Changing default receivable account for QB online

Thanks for joining us here in the Community, Monica Barreda.

You've come to the right place for assistance with QuickBooks. I'd be glad to show you how your client can edit their receivable account in QuickBooks Online.

This can be done by editing the products and/or services they're invoicing to customers. Here's how:

1. Hover over the Sales tab in the left navigation menu and click Product and Services.

2. Locate the item you'd like to change the account for and select Edit on the right.

3. In the edit panel you can make changes to the income account for that particular product or service.

4. Choose Save and close when you're finished.

The following article provides additional info about editing products and services in QuickBooks Online.

These steps would need to be completed for each sales item that is posting to the old account. Please don't hesitate to reach back out if you have any other questions.

Thank you for this information. I was contemplating creating a new receivable account and then merging the old receivable account with the new account that is being used. What do you think? Will this automatically link the products to the new account? Then the other thing was just changing the name of this receivable account to just accounts receivable, but i dont like doing that because i like to show the change for accounting purposes. I tried reclassification, but cant do that because of the product inventory. Can i gain some insight from you on the merging of the accounts receivable? Thank you again for your assistance on this issue. 

Thank you for getting back to us, @Monica. Let me share with you some insights regarding the merging of accounts in QuickBooks Accountant Online. 

Yes, you can to merge accounts in QuickBooks Online, but you need to keep in mind that merging accounts is permanent. Merging the old A/R and new account will move all the data to one making it a default account. 

This would mean that all the the incoming invoices/sales automatically will be posted there. 

Furthermore, you can change the name of the receivable account to just accounts receivable, you can do so by editing the account name in QuickBooks Online.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to Settings and select Chart of accounts.
2. Find the Accounts Receivable account and select Edit.
3. Change the Account name to Accounts Receivable.
4. Hit Save.

Furthermore, if you want to group your open receivables, you can set up parent and sub-customers to group your open receivables. This allows you to group and sub-total your open receivables by the parent customer.

Feel free to visit these articles if you want to learn more about managing default accounts and merging duplicate accounts, customers, and vendors in QuickBooks Online.

I hope this information helps you. If you have any further questions or concerns regarding the merging of accounts in QuickBooks Accountant Online, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Have a great day!

I'm stumped.

This client wasn't using A/R when I set them up as they said all their invoicing was handled through third party software.

Well, there's a A/R account and a sub account for doubtful allowance.

They went in and started creating invoices - and everything is going into the allowance account rather than the A/R account. 

In this case - what can I do to fix this? I find nothing anywhere that allows me to change this - and the account is tagged properly and named propely - I'm totally confused.

Any help?

I can guide you on how to record the invoices into the correct A/R account in a breeze, @Buddhalite.

QuickBooks relies on a third-party app for data, so it uses the account provided by the app to record the invoices. That's why the ability to choose which account to use for recording is unavailable.

Since the third-party app doesn't use any A/R account, the system puts the transactions into a subaccount under the default one. To merge everything into one place, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Sales menu on the left panel and select the Chart of Accounts.
2. Find the Doubtful allowance, then click Edit under the dropdown.
3. Untick the Make this a subaccount / is a subaccount checkbox (depending on your View).
4. Change the sub-account's account name to the same as the default one.
5. Tap Save.

If you'd like to update past transactions, refer to this article: Change the account for a product/service item. 

Additionally, you can generate inventory reports to see your best-selling items and their status. Here's a guide with complete instructions: Use reports to see your sales and inventory status in QuickBooks Online.

Don't hesitate to post again here if you have any other concerns about changing the accounts of your product items in QBO. I'm always here to help. Have a great day ahead.

Hi,

This solution helps to modify the income account, but not the receivable account.  

Any alternative to change which AR Account should be used, in the case that you have multiple AR Accounts?

Thanks

Thanks for reaching out to the Community, JCEvans.

If you have multiple A/R accounts, you can merge them if necessary. You'll want to be aware this can't be undone afterwards. In the event you're unsure whether you should or shouldn't merge accounts, you can always check with an accounting professional.

There will be some accounts which QuickBooks uses by default for certain features. These, like accounts connected to online banking, can't be merged or deleted.

Here's how to merge accounts:
 

1. Confirm you're in Accountant view.
2. If your accounts have reconciliation reports, save them first. The account being merged may not keep its reconciliation history. Your transactions remain on the merged account and stay reconciled. In the event both registers have an opening balance equity transaction, you'll need to delete the one with the most recent date prior to merging. Your older transaction will become the opening balance.
3. Use your Gear icon, then go to Chart of accounts and find which account you want to keep.
4. Click its Drop-down arrow (▼) icon in the Action column, then Edit.
5. Take note of your Account Name, Account Type, and Detail Type. These must be identical between the accounts you want to merge.
6. Check if your account is a sub or parent account. The names of subaccounts are indented in your Name column of the Chart of accounts screen. If it is, be sure to note which parent account it's linked with.
7. From your Chart of accounts screen, find the account you won't keep and edit it.
8. Change its Account Name and Detail Type so your duplicate account's information matches the account you want to keep. If you need to make it a subaccount, make sure they don't have any sub-accounts if you're merging two parent accounts. You'll also need to make sure they both have the same parent account if you're merging two subaccounts. In the event only one is a subaccount, change your Account Type to exactly match the other account so it becomes a parent.
9. Select Save, then Yes, merge accounts.

I've also included a couple detailed resources about working with accounts receivable and duplicate accounts which may come in handy moving forward:
 

• Merge Duplicate Accounts
• What Are Accounts Receivable? How to Manage in 2024

I'll be here to help if there's any additional questions. Have a great Tuesday!