QuickBooks Online reporting for CFOs
QuickBooks Online keeps the books. finstory tells their story.
You have outgrown spreadsheets, not QuickBooks Online. Meet Reeve, your AI reporting manager: connect QuickBooks Online and add your KPI sheet once, and Reeve turns your close into reports the board can read and a story it remembers. Actual against budget, every line open by location or class, and the reason behind each variance, drafted with you.
- Connects to QuickBooks Online, read-only
- Live within 15 minutes
- Built to SOC 2 standards
Where QuickBooks Online reporting gets hard
QuickBooks Online keeps the books right. Your board reads a story.
QuickBooks Online is a great home for your accounting. Reporting to a board is a different job, and it is where a lean finance team loses its week.
“The P&L is right, but it isn't a board pack.”
QuickBooks Online's reports are built for the books. The board pack is rebuilt every month in Excel and PowerPoint, by hand, by the same person who closed the month.
With finstoryYour close becomes a board story, with tables, charts and commentary on one page, in the same shape every month.
“Budget vs. actual stops at the account.”
A QuickBooks Online budget can be split by one of class, location or customer. The forecast and the latest version live in a spreadsheet next to it.
With finstoryActuals and budgets from QuickBooks Online, forecasts from a spreadsheet, side by side in one governed model.
“Now show me that by store.”
Every new cut, by location, class or product line, means another filter, another export and another pivot table.
With finstoryOpen any line one level at a time, by location or class. Sales by product line and store performance come ready made.
“The board wants the why.”
A report, or even an AI summary of one, tells the board what moved. The board wants the reasons only you know, right next to the numbers.
With finstoryReeve drafts the story from your governed reports. What the numbers can't explain, Reeve asks, and keeps your answer word for word, with your name and the time.
“Half the board pack isn't in QuickBooks Online.”
Headcount, pipeline, KPIs and the forecast live in other tools and spreadsheets. Stitching them to the accounting numbers is a monthly copy-paste job.
With finstoryLoad them next to your QuickBooks Online actuals with an Excel upload, so one story holds the whole picture. Because Reeve reads more than your books, it tells you why: sales beat plan on volume, not price.
“The board doesn't have a login.”
Every QuickBooks Online user is a seat on your plan, and board members don't live in your accounting system. So the numbers travel by email, and every attachment is a copy that ages.
With finstoryInvite your board to read the story on any screen, or export it to PowerPoint.
The board story
Numbers and narrative, on one page.
Every page pairs the headline with the figures behind it and the reason they moved. Drafted by Reeve, checked by you. Want it said differently? Just ask; the figures stay locked.
Sales and Margin Rate Split the $354K Beat.
Higher sales added $191K: $605K more revenue at the budgeted 31.6% margin. The richer 33.0% margin added $176K, and opex ran $14K over plan.
Net result: the beat came from gross profit, not from cost cuts.
EBITDA
$1.32M +$354K vs budget
Annotations
Higher sales
$605K of extra revenue at the budgeted 31.6% margin. Vancouver Superstore alone was $305K over budget.
Margin rate
33.0% against 31.6% budgeted. Marketplaces (+$95K gross profit) and corporate sales (+$62K) led; the direct web shop was $23K short.
Opex on plan
Operating expenses landed $14K (0.5%) over budget, so the beat came from gross profit.
Top locations · revenue
Revenue by month
| Jan | $10.29M |
|---|---|
| Feb | $9.00M |
| Mar | $11.49M |
| Apr | $12.21M |
| May | $12.70M |
How it works
From QuickBooks Online to the board story.
finstory reads your QuickBooks Online company read-only, organises the numbers the way finance thinks and keeps actuals, budget and forecast together. Every chart is built from your books, not typed by an AI, and every figure traces back to the ledger: click any number to see exactly where it came from.
In QuickBooks Online
For your board
- Chart of accounts and general ledgerP&L lines and KPIs your board knows
- Classes and locationsYour structures, opened level by level
- Standard and custom reportsGoverned reports that refresh with every load
- Budgets in QuickBooks Online or in spreadsheetsActual, budget and forecast side by side
- The story, with commentary next to the numbers
- On any screen for your board, or in PowerPoint
- Change the wording by asking Reeve
Month-end
Same close. A different week.
The close still takes the days it takes. What changes is everything after it. Soon, Reeve works overnight: by morning, your board story is drafted.
Today
- Run the P&L, the balance sheet and budget vs. actuals
- Export to Excel and rebuild the pivots by store and class
- Paste in the KPIs from the other spreadsheets
- Chase the reason behind each variance
- Write the commentary at midnight
- Email the deck, then the corrected deck
With finstory
- finstory loads the month from QuickBooks Online
- finstory checks the load and flags what looks odd
- Reeve drafts the board story, with chapters picked from what actually moved
- Review the draft and answer Reeve's questions on what only you know
- Your board reads it on any screen, or in PowerPoint
- Next month, Reeve starts from this story and checks what you said: still true?
Questions about QuickBooks Online reporting
Does finstory replace QuickBooks Online's reports?
No. Keep using QuickBooks Online's reports for day-to-day accounting. finstory takes your QuickBooks Online data and turns it into the monthly management and board story.
How does finstory connect to QuickBooks Online?
Directly and read-only. You sign in to QuickBooks Online and approve access; finstory never changes anything in your books.
Which QuickBooks Online plans work?
finstory reads the chart of accounts, classes, locations and the general ledger. Budgets come from QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced, or from a spreadsheet on any plan.
Do board members need a QuickBooks Online login?
No. Invite them to finstory to read the story on any screen, or send it as PowerPoint.
How long until our first story?
Once you connect QuickBooks Online, finstory loads your books and sets up your first reports for you. The video at the top of this page shows the whole flow.
How does early access work?
Early access is a short waitlist. When we open, everyone on it gets 14 days of free access with everything included. You add a card when your trial starts; it is charged only after the 14 days, and you can cancel before then.
Do we need Claude?
No. Reeve works inside finstory. If your team uses Claude, it can connect to finstory too.
Can the AI make up numbers?
No. Every figure comes from a governed report on your data, with an audit trail back to the source. The AI sets up the reports and quotes them; it never calculates a number itself. When the data can't explain a move, it asks you.
Does finstory do planning or consolidation?
No. Keep building your budget and forecasts, and running your consolidation, where you do today. finstory turns your close, budget and forecast into the board story.
Is our financial data safe?
Built to SOC 2 standards. finstory is hosted on Google Cloud and encrypted in transit and at rest, and your data is never used for marketing or demos. The details are on our security page.
Early access
Join the waitlist. Get 14 days free.
Early access to finstory for QuickBooks Online, with Reeve, your AI reporting manager, opens soon. Leave your details and we'll email you as soon as your 14 days of free access are ready.