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cqhuynh
Level 2

How do I use the Customer/Project feature to show the starting balance of a grant that was received & recognized in the PY?

More detail: My organization just switched to QB. We received & recognized grant income in the PY that still has a balance to spend (as reflected in Net Assets with donor restrictions & in the respective cash account).
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Best answer May 18, 2020

Best Answers
cqhuynh
Level 2

How do I use the Customer/Project feature to show the starting balance of a grant that was received & recognized in the PY?

Thank you for the response. After much prayer and playing around with it, I was able to find the best approach:

1. After adding the Customer, I used the Project tab to create an invoice for the PY grant. The invoice date & due date was 12/31/19.  I created a new Product/Service of Beginning Grant Balance so I could track/see these balances separately if I ever needed to do so. The balance of the invoice was the beginning balance of the grant. This steps created an A/R and the other side of the transaction is to Net Assets.

2. Once the invoice was created, I received payment for the same amount of the invoice. The payment date was 1/1/20. This eliminated the A/R that was created in step 1 and increased the balance of the respective cash/bank accounts.

3. Since I had already added the beginning balances of the cash/bank accounts, I had to create a J/E to reduce the cash/bank accounts to the correct balance and debit the Net Asset account. 

4. Finally I verified that my Opening Balance of Net Assets account tied to my 12/31/19 statements. 

 

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4 Comments 4
MaryLurleenM
Moderator

How do I use the Customer/Project feature to show the starting balance of a grant that was received & recognized in the PY?

Good day, cqhuynh,

 

You can enter the starting balance in the Donor's Opening Balance. And use it for future projects.

 

Here's how:

  1. Click Sales on the left pane.
  2. Select Donors.
  3. Select New Customer upper right.
  4. Enter customer information.
  5. Go to the Payments and Billing which is between the Tax info and Attachments tabs, then enter Opening Balance and as of date.
  6. Select Save.

Check these articles for future reference:

Stay in touch with me if you have other questions.

cqhuynh
Level 2

How do I use the Customer/Project feature to show the starting balance of a grant that was received & recognized in the PY?

Thank you for your response. Entering the beginning balance as instructed on the Customer screen results in a receivable and income being recorded in the current year. The grants were received in the prior year and met the NPO requirements to be recognized as revenue in the prior year, so I am unsure how to use the Customer and/or Projects feature without overstating income. We have several grants and I would like to track them using QuickBooks to avoid having to maintain a separate spreadsheet. However, I am wondering if the feature will even work for grants that carryover to the next fiscal year. 

 

I am open to any other suggestions. 

 

Thanks so much!

Jovychris_A
Moderator

How do I use the Customer/Project feature to show the starting balance of a grant that was received & recognized in the PY?

Thanks for your prompt response, @cqhuynh.

 

I'd suggest checking the dates and make sure that these transactions are posted on the prior dates that it was created instead of this year.

 

This way, the receivable and income won't be recorded in the current year.

 

I'll be adding this article for more details about tips on how to work on with Projects in QuickBooks Online:

Just in case you wanted to run report  with your projects,  you can go to the Projects menu and then select the project name. Then go to the Project Reports tab and select Project profitability.

 

You can cling with us always if you have further concerns. I'll keep my notifications open. Have a good one!

cqhuynh
Level 2

How do I use the Customer/Project feature to show the starting balance of a grant that was received & recognized in the PY?

Thank you for the response. After much prayer and playing around with it, I was able to find the best approach:

1. After adding the Customer, I used the Project tab to create an invoice for the PY grant. The invoice date & due date was 12/31/19.  I created a new Product/Service of Beginning Grant Balance so I could track/see these balances separately if I ever needed to do so. The balance of the invoice was the beginning balance of the grant. This steps created an A/R and the other side of the transaction is to Net Assets.

2. Once the invoice was created, I received payment for the same amount of the invoice. The payment date was 1/1/20. This eliminated the A/R that was created in step 1 and increased the balance of the respective cash/bank accounts.

3. Since I had already added the beginning balances of the cash/bank accounts, I had to create a J/E to reduce the cash/bank accounts to the correct balance and debit the Net Asset account. 

4. Finally I verified that my Opening Balance of Net Assets account tied to my 12/31/19 statements. 

 

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