I’ve switched to QBO from Desktop at end of financial year, how do I bring forward billable expenses for entry into invoices in new financial year

Thank you for trying QuickBooks Online, Kaz24.

You can bring the transactions from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online by importing them. Let me guide you with these steps:

1. From the Gear icon, select Import Data.
2. Toggle the Bills box. 
3. You'll see an example of the columns needed or available for import.

In addition, the option to make the imported bills a billable expense to your clients is unavailable. You'll have to manually check the billable box and select the customer's name once they have imported it into QuickBooks. 

I've added this article for more information on managing billable expenses in QuickBooks Online: Enter billable expense.

I'm just a post-away if you have other concerns.

@Kaz24 

You can prepare your billable expense data with the following template

then utilize an importer tool to proceed

https://transactionpro.grsm.io/qbo

Utilize the trial version of a backup restore app before doing anything

https://rewindio.grsm.io/quickbooks

Hi, thank you for your prompt response.  I probably didn’t explain this very well. Our company is CIS registered.  I was using Quickbooks Desktop pro 2016 and had to upgrade to Online, i thought it best to wait for the end of my financial year. I started using QBO on the 1st day of my new financial year. I have about 20 billable expenses dated 2-3 months prior (previous financial year) which I need to enter on invoices in the new year.  Do all these billable expenses have to be entered as opening balances as they are from the previous year.

Hi, @Kaz24. Thanks for adding more details.

I believe you have a good point in entering the billable expenses from the prior year as opening balances since these are expenses that you incur on your customer's behalf. Then customers will reimburse you when they receive their invoice you created for this financial year. This will create a more robust account transaction report.

You can follow the steps to activate and tracking billable expenses from this article: Enter billable expenses. This includes how to create invoices from billable expenses.

I'm adding this article for more details about how QuickBooks Desktop data works in QuickBooks Online: Learn how features and data move from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

However, if you aren't sure if these billable expenses needs to be recorded in QuickBooks as opening balances, I recommend consulting your accountant for recording advice. They know how to handle transactions properly to get accurate reporting data for the financial year. If you don't have one, you can search for a ProdAdvisor here: https://proadvisor.intuit.com/app/accountant/search?location.

Feel free to comment if you have additional questions. I'm always here to assist you. Keep safe and have a good one.