Setting up sub-accounts to capture income and expenses for a recurring annual event.

Hi Carving,

It sounds like you put off an interesting event. How you have set it up is an option. I have another option that might work for you, depending on how you require your data to be reported.

How you set up your accounts will depend on how you need to track the amounts. If they can all go into one account and you only need to see the results broken up by session/instructor, you could look at using class tracking. You create a Class List and add a Class to the transactions related to those income and expenses. When you've completed the event, you can pull up a Profit and Loss by Class report. If you like to look into Class Tracking, review this article: Set up and use class tracking in QuickBooks Desktop. 

Let me know if you have any questions. I'm here to help. Take care.

Thanks very much for your prompt reply Tammy.
Before I attempt to try your alternate suggestion is it possible to open a "practice account" on Desktop? I can see that there is an option to open a "Sample File" but will this come preloaded with either our own data or fictitious data? I really do not want to screw up our main account. Regards

Thanks for reaching back out for clarification, Carving. The sample file will be fictitious data and is a separate file from your company file, so go for it. Another suggestion would be to back up your file before making any changes. If you're not satisfied with the way it's working, restore the file from your prior backup.

I'm here to help if you have any other questions. Have an awesome weekend!

Hi Tammy.

I am a senior and hence I am not a "techie" so I apologize for troubling you again but I have two further questions:

1) on the practice file I cannot see any account numbers assigned.  Unlike Desktop, when I created a new account in the practice file there was no entry box to enter the account number.  Am I missing something or is this the way the practice account is set up?

2) I assume that I must stay within the 40000 and 60000 series for income and expenses accordingly.  Is there a way to expand into 50000 and 70000 series?

Again, I appreciate your assistance.  Regards.

Hi Carving.

Allow me to clarify this a bit for you and help you get back to business. The reason that you don't see account numbers in the test account is due to them not being turned on. Account numbers are not turned on by default so you'd need to go into the settings and turn them on. You can enable account numbers by going to Edit>Preferences>Accounting>Company Preferences>Click on Use Account Numbers. Once it's turned on you'll see account numbers show up on the accounts. As for account numbers you can make them whatever you want as they're there for your personal tracking purposes. If you wish to edit an account number you just need to select Edit Account and change the number in the account number section.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out and we'd be happy to help.