QuickBooks Desktop offers a selection of payroll and employee reports that can help you manage payroll and keep track of employee expenses. You can also customize these reports to get the information you need.
| This article is part of a series that covers basic information about customizing reports in QuickBooks Desktop. Note that available columns and filters differ for each report/group of reports since each draws information from the company file differently. Understanding the concept of source and targets is particularly important when customizing reports. |
Employee and payroll reports
To customize any existing Employees and Payroll report:
- Select Reports at the top, then choose Employees and Payroll.
- Choose your desired existing report.
- Select Customize Report to modify your report.
- Select OK.
You can memorize your report to save it for later use.
Payroll item, rate, and total paid
Follow these steps to create a detailed custom report that lists each individual payroll item, the rate for each payroll item, and the total amount that has been paid to that payroll item.
- Go to the Reports menu, then select Custom Reports > Transaction Detail.
- Go to the Display tab and in the Columns section, deselect everything except Payroll Item, Qty, Sales Price, and Amount.
- Go to the Filters tab, then choose the following filters:
- Account then from the drop-down, choose the appropriate Payroll Expense Account/s
- Transaction Type then from the drop-down, choose Paycheck.
- Select OK.
- Enter the date range in the From and To fields.
- Select Refresh.
Total expenses by employee broken down by month
Need to know how much an employee spends in a month? Create a detailed custom report that shows expenses by employee totaled by month.
- Go to the Reports menu then select Custom Reports > Summary.
- Enter the desired date range in the From and To fields.
- Select the Display columns by drop-down and choose Month.
- Select the Display rows by drop-down and choose Employee.
- Go to the Filters tab then select Account from the Filters list.
- From the Account drop-down, choose Expense and other expense accounts.
- Select OK.
Payroll item-filtered report
Payroll items are the amounts that make up a paycheck. They include the taxes and deductions that affect the paycheck total as well as company expenses related to payroll. You can limit a report to transactions that contain a particular payroll item.
- Open the report then select Customize Report.
- Go to the Filters tab and choose Payroll Item from the Filters list.
- Choose payroll item(s) to include in the report:
- Two or more payroll items: Select the Payroll Item drop-down then choose Multiple payroll items, and then the name of each payroll item you want to include in the report.
- A category of payroll items: Select the Payroll Item drop-down and choose a category. For example, to limit the report to withholding taxes, choose All Taxes Withheld.
- One payroll item only: Select the Payroll Item drop-down and choose a payroll item from the last section of the list.
- Select OK.
Advanced Reporting: Information at your fingertips.
QuickBooks Desktop Pro and Premier users can get advanced reporting features by upgrading to QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. Give us a call at 888-566-4671 and see if it's right for you.