Manually creating prior year's retained earnings

@niko16 

"...when I look at my chart of accounts, the register for my retained earnings account is completely empty for all dates. How could this be if it shows up on the balance sheet? FYI, the 2021 retained earnings number on the balance sheet is not "clickable" - it won't link to any ledger entry like the other numbers do."

That is normal.  Retained earnings (RE) in QBO does not have a ledger like the other accounts.  You can still run a Quick Report to see the entries that you have posted to RE.

Hi there, @niko16. 

I'd be glad to provide clarification on Retained Earnings.

The Retained Earnings account is made up of the total of a company's income and expenses from previous years. When a fiscal year begins, QuickBooks Online will automatically add whatever the net income was from the previous fiscal year to the Retained Earnings account on the Balance Sheet.

You can run a Profit and Loss report for the previous year to see what makes up this account. Here's how:

1. Select Reports on the left navigation menu.
2. Enter Profit and Loss in the Reports search box and click it.
3. Click on the Report period down-down list and choose Last Year.
4. Select Run Report.
5. Click the Net Income amount which will open up the Profit and Loss Detail report.

Check this article to learn more about Retained earnings in QBO: How to view Retained Earnings account details.

You'll want to review your closing date and ensure the accounting method is correct when running the report.

Also, I recommend reaching out to your accountant, so they can provide additional options on how to adjust the amount. This way, you can ensure your books are accurate.

For future reference, you can also run different kinds of reports in QuickBooks Online: Run Reports In QuickBooks Online.

If there's anything else I can help you with, please let me know. I'd be happy to get back to you and provide additional assistance. Have a good day.

@Rainflurry 

Thanks,

I noticed now that in the chart of accounts, Retained Earnings has a "report", not a "register" (my mistake calling it a register in my first post). Is that what you mean to correct when you say Retained Earnings doesn't have a ledger?

Nevertheless, when I open the Retained Earnings "report" and select "all dates", there are no entries, it is empty. Does this mean that I need to manually enter the retained earnings amount for 2021?

Hello again, Rainflurry.

I appreciate you for always sharing your knowledge about QuickBooks. This will definitely help other users as well in the future. Please keep on posting here in the Community.

Keep safe and have a great rest of the day.

Hi,

I'm trying to do the same thing - load prior year balance sheet & P&L for reporting purposes. How did you go about getting the Net Income amount on the balance sheet to Retained Earnings?

I have loaded the prior year balances via a journal.

Thanks!

Nicole.

@FoxnFig 

How did you go about getting the Net Income amount on the balance sheet to Retained Earnings?

QB makes that entry automatically as of the first day of your next fiscal year.  For example, if your fiscal year-end is Dec. 31 and you run a Dec. 31 balance sheet, your net income for the year will be shown as Net income under the equity section.  If you run a Jan. 1 balance sheet (one day later), the previous year's Net income amount will now be listed under Retained earnings in the equity section.