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bill-reed
Level 1

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

Retained Earnings shows up on Balance Sheet but I have no idea where it is coming from because my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings is zero.

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Best answer December 10, 2018

Best Answers
Raywhite28
Level 7

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

QuickBooks creates a Retained Earnings account. It is used to close profit or loss, from the prior years. It has no register. You can go in to the chart of accounts & double click on it. & it will display transactions.

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9 Comments 9
Raywhite28
Level 7

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

QuickBooks creates a Retained Earnings account. It is used to close profit or loss, from the prior years. It has no register. You can go in to the chart of accounts & double click on it. & it will display transactions.

qbteachmt
Level 15

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

"because my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings is zero."

It should show Balance Total = Blank, actually.

The Chart of Accounts shows no Balance for that account; you run Reports to see the data.

"Retained Earnings shows up on Balance Sheet but I have no idea where it is coming"

It is the Net Income from the prior year. The Program "closes" income and expense so that they start at 0 for the first date of the new year.

Please see my attached image.



Raywhite28
Level 7

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

Thanks for the confirmation!
BKG2020
Level 1

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

Exactly. I am trying to do my balance sheet and it's showing a number not equal to zero. It says book retained earnings = $13, tax retained earning = $13. My retained earning is zero since it's been paid to shareholders. I have no clue where this arbitrary number came from. My books are balanced and Balance sheet is correct in my books. I imported data from Quickbooks 2019 PRO into 2019 turbo tax Business and all hell breaks loose. Now my balance sheet is outta balance. Back to square one.

BKG2020
Level 1

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

Exactly. I am trying to do my balance sheet and it's showing a number not equal to zero. It says book retained earnings = $13, tax retained earning = $13. My retained earning is zero since it's been paid to shareholders. I have no clue where this arbitrary number came from. My books are balanced and Balance sheet is correct in my books. I imported data from Quickbooks 2019 PRO into 2019 turbo tax Business and all hell breaks loose. Now my balance sheet is outta balance. Back to square one.

IamjuViel
QuickBooks Team

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

Hello, @BKG2020.

 

Let's first run Balance Sheet summary report on an accrual basis. If it still shows out of balance, we can run the verify and rebuild utility tool. This way, we can isolate any data damage to your company file

.

Here's how:

  1. Go to the File menu.
  2. Select Utilities.
  3. Choose Verify Data.
  4. You may get any of these results:
    • "QuickBooks detected no problems with your data," no further action is needed.
    • A specific error message, there may already be an article for it. Try searching for it in our QuickBooks Desktop support site for specific instructions.
    • "Your data has lost integrity," indicates there is data damage in the file.  Continue to the steps below to Rebuild Data to correct the problem.
  5. Click the File menu.
  6. Pick Utilities.
  7. Choose Rebuild Data.
  8. Click OK if you receive a prompt to backup your company file.
  9. Your computer may display the message QuickBooks is not responding. However, as long as you can see your mouse cursor to move, Rebuild is still ongoing. Wait for it to complete.
  10. Click OK when you get the message Rebuild has completed and process the next troubleshooting steps.

Once completed, you can close and open QuickBooks to ensure that all components are updated. You can refer to this article for more detailed steps: Fix data damage on your QuickBooks Desktop company file.

 

Also, I've added these articles to help you resolve any unexpected results when generating your reports:

Keep me posted if you have other questions about running your financial reports in QuickBooks. I'm always here to help.

chudmaster
Level 1

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

When double clicking in chart of accounts there are no closing entries transactions... my end of year is recorded as the end of the calendar year

LieraMarie_A
QuickBooks Team

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

Welcome, @chudmaster. I'm here to help you find the information you're looking for.

 

QuickBooks Desktop doesn't have an actual transaction for closing entries. You'll want to run the Retained Earnings QuickReport to see its adjustments.

 

Here's how:

  1. Go to the Lists menu and select Chart of Accounts.
  2. Look for the Retained Earnings account. You can use the search field to locate it.
  3. Right-click on it and select QuickReport: Retained Earnings from the pop-up menu.
    Capture.PNG

 

You may also set a closing date password. This restricts access to data from the prior accounting period, including the details of every transaction. 

 

Let me know if you have follow-up questions or concerns. I'm here to help whenever you need me. All the best!

chudmaster
Level 1

My Balance sheet shows a number for Retained Earnings but my Chart of Accounts Retained Earnings line shows no entries.

Followed your instruction, but quick report shows zero (retained earnings also not showing up on balance sheet (last fiscal year)).

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