The broker TMS that closes the loop with QuickBooks.
The most common back-office failure mode at freight brokerages under 50 brokers: a coordinator closes a load in the TMS, an accounting person opens QuickBooks the next morning, retypes the invoice, and reconciles by hand at month-end. Keelway closes that loop. Invoices push to QBO on load completion, carrier pay pushes on receipt, AR aging and broker margin reporting both run off live QBO data. No double-entry, no month-end surprise.
What the integration actually does
Shipper invoices push to QBO automatically
Bills push on carrier pay events
Customer and vendor sync
Margin and AR off live QBO data
Why a real integration matters more than "exports to QuickBooks"
A lot of broker TMSs market a "QuickBooks integration" that turns out to be a CSV export the accountant imports manually every Friday. That is not an integration; it's a manual reconciliation job dressed up. Keelway's integration is real OAuth-based two-way sync — invoices and bills generate as native QBO objects, customer and vendor records mirror in both directions, and the broker margin reports run off the same numbers the accountant is closing the books with.
For SMB brokerages running QBO and a separate spreadsheet for the "TMS", the math gets even better. See the SMB rollout case study for the brokerage that retired its shared Google Sheet alongside the QBO integration going live.
Frequently asked questions
How does Keelway's QuickBooks integration work?+
OAuth from Keelway to QuickBooks Online (we support QBO; on-prem QuickBooks Desktop is not in scope). When a load is invoiced, Keelway generates the shipper invoice and pushes it to QBO with line-item detail (linehaul, fuel surcharge, accessorials). When a carrier is paid, Keelway pushes the bill to QBO. AR aging, broker margin per load, and tax-classification fields all sync. Standard two-way sync on customers, vendors, and chart-of-accounts mapping.
Does Keelway replace QuickBooks?+
No. Keelway is the freight broker TMS — load entry, carrier records, dispatch, rate confirmations, AI carrier-email triage. QuickBooks remains the general ledger, the source of truth for tax, and the system where you actually close the books. Keelway pushes the broker-specific accounting events (invoices, bills, payments) into QuickBooks so the accountant runs reports the way they always have.
What about factoring? Carrier pay through factor companies?+
Yes. When a carrier uses a factor company (Triumph, Apex, RTS), Keelway routes the carrier pay through the factor's required workflow — sometimes a NOA-flagged bill in QBO with the factor as the payee, sometimes a direct factor integration where the factor publishes an API. The most common factors are wired up; the long tail uses the manual NOA workflow inside QBO. Carrier-pay tracking and AP aging both surface in the Keelway dashboard.
What if we use NetSuite or Sage instead of QuickBooks?+
NetSuite integration is on the roadmap and prioritized by mid-market 3PL pipeline. Sage is not currently on the roadmap. For enterprise tenants that need NetSuite specifically, talk to sales — we have done custom NetSuite integrations on enterprise contracts. SMB and growing mid-market brokerages on QuickBooks are the day-one supported pattern.
Why bundle TMS and accounting integration?+
The number-one back-office failure mode at small and mid-market brokerages is double-entry between the TMS and QuickBooks. Coordinators close a load in the TMS; an accounting person opens QuickBooks and types the invoice. Different people, different timing, different reconciliation work at month-end. A real TMS-to-QBO integration eliminates that reconciliation job. Keelway's integration was specifically designed against that failure mode.
Close the loop. One bill, no reconciliation.
Request accessRelated
The full TMS feature set — load entry, carriers, dispatch, AI triage.
12-broker shop, spreadsheet retired alongside the QBO integration going live.
Tailwind is QuickBooks-native too — honest side-by-side with Keelway on broker focus.