Viewing Accounts for paid bills

Anonymous · ‎December 21, 2018

I entered a bill in quickbooks with assigned account of Office Expense.

I paid the bill in quickbooks. It now shows in my checking account register with Account: Accounts Payable.

Now, I need to see what account(s) that bill was applied to. If I edit the transaction, it opens the bill, but only shows the vendor, amt paid, etc.. No Accounts are shown. If I go to the Accounts Payable register, it shows my checking account as the Account.

How do I find in quickbooks that the bill was applied to Office Expense?

qbteachmt · ‎December 24, 2018

Open the Bill or the Bill Payment Check; use Ctl H = the History icon at the top. This shows what is linked to which other transaction. You can use the GO TO, from here.

When you enter a bill, you Parked that you owe for water or office supplies and are not paying now; you intend to Pay Later. Later = Pay bills. This means you Parked the amount owed as generic AP value for that name, and later, you pay the AP value for that name. That's why banking shows Paid AP. Not Paid that expenses detail.

Using the Register is not the View of your data; it is the Access point to these transactions. Your P&L on Cash Basis will show the expense details as paid for the Payment date. On Accrual Basis, it shows as the date of the bill, even if never paid. That's why there are the two perspectives.

If you already paid for office supplies by debit card, there is no Bill to enter first. You already paid. Go straight to Banking menu > Write Check.

If you already paid for office supplies by using the credit card, there is no Bill to enter first. You already paid. Go straight to Banking menu > Enter Credit Card Charge.

View solution in original post

Kristine Mae · ‎December 21, 2018

I can ease your confusion, JRMcGaha.

When you record a bill, it will affect Accounts Payable. It's the money you owe to your vendors. When you pay it, it will affect Accounts Payable and the bank. Credit from the bank, then debit to Accounts Payable.

When you open the bill, you will see the account it was applied to. Though, you can also open the transaction journal to view it. Here's how:

Open the bill.
Go to the Reports tab.
Click Transaction Journal.

If you're still not seeing the account, try to run the verify/rebuild utility. This will help us know if it's a data damage issue.

You can keep me updated after trying the steps. Just tag me, and I'll get back to you.

Anonymous · ‎December 21, 2018

Hi Kristine,

Thanks for the reply. I'm still not seeing it. Mine shows my checking account. Maybe I'm entering the bills incorrectly?

Here's the bill as I entered it (notice the account Water Service):

bill after.png

I paid the bill. Here is how it shows in my checking account:

checking register.png

Now, I open the bill to view it:

acct payable bill.png

Then, I click Transaction Journal. Notice it shows 'Checking' instead of 'Water Service'.

transaction journal.png

Kristine Mae · ‎December 21, 2018

Hello again, JRMcGaha.

I've checked the screenshots. You've created the bill correctly. Though, it seems like you're opening the bill payment's transaction journal. Let's follow the same steps I gave above.

I'll show you new screenshots for you check.

Let me know how it goes. Or just tag me. I'll get back to you personally.

Anonymous · ‎December 22, 2018

@Kristine Mae

I see. What I'm doing is looking at my check register, double clicking the entry, which takes me to the transaction.

How is the best way to navigate to the bill from the check register? The only way I can seem to do it is go to 'Enter Bills' and start paging back through them. <-- Not feasible approach.

Kristine Mae · ‎December 23, 2018

Hello there, JRMcGaha.

The register will only show the bill payments. You'll want to open the bills from the vendor's profile.

Here's how:

Click the Vendors menu.
Choose Vendor Center.
Choose a vendor, then go to the Transactions tab.

You can check my screenshot below.

I'm just here if you need more help. Happy holidays!

qbteachmt · ‎December 24, 2018

Open the Bill or the Bill Payment Check; use Ctl H = the History icon at the top. This shows what is linked to which other transaction. You can use the GO TO, from here.

When you enter a bill, you Parked that you owe for water or office supplies and are not paying now; you intend to Pay Later. Later = Pay bills. This means you Parked the amount owed as generic AP value for that name, and later, you pay the AP value for that name. That's why banking shows Paid AP. Not Paid that expenses detail.

Using the Register is not the View of your data; it is the Access point to these transactions. Your P&L on Cash Basis will show the expense details as paid for the Payment date. On Accrual Basis, it shows as the date of the bill, even if never paid. That's why there are the two perspectives.

If you already paid for office supplies by debit card, there is no Bill to enter first. You already paid. Go straight to Banking menu > Write Check.

If you already paid for office supplies by using the credit card, there is no Bill to enter first. You already paid. Go straight to Banking menu > Enter Credit Card Charge.

dlwilladsen · ‎January 24, 2019

As an additional question ... is there any way to print the account (from chart of accounts) on the check voucher of the printed check paying a bill?

qbteachmt · ‎January 24, 2019

All of the accounts are in the Chart of Accounts. If you want the Source Bank to show on the check voucher, you enable that in the check printing settings.

deniselatham · ‎February 14, 2020

I have the same question. Is there a way to override the "Accounts Payable" option to show the actual account the check was charged to (i.e. office supplies)? I need this to show on the check stub as well as in the check register without having to go to a different screen to see what it what account it was charged against.

Ryan_M · ‎February 14, 2020

Hi @deniselatham,

There isn't an option to change the Accounts Payable under the Account column if we're talking about a check made as a bill payment.

A workaround I can suggest is for you to delete the bill and the bill payment check transaction. You can then recreate a regular check, so you can use the account that you want, and it's the same account that will appear on the check register.

If you encounter a situation where a bill remains unpaid even after writing a check for it, visit this article for the list of solutions for this issue: Bill shows as unpaid after writing a check in QuickBooks Desktop.

I'll be around in case you need further assistance. Place a comment below, and I'll get back to you.

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Viewing Accounts for paid bills