Frequently asked questions

What does VarianceDesk do?
It connects to QuickBooks Online, pulls your actuals, compares them to your budget, and produces board-ready budget-vs-actual variance analysis with commentary and a PDF + Excel export.
Do I need my budget in QuickBooks?
No. You can pull a Budget from QuickBooks, or upload a CSV mapped to accounts and periods using our template.
How is favorable vs unfavorable determined?
It is direction-aware. For revenue, coming in over budget is favorable; for expenses, coming in over budget is unfavorable. Each variance is scored by its impact on net income.
What is the net-income bridge?
A waterfall that starts at budgeted net income and adds each driver to arrive at actual net income. The drivers sum exactly to the net variance.
Does the commentary make up explanations?
No. Commentary is grounded only in the numbers and phrases causes as "driven by" the actual line movements versus budget. It never invents business events.
How do materiality thresholds work?
You set a dollar and a percent threshold. Variances that clear the thresholds are flagged as material; smaller noise is suppressed.
Is my data secure?
OAuth tokens are encrypted at rest and rotated on every refresh. Each account can only access its own data via row-level security.
Is there a free plan?
There is no perpetual free tier. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial (no credit card), and there is a public live demo you can explore anytime. After that, choose Starter ($49/mo, any one tool, 1 company), Suite ($199/mo, all 11 tools, up to 3 entities), or Bookkeeping (from $549/mo, Suite plus a dedicated bookkeeper).
What does it cost?
Starter is $49/mo ($39/mo billed annually) for any one tool and 1 company. Suite is $199/mo ($159/mo annually) for all 11 tools and up to 3 entities, fully featured. Bookkeeping starts at $549/mo (Suite plus a dedicated bookkeeper, priced by monthly expense volume). Every plan includes a 14-day free trial.
Is VarianceDesk affiliated with Intuit?
No. VarianceDesk is an independent application. QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc.