Chart of Accounts - Presentation in P&L

Steve_CPA · ‎June 24, 2025

Just set up a new COA for a new QB company. I'm using account #s with main accounts, sub-accounts and sub-sub accounts. It looks beautiful the way it is in the COA, but the sub and sub-sub accounts do not show up in numerical order in the P&L. EX: I have a main account 60000 - "General Business Expenses". I also have a sub account with 60000 as the parent called 61000 "Office Expense" and another sub account 67000 "Insurance Expense".

However, in the P&L the 67000 sub account shows up before the 61000 sub account. There are several more sub accounts and, like the above, they are not in numerical order either. It makes the P&L look amateurish having insurance showing that high up in the P&L. Suggestions how to fix this?

Tori B

Hey there, @Steve_CPA.

How are you doing today? I hope all is well.

Since your Chart of Accounts are looking perfect and in numerical order, let's try some basic troubleshooting steps first. Such as clearing the cache from your browser.

Web browsers collect cache to save time when loading repetitive data and images. Over time these files can become outdated and corrupted, causing issues like the one with your Profit and Loss account numbers.

I'm including the links for all supported browsers that contain the steps to clear the cache below.

Once you have cleared the cache, please restart your browser so the changes can take effect. Then, let's recheck your P&L report.

That should do the trick. Please keep me updated and let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with. Have a good one!

FishingForAnswers

@Steve_CPA I am unaware of any way to push the P&L to show up in any way except alphabetically.

This being the case, the only three options I see are to:

A) Rework your account number sequence which may not be an option. Or,

B) Use the Parent accounts' names to force them into the sequence you want. While Children of a particular Parent will always be alphabetized at their particular organization level, Children will still always be forced to show up under their respective Parent in the P&L. Or,

C) Actually incorporate the numbers into the start of the account names themselves.

Steve_CPA

Thank you Tori. unfortunately that didn't work. : (

SheandL

I appreciate the effort in trying the troubleshooting step provided by my colleague, Steve_CPA. Since this issue persists, let's have you connect with our live support team.

While I'd love to be of help, for matters like this, I recommend getting in touch with our phone support team. They are equipped with the tools to dig deeper and determine the cause of the issue.

To connect with them, here's how:

Open your QuickBooks account.
Go to the Help(?) icon.
Type Contact Us on the Assistant tab or search for articles in the Search tab to view the Contact Us button.
Then, select a way to contact with our experts.

At the same time, you can read this article if you want to manage unused accounts: Make an account inactive on your chart of accounts.

The Community space is always available if you need additional assistance.

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Chart of Accounts - Presentation in P&L