How do I customise a report showing a month by month balance sheet comparison

Hi user96878,

You can run a Balance Sheet Comparison Report to compare monthly figures. Ensure that the Report Period is set to a month, and it will bring in the current month's data vs. the previous month. Also ensure that the Compare Another Period drop-down menu is set to the Previous Period, instead of Previous Year.

To go back further, adjust the date ranges to the period of your choice and then select Run Report.

Bonny

Hi there,

Can there be more than 1 month comparison?

Hi Marie GPG,

Yes, you can customise the comparison reports to compare to different periods:

1. Go to the Reports tab and search for the Balance Sheet Comparison report.
2. Customise by changing the 'Report Period' to your preferred range. For example, to compare last week to the week before, select 'Last Week' and under the 'Compare Another Period' dropdown, choose 'Previous Period'. You can also choose 'Previous Year' instead of 'Previous Period' to run a yearly comparison. Then select Run Report.

-Kass

Hi Kass,

I was enquiring as to whether you can compare more than 1 previous period.

I would like to run a report to compare 3 different quarters

Marie

Hi Marie GPG, 

You can absolutely compare more than one period at a time, and depending on how you want to achieve this there can be a few different reports to take a look into. 

If you're looking to see the figures for multiple periods at once but are not looking to see their comparison, then you can just change the grouping of the columns on the report that you are looking at. In this case, for the balance sheet, you can run the regular Balance Sheet report, and then in the top left under the date range, change the Display Columns By setting from Total only to Calendar Quarters or Fiscal Quarters, or however you would like to separate the columns to compare the values. Then you'll just need to set the date range of the report to include all of the quarters that you want to display - then when you run the report it will display the data from that report period separated into quarterly amounts. 

If you want to include the comparison values, change percentages etc. in addition to this, you can either enable the "Compare another period" options at the top of the page, or you can similarly change the columns setting from with a report such as the Balance Sheet Comparison report. Using these settings, you should be able to customise the report to display the periods that you are looking for - if you still have any questions, don't hesitate to reply in this thread and we'll be happy to help out further!

-Lucas

I tried this and it only showed comparison for one period.

Xero is capable of comparing to multiple periods (more than one period) and I can't figure it out in QB.

Update:

I was able to figure it out so all good.

Though you stated you figured it out, I wanted to put the steps that I used for a year long, month by month balance sheet comparison so others could use this as a resource. I figured it out myself, but I came to this thread first trying to expedite my process.

Once you are on the balance sheet I selected "custom" for my dates. I clicked Customize Report, set my dates from 01/31/XXXX to 12/31/XXXX. I also selected display columns by month.

How do you customize a report in QB online so that the current period is on the left and the oldest period is on the right.  When I run a monthly income and expense by month compared to last year it puts Jan on the left and Dec on the right.  I want it the other way around, Dec on the left and Jan on the right.

Glad to have you join this conversation, Dwight52.

Let me share some insights about reports in QuickBooks Online. 

The way you see the report in QBO is working as designed. You may export the report to Excel and filter it to get the data you wanted. 

I'll show you how:

1. On the Balance Sheet Report page, select the Export icon.
2. Then select Export to Excel.
3. Save the file somewhere you can easily find it, like your Downloads folder or your desktop.
   

You can also check this article to learn more details on exporting reports to Excel: Export your reports to Excel from QuickBooks Online.

I'm just a post away if you need a helping hand in managing your reports.

I have tried setting custom periods, ie I want to see the balance for each month in the current financial year. But when doing that, the 'Display columns by tab only has the option of "Other".