Can anyone point me towards a breakdown and explanation of the expense category list, or indeed breakdown and explanation of account types (and detail types)?

Good day, @whatisawilliam,

I can give you a quick review about the expense account and its detail types.

When you choose the Expense account type, it refers to expenses related to the normal business operations such as advertising or promotion, office supplies, insurance, legal fees, charitable contributions, and rent.

On one hand, Other Expense type is for expenditures outside the normal course of the business, such as a loss on the sale of an asset or stockbroker fees, corporation taxes, penalties, and legal settlements.

On the other hand, the Cost of Good Sold account type are costs associated with your line of business. Example, if you sell products, this includes cost of stock, raw materials, freight charges and any labour cost that you incurred to finish the product.

Regarding the Detail Types of your expense categories, it is mainly for tracking the description of each spending. While this does not reflect the reports, most businesses would prefer to use a more defined naming structures split out for each account type.

When you set up the spending account, it will give you a short description for each Detail Type. Perform these steps to create an account:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Choose Chart of Accounts.
3. Tap the New button.
4. Fill out the Account Type from the drop-down list.
5. Under Detail Type select the nearest match for the spending.
   
6. Enter the Name of the account.
7. Hit Save and Close.

That should do it. I've also added some reference below to help you manage your accounts in QuickBooks:

Organise your accounts with detail types.

Detail Types.

Please let me know if you need further assistance. I'm just a post away whenever you need a hand.