Accounts receivable wrong on balance sheet summary

Thank you for providing details, @DonnaBuell.

I can help you verify why the A/R amount on the Balance Sheet Detail report is different on the Balance Sheet Standard and Balance Sheet Summary reports.

• Make sure that all the reports have the same accounting method (Cash or Accrual).
• Verify the date period.

If still the reports are showing different A/R account values, we have to run the Data Repair tool. Verify Data self-identifies the most commonly known data issues within a company file while Rebuild Data self-resolves most data integrity issues that the Verify Data finds.

For the detailed instruction, please refer to this article: Resolve data damage on your company file. There are also other recommended steps you can perform.

Let me know the results, DonnaBuell. I'm still here to help you further about reports. Just add a comment or mention my name. Wishing you all the best!

It sounds like some reports are accrual basis while others are cash basis. Are you consistently using one or the other across the different reports?

Thanks for the help!  The problem was that one report was on "cash" and the other on "accrual".  Once I changed all reports to "accrual" then my problem was solved.

I have the same problem and it is correct under accrual but cash basis is way wrong.  Why would that be?  I'm supposed to be doing a cash basis accounting but why doesn't my A/R show what it really is?

Let me give you some information on why the accounting methods you've selected affects greatly your Accounts receivable. Stacie5.

Accounts Receivable (AR) will show the proceeds or payment which the company will receive from its customers who have purchased its goods & services on credit. This is treated as current assets on the balance sheet. You'll want to run a report on both cash and accrual separately to track sales and expenses that are made on a cash basis or credit. 

In addition, with AR the sales are realized when the invoice is generated whether it has been paid or not. The same thing, once you run a report on the accrual method. That's the main reason why the report shows the correct figures in the accrual method.

Also, an accrual-basis report shows income regardless of whether your customers have paid your invoices and expenses regardless of whether you have paid all your bills. Whereas, cash basis report only shows income if you have received cash and expenses if you have paid cash.

You may want to check this article to resolve AR and AP balances on the cash basis Balance Sheet. 

If there's anything else that you want us to help with, let us know so we can check that and assist you.

Hi, I have the same issue.  AR is 4000 and correct while Balance Sheet shows AR value of -36,967.03.  Basis is Cash, AR aligns with open invoicing through 2012 when file created.  Rebuilt data, etc. so have run out of ideas.  Any thoughts on why a 4000 balance in the AR ledger shows up as -37K on the Balance Sheet?  Thank you, Michael

I appreciate all the efforts you've exhausted, Michael.

Let me share some additional information about how Balance Sheet works

Normally, the Cash Basis Balance Sheet won't show A/R balances because this account is used to keep track of transactions that have not been paid. There are a number of reasons this issue will come up such that we have to fix a cash basis balance sheet. You can read this article to help resolve AR and AP balances on the Cash Basis Balance Sheet.

Additionally, it's recommended to use only transactions that don't affect A/R or A/P to ensure that cash basis reports have no anomalies. If the issue persists, you'll want to give us a chat so we pull up your account in a secure environment and review your reports. You can connect with us through this link: Contact Us.

 I've also included an article that will help you help you resolve common accounts receivable report issues: AR balance on the Chart of Accounts does not match AR balance on reports.

Do let me know if you have further questions about reports by tagging my name in the comment section. I've got you covered.