Should I enter CC expenses as individual expenses? or as a journal entry for the credit card? I was taught to do a journal entry - but am seeing it done now as expenses

Individual charges are best, just like in your checking account.  That way they hit your books on the dates of the actual charges.

@Sara-Thurston 

Use an expense transaction, not a journal entry.  Journal entries don't show under the vendor's account, which is where you would expect to find them.    

There's no credit card charge transaction in QB Online?  I didn't know.

@BigRedConsulting 

No, but there's a 'Credit Card Credit' transaction type, which makes not having a 'credit card charge' confusing IMO.  To enter cc charges in QBO, you need to use an 'Expense' transaction and select the cc as the payment account.  The term 'Expense' transaction can be confusing because buying inventory or making a loan payment (principal portion) isn't an expense from an accounting perspective.

However, the plus side to the 'Expense' transaction in QBO is that you can choose to pay from a bank account, cc account, or any other current asset account, giving you more flexibility to offset transactions with a note receivable or any other current asset (OCA) account.  Desktop doesn't have that - you need to create a bank clearing account to pay bills from an OCA account and then move those funds from the OCA to the bank clearing account because Desktop only allows bills to be paid with a bank account or cc.  Advantages and disadvantages to both I suppose. 

That's where I was confused. 

I was taught to enter the AMEX charges as a Journal entry and each charge categorized. And then enter the the AMEX Payment as a Pay down Credit Card Expense. 

I am using QB Desktop. And have only been using Quickbooks since January - but want to make sure I am doing it correctly for 2025 - as I have seen things w/ credit card expenses both ways. 

@Sara-Thurston 

Your original post was posted as though you're using QuickBooks Online, hence why the answers were for QBO.  If you're using Desktop, then enter cc charges using Banking > Enter Credit Card Charges.  Do not use a journal entry (JE) to record cc charges - there's no need.  When you use Banking > Enter Credit Card Charges, it creates the same journal entry behind the scenes (debit expense, credit cc liability).  JEs should only be used as a last resort because they do not show on some reports, and they bypass QB's ability to differentiate cash vs. accrual accounting.  When you pay down the cc, record the payment as a check (Banking > Write Checks) and assign the cc liability account to the payment. You can use EFT, ACH, Online, or whatever makes the most sense to you for the check number to indicate it was paid online. 

As @BigRedConsulting, mentioned earlier, enter cc charges individually as of the date of each charge.  If you enter them all together, the expenses will hit your books as though they all occurred on the same day, which they obviously don't.  Since your cc billing cycle most likely spans two consecutive months, if you enter them as of one date, that will shift your expenses, thereby changing your net income.  That may not seem like a big deal but if you have a Dec. 5 - Jan. 5 billing cycle and enter all the charges as of Jan. 5, you will be understating your expenses for December (and therefore your tax year) causing you to overpay income tax.  

Yes - I am using Quickbooks Online.