How do i change the order of the accounts on the financial statements?

"The order in each section is the same as the order on the Chart of Accounts.  This is basic stuff..."

If someone clicked on one of the columns while viewing the chart of accounts, they have a Sorted view, which might confuse them from the Report's sequence. For instance, you can Click on Account Number to put them in # sequence for the chart of accounts, but Financial Reports are by Type.

When you see a large diamond to the left of Name, in the Title of the columns, click on the large diamond to make it go away; it indicates someone clicked on a column selectively. That specific column will show a little up or down arrow, indicating it is the Sorted By column for this list view.

This is Basic List Management for QB desktop.

Can you re-order expenses in any order you want?  It appears I can only put them in order of account number or alpha.  I did not set up the original chart of accounts, and the numerical order does not make sense for how our industry looks at a P&L.

Hi there, BurgerMan.

While the option to re-order the list of expense accounts in the Profit and Loss reports is unavailable, you can export the report to Excel. From there you can modify it. I'll show you how to export the report:

1. From the left menu, click Reports.
2. Click the Profit and Loss report.
3. Customize the report and then click the Export icon at the upper-right. Click Export to Excel.

If there are accounts that were generated by the system that you don't use and wish to hide, you can inactivate it. This way, it won't show on any reports and on the Chart of Accounts page. 

I'll be attaching a few articles that you can use as reference in managing your accounts and reports:

• Customize reports in QuickBooks Online
• Understand the chart of accounts in QuickBooks

I'll take note of this feedback again. For feature updates, you can visit our QuickBooks Blog. 

I'm here to help you if there's anything else that you need help with. You take care and have a great day!

If I assign account numbers in the Chart of Accounts when I run a Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss Report will the account order match how the account numbers are set up? I only see an option to sort default (Alphabetically) or by total $ amount. Ideally I would like the reports to run in the same order as how the account numbers are set up in the chart of accounts.  

Thank you for joining the thread, @gwm2004.

I can share with you some information about how account numbers work with your reports.

Yes, the sequence of the accounts from the Chart of Accounts will be identical to your reports. To get an accurate result, I recommend resorting list before comparing the arrangements of the accounts.

Here's how:

1. From the Chart of Accounts window, go to the View tab.
2. Click on Re-sort List.
3. Hit OK.

Once done, review the arrangement of the accounts. Then, compare it to your reports. I've added these screenshots for your visual references.

For additional references about running and customizing reports in QuickBooks Desktop, you can open this article: Understand reports.

Moreover, you can check out the topics from our help articles for more tips while working with QuickBooks in the future. Here's the link: Find QuickBooks help articles, Community discussions with other QuickBooks users, video tutorials, a....

If you're using QuickBooks Online, you can review these links:

• Common custom reports in QuickBooks Online 
• Customize reports in QuickBooks Online 

If you have any follow-up questions with your accounts or reports, please let me know by adding a comment below. I'm more than happy to help. Have a good one!

Thank you for the explanation, however, I am using QuickBooks Online, not the desktop version. I don't have an option to re-sort when I'm in the Chart of Accounts window. 

Thanks for adding additional details about your concern, gwm2004.

I can shed a light on that. 

If your Chart of Accounts is sorted by account numbers in ascending order, then it will not match with the sequence in your reports. Please know that when you assign account numbers, QuickBooks will automatically sort the accounts in your financial reports by account number, and the order defaults to ascending.

However, if your Chart of Accounts is arranged in a different manner, you may need to export the report to an Excel file. This way, you customize its ordering to match your Chart of Accounts:

1. Select Reports from the sidebar menu.
2. Open your Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet report.
3. Set the appropriate reporting date and accounting method.
4. At the top of the report, click the Export icon, then choose Export to Excel.
5. Save the file.

In addition, here are some articles that you can read to help speed up the reporting process in QuickBooks Online:
 

• Customize reports

• Memorize reports

Don't hesitate to visit this thread again if you have any other concerns or follow-up questions. The Community always has your back.

for god sake 

the chart of accounts is NOT the financial statements 

how do you get reports ie financial statement in the world wide standard order of 

fixed assets

currents 

current 

liabilities

 Capital 

no wrong

you are still talking chart of accounts 

i am talking report -financial dstatementsd

wrong wronmg wrong 

i am talking financila statmenmts not the chart of accounts

Let me help you from here, 123146398773134.

It looks like you're referring to the Balance Sheet report. It's one of the financial reports. It will show you what you own (assets), what you owe (liabilities), and what you invested (equity). 

You can follow these steps to pull up the report:

1. Click Reports.
2. Go to Company & Financial, then select Balance Sheet Standard or Balance Sheet Detail.

You can also customize the report to help you focus on the details that matter to you.

If there's anything else that you need, feel free to let us know. We're around 24/7 to help you. Keep safe!

The answer provided above by @KlentB is correct and will address your issue.

I assigned account numbers in COA and voila, when I went back to my financial statements, they were now ordered in the numeric order I had assigned. I didn't need to assign each and every account. They first follow nesting rules, and at the same nesting level they sort by the account number.

@123146398773134 

RE: wrong wronmg wrong, i am talking financila statmenmts not the chart of accounts

My reports definitely changed when I resorted the Chart of Accounts which I wish I never did!

The only method I have found to place accounts in the order of liquidity is to use account numbers.  I was having the same problem with QB Online in conjunction with the Type.  Hope that ends your frustration.

There is no View-Menu

Hi FrustratedUser1001,

The View menu is only available on QuickBooks Desktop. Are you using QuickBooks Online?

The online version doesn't have a resort option as well, but you can click the NAME, TYPE, and DETAIL TYPE headers to rearrange the accounts in the Chart Of Accounts. However, this won't have any impact on your reports coz they have a fixed arrangement.

Let me know if you have questions about the reports.