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ohs88
Level 1

Net income in P&L does not match to net income in Balance Sheet (QuickBooks Desktop)

Hi all, my company changed its fiscal year from July to December. Hence, the previous fiscal year was from August 2017 to July 2018 (12 months). The current fiscal year is from August 2018 to December 2019 (15 months). Subsequent fiscal year end is December (ie. December 2020, December 2021, etc.). Now, my net income in Balance Sheet does not match to that in the Profit and Loss.

1) What should be the first month in the "Company Information" set up? August or January?

2) I have set the same filters for both the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss, but the net income is still different for both reports.

Thanks for the help.

(PS. I'm using QB Desktop, not QB online)

Solved
Best answer February 04, 2020

Best Answers
katherinejoyceO
QuickBooks Team

Net income in P&L does not match to net income in Balance Sheet (QuickBooks Desktop)

I appreciate you for coming back with more detailed information on your concern and what you've been trying to achieve, @ohs88.

 

I understand that you're changing your company operation setup from fiscal year to the calendar year. To clarify, you can follow the steps suggested by my peer @JamesDuanT in setting up your company information but use January as the first month of the year instead of December so you'll have January to December reporting. 

 

To answer your question, yes, the Balance Sheet should show YTD amounts. In fact, it would show you now the correct data when you run the report for the Calendar year (from January 1 - to December 31) after setting up your company info correctly. 

 

For future reference, read through our help article: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop. It helps you learn about how to use filters to specify whatever you want to display in your reports.  

 

Let me know if you need anything else or if you have other questions. I'll be here to help.

View solution in original post

4 Comments 4
JamesDuanT
Moderator

Net income in P&L does not match to net income in Balance Sheet (QuickBooks Desktop)

Let's get the data on your reports balanced, ohs88.

 

Based on the details you've provided above, you've changed the fiscal year's starting month to December. This should also be the starting date in your Company Information.

  1. Click Company at the top menu and select My Company.
  2. Click the pencil icon to edit the Company Information.
  3. In the Company Information window, select the Report Information menu.
  4. Change the First month in your Fiscal Year to December.
  5. Click OK.

When you access the two reports (Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss), make sure the following filters are the same:

  • Date
  • Report Basis: Accrual or Cash

If the same thing happens, we can drill-down the transactions associated to the Net Income.

  1. Open the Profit & Loss or the Balance Sheet.
  2. Click the amount for Net Income.
  3. Print or export it to Excel.

Compare the transactions and see which ones are causing the difference.

 

Let us know how this goes so we can help you more.

 

ohs88
Level 1

Net income in P&L does not match to net income in Balance Sheet (QuickBooks Desktop)

Hi James,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

Let me clarify on the change in fiscal year. In 2018 and before, the fiscal year end is July (ie. each fiscal year is from August to July). From 2018 onwards, the fiscal year end is changed to December to follow the calendar year. This means the current fiscal year is from August 2018 to December 2019, and the previous fiscal year is from August 2017 to July 2018. FYI, the fiscal year before the previous is from August 2016 to July 2017. Hence, I'm confused why the first month in my fiscal year is December. 

 

It seems that something is off for the net income in the Balance Sheet. I have clicked on the net income amount in the Profit and Loss, and the transactions are fine. The net income detail report shows transactions from August 2018 to December 2019. When I clicked on the net income amount in the Balance Sheet, the date filter in the net income detail report was initially from 31 December 2019 to 31 December 2019. Hence, the discrepancy in the net income. After correcting the date filter from August 2018 to December 2019, the net income in the net income detail report matches to the net income in the Profit and Loss. However, no matter how I edit the date filter in the Balance Sheet, I still can't get the correct net income. Shouldn't the Balance Sheet show YTD amounts (ie. as of 31 December 2019)?

 

Please refer to the screenshots attached. I have included some comments in the attached document.

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

katherinejoyceO
QuickBooks Team

Net income in P&L does not match to net income in Balance Sheet (QuickBooks Desktop)

I appreciate you for coming back with more detailed information on your concern and what you've been trying to achieve, @ohs88.

 

I understand that you're changing your company operation setup from fiscal year to the calendar year. To clarify, you can follow the steps suggested by my peer @JamesDuanT in setting up your company information but use January as the first month of the year instead of December so you'll have January to December reporting. 

 

To answer your question, yes, the Balance Sheet should show YTD amounts. In fact, it would show you now the correct data when you run the report for the Calendar year (from January 1 - to December 31) after setting up your company info correctly. 

 

For future reference, read through our help article: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop. It helps you learn about how to use filters to specify whatever you want to display in your reports.  

 

Let me know if you need anything else or if you have other questions. I'll be here to help.

ohs88
Level 1

Net income in P&L does not match to net income in Balance Sheet (QuickBooks Desktop)

Hi @katherinejoyceO  and @JamesDuanT ,

 

Thanks for the explanation. Appreciate it.

 

It seems that the Balance Sheet report is unable to show the YTD amounts if the fiscal period is more than 12 months. I have changed the first month of the fiscal year to January, and even set the date filter for the Balance Sheet to 1 August 2018 to 31 December 2019, but the net income is still different. The retained earnings account automatically calculates the closing entry on 31 December 2018. I will just add this amount back to net income in the Balance Sheet.

 

I will close this thread.

 

Thank you.