Changing Account Numbers/Job Costing

It's nice to see you here in the Community, @questions_123123. I’ll gladly share with you information on how to manage transactions your mentioned within your QuickBooks Account.

QuickBooks organizes all of your accounting using your chart of accounts. You can make the old ones inactive if you wish to get rid of them. This effectively removes it. Inactive accounts are hidden from lists and menus in QuickBooks, but historical transactions are kept on your reports.

Here’s an article on how to delete and restore an account for more detailed information. This gives you instructions on how to get access to the accounts in case you need them in the future.

You may easily add new transactions to your project, such as invoices, expenses, and estimations. Adding transactions to projects has no effect on how they're classified or on your accounts. You're merely tagging them as part of the project so you can keep track of the income and expenses for that particular project.

There are two methods for adding new transactions to your account. You can construct the transaction in QuickBooks just like any other. Simply select the project from the customer/project dropdown menu. Or, from within projects, refer to step #3 on how to start a new transaction: Set up and create projects in QuickBooks Online.

Furthermore, we can use timesheets to tracks your contractor or employees job in QuickBooks Online. Check out this link for more details: Track and manage timesheets in QuickBooks Online.

Return to this thread if you want to know more information about how to manage your QuickBooks account. I'll be there shortly. 

Thank you Christine! We have 3 clients that use various versions of QB (Enterprise version of QB Manufacturing & Wholesale 21.0, QB Premier, and QB Enterprise Solutions: Contractor 21.0 Release R8P), and we are trying to generate a new Chart of Accounts that will be standardized across all 3 companies. However, this will require us editing the CURRENT CoA for each company, and what is of most importance to us is

1. making sure that we CAN edit the CoA for each company in their respective QB versions

2. Ensuring that we fully understand what will happen to historical transactions if/when we simply change the account number for an account

With that said, can you confirm what will happen when we make a manual change to a CoA? How will the historical transactions be classified? Under the new or old CoA?

Furthermore, on job costing, thank you for clarifying some of those points for me. My remaining point of confusion is on how jobs are tracked (job number?) and if so, what are the limitations to the job number format?

Thank you in advance!!!

Greetings, @questions_123123. 

In QuickBooks Online (QBO), the Project feature works like Job Costing in QuickBooks Desktop. This feature helps you to be organized and track all moving parts. 

Yes, you can create a dummy customer for tracking projects. QBO will allow you to do this. On the other hand, you can also use the Class tracking feature to help track income, expenses, or profitability by business segment.

To have a better view, take a look at these articles:

• Get started with class tracking in QuickBooks Online
• Track your transactions by class

Let me know if you have other questions concerning QuickBooks. I’m here to help. Have a great day!

I'm sorry but I don't feel like you addressed my first set of questions about the Chart of Accounts/editing that and what the ramifications of that will be. Please advise.

Allow me to provide some information about the chart of accounts so you'll be guided on what to do, questions_123123.

QuickBooks automatically sets up your chart of accounts, but you'll always have an option to tailor it according to your business needs. If you're unsure whether you're doing the right thing, I recommend reaching out to your accountant so you'll be guided properly in providing the correct information.

Aside from that, there are also default accounts that QuickBooks creates for you. For more information on what are these accounts, check out this article for your reference: Learn About The Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Furthermore, learn how to run reports for specific accounts. You can customize them on how you want them to show. I've added this article for your guide: Customize Reports in QuickBooks Online.

Feel free to let me know if you have any other concerns about your accounts in QuickBooks. The Community is always here to cater to all your needs 24/7.

A couple of follow up questions:

1. If we edit a current account number in the Chart of Accounts, do all transactions that were previously tied to that account NOW tie to the NEW account number?

2. With job numbers, are there any formatting limitations to the job number format? (ex: could we use job number 10-XXXX to represent job number XXXX which is a Whole Equipment job (designated 10)?

3. How do job costs get applied to a specific job?

4. Does the system require a payroll module in order to fully apply proper payroll to specific jobs?

5.  Can Payroll and Purchasing costs be applied directly to jobs through general journal entry?

6. For Purchasing, are job costs applied at the time of P.O. through purchases journal or some other way?

For reference, I am asking these questions on behalf of 3 clients, who use the Enterprise version of QB Manufacturing & Wholesale 21.0; QuickBooks Premier; and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions: Contractor 21.0 Release R8P.

Thank you in advance!

Hi please answer!

Thanks for getting back to us, questions_123123. I'm here to share the answer you're looking for.

When the account number is changed in QuickBooks, all the previous transactions will now be linked to the new number.

For the job numbers, we're using the sequential format. Though, you can edit the transactions to change the numbers.

For the third question, you can make it billable to the specific job instead of the customer.

For the fourth question, yes, the system requires a payroll module to apply payroll to specific jobs.

For the fifth question, you can make the purchase billable when creating an expenses check or bill. As for the payroll, you use a timesheet to make it billable.

Lastly, job costs are applied upon creating a posting transaction such as bill, expense, or check.

Additionally, I'll be leaving these articles that'll guide you in your future tasks:

• Learn About the Chart of Accounts
• Track Job Costs in QuickBooks Desktop

Keep us posted if you have additional QuickBooks-related questions. Have a great day!

Thank you so much! Last question - are there limitations as to the job number format? For example, could we use a number format that conforms somewhat to the Product Line codes? In other words, could we use job number 10-XXXX to represent job number XXXX which is a Whole Equipment job (designated 10)?

Hi there, questions_123123.

Let me share additional information about job numbers.

You can definitely use that number to represent the job. While there is no limitation on the format of the job number, keep in mind that you can only enter up to 41 characters in the field. To learn more about this topic,  feel free to read this article: Character limitations for fields in QuickBooks

I'm also adding this reference to help track how much money you spend and make for each job: Track job costs.

You can always find me here if you need more help in accomplishing your other tasks. Have a good one.

I read all the thread for changing the GL numbers in the CoA's and I have an additional question.  I read that changing an existing GL number will update all previous costs, but what about Items that are associated with the revised GL code that we us for Purchase Orders/Invoices???

Let me add some details on this, JB.

Changing the GL code will automatically update or impact the items associated with your POs or invoices in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

Furthermore, learn how you can multiply filters and customize your report to get the right data for your business. I've added this article for more information: Customize Reports In QuickBooks Online.

Drop your reply below if you need further assistance when updating information under the GL number. The community is always right here to help you anytime.