P&L doesn't appear on Balance Sheet

Hello there, Violin. Let's figure out why you're not seeing the net income from the previous year.

The Profit and Loss report shows all your income and expense transactions over a specific period. On the other hand, the Balance Sheet gives you a snapshot of your company's assets, liabilities, and equity.

The prior year doesn't show net income if the QuickBooks system doesn't detect or pull up data for that specific period. Please ensure you've set up the correct report period and accounting method. See the visual reference below:

I also suggest checking if there are transactions that fall within that period by reviewing account registers in QuickBooks Online (QBO). Here's how:

1. Click the Gear icon, then select Chart of Accounts.
2. Find the accounts you want to review.
3. Select View register in the Action column.

If you need to use the data outside the program, you can easily export your reports to Excel from QBO.

I'm here to help you stay on top of your finances and get the insights you need from your QuickBooks reports. Hit the Reply button or start a new thread in the Community space anytime.

@violin  RE: Why doesn't the prior year Net Income appear?

Each year of a multi-year balance sheet should display the Net Income for the year, which then should be rolled into Retained Earnings for the next year. That's what QuickBooks Desktop correctly does...

I tried it in QB Online in a test file and it seems to work. Here's a balance sheet for All dates in my test file, with Years set for the "Display Columns By" option at the top of the report:

Note how the Net Income rolls to Retained earnings each year.

Big Red. Thank you. I've been an accountant for decades but don't have as much experience with QBO as I would like.

should display the Net Income for the year"should" - I agree.

What needs to happen to fix this? I thought QBO automatically rolls forward net income/loss from the prior year. Do I need to roll it forward manually?  

Thank you.

Thank you SirieJEaB

what is the solution?

The prior year data is in the QBO file. I do tax accounting and this has been my client for four years. But the company has a new accountant and might be missing important knowledge.

@violin 

RE: What needs to happen to fix this?

Not sure. It seems to work for me. What are the settings at the top of your report?  Mine look like this:

RE: I thought QBO automatically rolls forward net income/loss from the prior year. Do I need to roll it forward manually? 

It's automatic.