Dr and Cr Designations

Hello there, ParaDara.

Let me share what I know about balances in QuickBooks Online.

When you're liability account shows negative amount, it means you have paid the said account, and negative balance on the asset account means you have decreased your asset.

In addition, QuickBooks also automatically records how each transactions affect your accounts so that you don't have to worry about entering any journal entries.

I also recommend consulting an accountant if you need further explanation regarding the account's debit and credit. You can also check this article to learn more about the difference between the Business and Accountant view in QuickBooks Online: Switch between Business and Accountant view in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you still have other concerns about it. I'll be here to answer them. Have a good one.

Thanks, Archie - read my request - I am an accountant!  I simply want QBO to show me Dr/Cr designations instead of +/- designations.  What could be simpler?  I have switched between Business and Accountant view but that makes no difference.

For example, Revenue (the Irish tax collector) owe me grants / subsidies and I owe them our monthly payroll deductibles.  When I see a negative balance on “Revenue” I need to double-check to see whether they over-paid a subsidy or I made a posting error.  Likewise, on the liability side it could be that I over-paid them for what I owe or made a posting error.

I cannot understand your explanation: “When your liability account shows negative amount, it means you have paid the said account, and negative balance on the asset account means you have decreased your asset.”  When your liability account shows negative balance it means you have over-paid that liability.  When you pay a liability it goes to zero - not negative. Negative balance on an asset account probably means that you have erred and the asset has become a liability.  A decreased asset is not negative unless the posting exceeds the value of the asset before the posting!

Dr/Cr designations should be a switchable option within “Accountant View”.  Is there any way to do this in QBO?

Thanks for getting back to this thread, @ParaDara. Let me clarify things about designations for QuickBooks balances. 

Having the Dr or Cr designations for QuickBooks balances is currently unavailable in QuickBooks Online. Even if you're using the Accountant View, it will only show the negative balances. 

You can run a Quick report for the accounts that has a negative amount. Then put a checkmark on the Debit and Credit boxes to show it on the statement. This way, it will show the data that you want.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Settings menu and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Choose the account and click the dropdown arrow under the Action column.
3. Select Run report. 
   
   
4. Click the Gear icon.
5. Put a checkmark next to Debit and Credit. 
   
   

Once done, click the amount to have a full view of the transaction.

I also agree that when your liability account shows negative, it means you made an overpayment. While if you pay a liability, it goes to a zero balance. 

Additionally, let me share these links to help you manage your accounts in QuickBooks Online:

• Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks
• Understand the account detail types on the chart of accounts

Please don't hesitate to comment down below if you have further questions about designations in QuickBooks. I'll be happy to assist you again. Stay safe and have a good day.

Thanks, Rubielyn_J,

I agree that's a good work-around (that I've used in the past) - thanks for reminding me.  I've now saved it as a customised report.  However, it's a bit of a drag to have to use it when needed. 

My core point is that Dr/Cr are part of the accountant's mind-set and it should be a switchable option available in "Accountant View" by default.  

Is there a wish-list of desired features that this could be added to?  The actual coding for this is not complex.
Thanks, Dara.

I understand how you want the debit and credit to automatically appear on the report, ParaDara.

While you need to manually add them on the report, you can send feedback about the feature that you need. Here's how:

1. Select the Gear icon at the top, then Feedback.
2. Enter your comments or product suggestions.
3. Click Next to submit feedback.

Your valuable feedback goes to our Product Development team to help improve our Web site, products and services for you.

I'm also adding this link to see a table on how this works in QuickBooks: How accounts are affected by debits and credits.

Let me know if there's anything else you need by commenting below. I'll be around if you have additional concerns.

Hi again, Rubielyn_J,

I've saved that format you recommended but I can't see how to use this saved format for any QuickReport on QBO.  Ideally, I would be able to use this report format for all the accounts in my Chart of Accounts. I can't see how and I had to manually do it for 8 different accounts this evening.  Is there a way of doing this whereby the "Account" field is selectable.  

Thanks, Dara.

Hello, ParaDara. 

Thank you for following the instruction provided by my colleagues. Ideally, once you saved the report, you'll be able to view them under Custom reports. However, If you are unable to see the report let's perform troubleshooting step to fix this. 

There are times that the browser is full of frequently-accessed page resources, thus accumulating and corrupts the browser cache causing the runtime user interface to malfunction.

To start, access QuickBooks account using a private/incognito browser. You can use the shortcut keys below:

• Google Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N
• Internet Explorer: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Mozilla Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Safari: Command + Option + P

Once you're in, go to report again to check if it works. If you able to see the report, we'll go back to your regular browser and clear the cache to get rid of the stored junk files. 

Also, in selecting the account field, you'll need to do it manually. Once you saved the format it will show the way you customize it. 

Feel free to hit that Reply button if you have additional questions or clarifications. Have a great day ahead.

Hi AileneA,

No problem with seeing the customised report format I saved.  However, it's pre-set for that one account I was working on.  Like normal reporting systems, I need to save the format and to use it to analyse any accounts that I'm working on.  Using QBO's logic, it would appear that I have to save a separate customised format for every single account on which I need to report?  A bit of a joke?

Please confirm!