it does changes QuickBooks. Eliminations and group entries stay in Control.dev.
Where does the AI process our data?
Control.dev’s own AI features process data in the EU, and Control.dev’s data is hosted on Google Cloud in Hamina, Finland, encrypted in transit and at rest. What your AI client reads is processed under your agreement with its provider, so where that data goes is your decision.
How fast does a correction in QuickBooks reach the group view?
Scheduled syncs run at least daily, and you can trigger a refresh on demand. Backdated entries and corrections are synced again automatically, so the next sync carries a correction into the group view and into what the client reads.
What do Intuit’s QuickBooks connectors and MCP servers do, and when do you use both?
For US customers, the QuickBooks connector for Claude reports, imports transactions and creates invoices and estimates1. For developers, Intuit’s open source server gives an AI client tools for the entities and reports of a QuickBooks company3. Use them for work inside QuickBooks. Use Control.dev for the group: entities on QuickBooks and on other ledgers on one group chart of accounts, with the eliminations done. One AI client can use both in the same conversation.