Why does the "detail type" in the CoA not match the "detail type" in the drop down list I see when I edit an account?

Hi @lawrenanne1,

Welcome back to the Intuit Community! QuickBooks is a flexible program that helps you to manage your accounting with ease. I'll be glad to share more information so you're on the right track with your work.

The mismatch between the "detail type" in the Chart of Accounts and the drop-down list when editing an account in QuickBooks Online can occur due to several reasons:

• Account Type Restrictions: Certain account types have predefined detail types that QuickBooks Online enforces. When you edit an account, the drop-down list only shows the detail types that are compatible with the selected account type.
• Customization Limitations: QuickBooks Online does not allow custom detail types. The detail types available are fixed and determined by QuickBooks Online.
• Imported CoA: If you imported a chart of accounts from another system, there might be discrepancies between the imported detail types and the ones that QuickBooks Online supports.

To resolve this, you can review the detail types available for each account type in QuickBooks and ensure that your CoA aligns with these options.

That being said, I recommend consulting an accounting specialist for expert advice. This ensures your entries are recorded in a way that allows for you to navigate the program with peace of mind. You can get in touch with an accounting professional using this link here. Other accounting professionals are able to see this post in the Community and this will allow them to chime in.

Let me know if this info helps. I'm here to steer you in the right direction with navigating the program.

In this case, there was an imported GST account which is correctly labeled in the detail as "GST/HST payable" but QBO also created a "GST Suspense" account which is labeled in the details as "GST Suspense" which is fine insofar as that's what it is.  However, the latter was, prior to importation, a contra GST account where the company put their GST payments.  I don't want to lose the integrated account history and would like to merge these two accounts, but neither GST payable nor GST suspense show up in my list, so I'm unable to do so.

And for issues having to do with QBO software anomolies like this, please don't advise people to go to an accounting specialist-- I AM an accounting specialist, and I just spoke with another accounting specialist, and both of us are baffled at the number of non-accounting things the QBO software forces on the clients.  If you can't tell me how to merge these two accounts, this is a software issue, not an accounting issue.