P&L Customization

smnelson23 · ‎June 11, 2024

Hi all,

I just started using Quickbooks online and started by going through the chart of accounts, and making any irrelevant accounts inactive (it is a relatively smaller art business, so a lot of the accounts are completely unnecessary). I understand how to create sub accounts and how they interact with each other, but my issue is when I turn to generating a Profit and Loss statement.

I have not yet input any account balances, but wanted to see how my Chart of Accounts set up looks on a P&L so I could find out if there are any errors I made. The frustrating part is since every account has 0$, nothing shows on the P&L. I found out online how to show every account no matter the balance, but it also includes every single account I made inactive with "*Account Name* (deleted)". I obviously dont want to see these accounts, hence why I made them inactive. (Yes I know you can export into excel and delete them, but then why would I even use Quickbooks in the first place). I just want to see all "Active accounts" even if they have zero balance

Second, I am unable to make certain accounts inactive due to them being "apart of the online banking feature", or another one says I cannot delete because "it is being used by a product or service". To my knowledge, I have not linked anything to a product or service as I have only deleted and or changed account names in the COA.

Third, My profit and loss statement has a subtotal for nearly every category. for example, I have "business meals" as one whole account, and my P&L includes "total business meals". the same goes for employee benefits, travel, rent, office expenses, advertising. Basically most of these simply do not need to be subtotaled as it just makes the whole P&L more complicated and harder to read. I also prefer not to make these edits in excel, as I said earlier why would I want quickbooks in the first place if I can only customize my statements in excel.

I apologize if this is lengthy, but it seems as if quickbooks is not very intuitive and many edits have to be made in excel afterwards.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Thank you

JoanaC · ‎June 11, 2024

Let me assist you with your Chart of Accounts, @smnelson23.

First, the Profit and Loss report will pull up data on transactions posted to the account while it was active. To ensure that when we run the P&L, we click Active so that inactive will not show. Follow these steps:

Go to Reports.
Select Profit and Loss, then click Customize.
Under the Show non-zero or active only dropdown, choose Active.
Hit Run report.

Second, if you're using online banking and want to deactivate, we will need to disconnect it first in the online banking. Certain accounts can't be deactivated because they are default accounts made by QBO. For a workaround, we can merge the inactive account with an active account to delete it completely. Here's how:

Make active the account you've made inactive, then look for the account you just made active. Select the Report dropdown and then choose Edit.
Update account name. Please note that the new account name must be the same as the account you're merging it with.
Hit Save and Close, then Yes when you get a prompt asking if you want to merge the account.

Third, I understand that you want to remove the total amount of each category. However, QuickBooks Online uses the subtotals for each income and expense account to show you:

Total Revenue
Gross Profit
Expenses
Net income or loss

You can click the amount to get the detailed transactions list for that particular item.

Moreover, you can check this article in case you want to learn more about customizing your reports in the future: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online using modern view.

If you still have questions about your Profit and Loss report, you can always reply on the thread or create a new post. Have a great day, and take care.

smnelson23 · ‎June 13, 2024

Hi thank you so much for your response!

Regarding the subtotals, we understand the subtotals of each category. However, many of those subcategories are also being subtotaled. For example, we have just one account called "business meals" and it is providing a subtotal called "total business meals" which is a subtotal that is unnecessary and making the P&L much harder on the eyes. Is there any way to tell quickbooks not to subtotal categories within the income, COGS, and expenses sections?

JanbonN · ‎June 13, 2024

I'm here to provide further details about the Profit and Loss report, @smnelson23.

The Profit and Loss report is a vital financial document that consolidates a company's revenues, expenses, and net income or loss for a specific period. It's essential to always generate subtotals for each category as it offers a detailed summary of the company's financial position, providing valuable insights for better decision-making.

An alternative approach would be to export the report and modify it in a spreadsheet to remove the subtotals as needed.

Go to Reports and select Standard.
Search for Profit and Loss and click it.
Make the necessary customization.
Select the Export icon beside the Gear icon. Then select Export to Excel.
Save the file somewhere you can easily find, like your Downloads folder or desktop.

Additionally, you can also memorize your reports to save your current changes.

Let us know if you have other concerns with your Profit and Loss report. We're here to help.

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