Question

Quickbooks Support Is Terrible (2 Open Questions on Chart of Accounts/CFs)

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
June 22, 2021
7 replies
32 views

I have tried calling Quickbooks multiple times. The representatives either hang up on me or disconnect the screen share when a question gets too complicated. This experience has been absolutely miserable. In fact, I was just hung up on after a 40 minute hold where the customer support representative was showing me how to look up the question in the Help Community! (Of course, I tried that before I called....hence the reason for the call). Here are the current open questions I have related to Quickbooks Online. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

1. I have certain accounts in the Chart of Accounts, which show a $0. When I try and make them inactive, I receive the following error message: This account cannot be inactivated because there are transactions in it that have a non-zero balance. But, the account already shows a zero balance, so not sure why I am receiving this message? I called last week on this and was told someone would be in touch with me to fix. No one has reached out.

2. Through trial and error, I've learned that the categorization (Operating/Investing/Financing) on the statement of cash flows is driven by the account classification in the Chart of Accounts. For example, if the account is categorized as "Long-term liabilities" it AUTOMATICALLY maps to the Financing section of the Statement of Cash Flows. Is there any work around this to have independent mappings between the Chart of Accounts and Statement of Cash Flows. For example, a "lease liability" is a long-term liability, however, it should be within the Operating section of the SoCFs. Further, "stock compensation/warrant" are equity accounts, however, they should be within the Operating section of the SoCFs. Last example, "right-of-use asset" is a long-term asset (based on the logic, Quickbooks has this flowing into Investing), but this should be an Operating CF.

Any assistance would be welcomed. Thanks.

QuickBooks Online

G

Giovann_G

Moderator

This isn't the kind of impression that we'd like you to have, aginsberg.

I'd like to share information about managing the Chart of Accounts.

The error "This account cannot be inactivated because there are transactions in it that have a non-zero balance" occurs when:

An account has multiple transactions in it.
It's a default account in QuickBooks.

There are several ways on how to get rid of this issue. First, you can delete the transactions before inactivating the account. If you don't want to delete entries, you can merge the account. You can refer to this guide here: Merge accounts in QuickBooks Online. Before doing so, you can consult your accountant. This way, you can guarantee that your books are accurate and prevent messing up your records.

On the other hand, mapping the Chart of Account or Statement of Cash Flows is currently unavailable. The Chart of Accounts allocates every transaction to a specific category so you can see a complete list of sales and expenses. While the Statement of Cash Flows provides you a clear view of the financial health of your business. Base on your example, liability defaults to the financing section since it's a fund that is not yours to keep or this will be used against the Gross Sale. You can check this guide here to learn more about Statement of Cash Flows and how the activities reflect on the statement: A Guide to Cash Flow Statements with Template.

Adding these resources to help you manage the Chart of Accounts in QBO. You can read them to learn more:

Keep me posted if you have any other questions about the Chart of Accounts or Cash flows. I'm more than happy to help.

A

aginsbergAuthor

Chart of Accounts: There are transactions in an account netting to $0. When I update the reporting rules to hide $0 balances, one of these accounts still shows. How do I suppress the account so a $0 doesn't appear on the financials? Alternatively, is there a way to merge transactions from a system required parent account to a customized subaccount to get rid of this issue?

Statement of Cash Flows: This isn't helpful at all. The mapping on the chart of accounts should not drive the mapping on the SoCFs. There can be long-term liabilities, which are NOT financing in nature. Based on ASC 842, for example, a lease liability is a long term liability for leases greater than 1 year. The guidance further states that lease liabilities created as a result of implementing ASC 842 should be classified as Operating cash flows. How can we align the setup in Quickbooks Online with U.S. GAAP?

T

TirzahC

Level 4

Hello there, aginsberg.

To keep your Chart of Accounts organized, you can make an account inactive . This essentially deletes it. QuickBooks hides the account from lists and menus but keeps records of past transactions on your reports. Merging transaction is not possible. However, If you have an account with a $0 balance, you can delete the other transaction and edit the remaining transaction.

To delete an account, here’s what you’ll need to do:

Click on the gear icon at the top.
Under Your Company section, select Chart of Accounts (COA).
Look for the account that you want to delete.
In the Action column, choose the drop-down then click Delete.
Click Yes when asked if you want to delete.

For future help with editing or deleting accounts, you can refer to the link. It'll give you the overview and the steps. Moreover, you can check this article to learn more about types and common tasks about accounts: Understand QuickBooks Chart of Accounts.

In regards to your concern, I recommend consulting an accountant first to align the business set up with GAAP. This is to ensure that everything is accurate, and the reporting of your book is moving well.

You can also use this link for reference:

Let me also share this article that you can use for your future reference: How to group Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable.

If you have other ideas you'd like to share, feel free to drop a comment below. I'll be sure to get back to you.

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