Account types and detail types can help you organise your chart of accounts and make sure all of your transactions are properly recorded in QuickBooks Online.
It’s important to set up the right accounts so you can run detailed reports and get clear insights on your business’ health.
Let’s take a look at the difference between the two so you understand how to use them if you need to add new categories for your transactions.
What is an account type?
The account type refers to the board category or classification of an account, such as assets, liabilities, income and expenses.
What is a detail type?
On the other hand, the detail types are specific subcategories under each account type that allow you to break down those transactions into even more precise categories.
For example, if you have an account type ‘Expense’, you can have detail types like ‘Rent’, ‘Advertising’, or ‘Office supplies’. The detail type provides more specific information about the account within its account type.
Which account and detail type should I use?
To help you determine the appropriate type to use for your business, here’s a comprehensive breakdown of each account and detail type in QuickBooks Online.
How is detail type different from account type ?
Account types are the actual accounting components that tell QuickBooks Online how transactions hit your books.
Detail types don’t have this impact on your books, but they play an important role. Their job is to help you select and name accounts more appropriately. So when you run reports like profit and loss, you can know exactly what’s making money and what you’re spending it on.
What type matters more - account or detail?
Generally speaking, account types are more important for broad categorisation of transactions, so focus on getting the account type right first.
Detail types are better for more granular tracking. They’ll help you get a deeper analysis into specific categories so that you can make informed decisions about how to manage your money going forward.
What detail types can I choose?
Each account type is associated with specific detail types and you can select the detail type when you create new accounts.
When adding a new account type in QuickBooks, you can choose a detail type that fits the transactions you want to track. Each detail type has a description to help you decide if it’s the right choice or if you need a different one.
If you don’t find one that fits, select the closest match. You can also change the detail type of an existing account if you need to.
Need more help?
If you’re still not sure which category to choose, ask your accountant for help. If you don’t have an accountant, we can help find an Accountant near you.