How to utilize account detail type for reporting?

[mayer1]

QBO has a feature in setting up accounts to select "Detail Type" which I can't seem to find a use for. I would like to run a P&L report by detail type as it would group all my supplies & material accounts etc. together for tax reporting. I have a similar issue with repairs and maintenance and office. I discovered I can't even sort the chart of accounts onscreen by detail type. I am not sure what the purpose of this field is. If anyone knows of a workaround, it would be extremely helpful as I am working with a non-profit that has various programs which uses separate accounts for tracking in the programs but on the Form 990, it all gets grouped together.

Thanks in advance

Mayer

[Mark_R]

Hello @Mayer,

As of now, the detail account type can't be seen in any transactional reports, like Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet reports. However, you can pull up the Account List Report to sort your accounts by detail type.

Here's how:

    1. On the left panel, click Reports.
    2. Search the Account List.
    3. On the Sort drop-down, click the drop-down under Sort by.
    4. Choose the Detail Type.
    5. Select "Ascending or Descending order" under Sort in.

Also, you can save the report by clicking "Save customization" for future use.

I encourage sending us Feedback by going to the Gear icon, then select Feedback. This way, our engineering team can do their best and add this as a feature in the future.

Please let us know if you have any other concerns. Have a great day!

[mayer1]

Thanks for the reply. Using it for the chart of accounts which won't show P&L numbers makes it meaningless to the end user. Hopefully QBO will use this field and make it meaningful in the near future.

Mayer

[mayer1]

Thanks for the reply. The account list and the related chart of account report do not show P&L balances making this field essentially useless. Hopefully QBO will update to make it a useful feature.

Mayer

PS just realized posts don't show right away so I created 2!

[Rustler · Accepted solution]

Account detail is an intuit invention, it does not exist in accounting, and just confuses people

account detail amounts to naming the account, if you watch when you select a detail type, the name becomes that detail type.  

other than that, and the confusion it causes,  it is useless.

create a parent account for supplies & materials, (you never post to parent accounts they are summing accounts)
make the rest of your supplies & material accounts sub accounts, now they are all together and the parent account shows the total of all sub accounts for taxes

same with other accounts, the only restriction is the the sub accounts be the same type as the parent, all expense, all income etc etc

[mayer1]

I understood it was an invention of QBO. I just wanted to utilize it in my reports to provide an additional structure capability since it is in the database. All they need to do is allow for groupings based on this tag.

[Charies_M]

Thanks for getting back, mayer1.

I want to make sure this gets taken cared of.

While the option to utilize account detail type for Profit and Loss report is not yet available in QuickBooks Online (QBO), we would appreciate if you can send this feedback straight to our product engineers. I'd also submitted a product enhancement request on my end to hopefully gain this functionality in the future.

You may send your feature request through this link: http://feedback.qbo.intuit.com/forums/168199. 

We're constantly working to ensure that we improve QBO to help run your business better. If you have any questions about this or anything else QuickBooks, don't hesitate to ask me here in the Community. I'll be here if you need anything else.

[sloach]

I keep getting 3 accounts created when I bring an invoice into QuickBooks Online.  They are:

a) Inventory Asset

b) Sales of Product Income

c) Billable Expense Income

If I change the detail type from "Sales of Product Income" to "Service/Fee" will this stop happening?  Will it cause me any problems?  

Thanks so much.

[JessT]

Hello sloach!

Technically, it won't cause any trouble, but accounting-wise, it's best if you can consult an accountant. Also, you can only change the Detail Type to Service/Fee Income if you haven't used the account to at least one of your inventory items. If you do, QuickBooks will give you a prompt saying you can't change it.

To know which of your inventory items use the Sales of Product Income account:

1. Click the Gear icon and choose Products and Services.
2. Click the Funnel icon and select Inventory in the Type field and hit Apply,
3. Click the small Gear icon just above the table.
4. Put a checkmark in the Income account checkbox.

You can edit the item and change the income account if you need to, and so you can change the Detail type of the said account. You'll also see a checkbox in there that lets you apply the change to the historical transactions of the item.

Please go back to this thread if you have additional questions.

[JMTTracy]

I used the feedback on the gear.  Is there any way yet to have this info show up on the profit and loss?  It is really needed for the end of year reports.

[RishBR]

Hi @mayer1,

Rishika here from Better Reports.

We recently launched our app Better Reports in QuickBooks, which will be able to help to create a custom report that shows total amount or current balance by account type and sub-type (Detail Type).

You also get several commonly used built-in reports, along with the ability to create your own. You can also automate your reporting workflow with scheduling them to run at a regular cadence and sent to your email or Google Sheets directly.

We offer a 14 day free trial, so you can see it all in action.

Also, as part of our offering, we'll be happy to create the custom reports for you as well.

Once you install Better Reports, please contact us and we'll be happy to set this up for you!