P/L report

Several factors can affect how income is shown on both P/L and Sales by Product/Service reports, LManS2024. I'm delighted to provide clarifications regarding this matter.

A sales report provides a complete view of your sales transactions, such as sales receipts, invoices, refunds, and credit memos. Meanwhile, the P&L report shows all transactions that are coded for are visible to the profit and loss account (income and expenses).

If you see any discrepancies between your sales and P&L report, here are some factors that cause this matter to occur:

• The Reporting period of the reports doesn't match.
• The accounting methods (Cash, Accrual) don't match.
• Sales items are associated with incorrect sales accounts.
• The P&L report includes data that doesn't use items. They are as follows:
  1. Expenses
  2. Bills
  3. Journal entries

These procedures should help resolve the difference between your P&L and Sales report:

Step 1: Verify and ensure the reports have the same periods and basis:

1. Open each report and modify the Report period. Both reports should be in the same period.
2. Configure the Accounting method to Accrual.
3. Double-check the reports.
4. If the discrepancies persist, proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Ensure the items are tied to accurate accounts:

1. Go to the Reports menu.
2. Enter and select the Product/Service List in the Find report by name search bar.
3. Click the Columns option and enable the Sales account full name columns.
4. Review the associating accounts for each item.
5. Correct all items with inaccurate accounts by clicking on the item and choosing the correct one.
6. Double-check the reports.

If you still have issues with both reports' total amounts, I recommend following Step 3 of this link to review transactions with no items used: Profit and Loss report does not match a sales report.

Moreover, if you need further assistance handling your transactions in the program, you can also consider seeking advice from an accounting professional. They can help secure accurate entries and guide you with the proper categorization of your business transactions.

Finally, you may also use your reports in QuickBooks to track your cash flow in a given period. It helps provide a complete view of your current or future business finances.

I'm still here whenever needed. Just tag me on this thread if you have more questions about how your data are treated or reflected in your reports. I'll ensure to take care of you every step of the way.

Ok, here's a for instance:

I have a specific product that isn't being tracked as sales on the P/L (I can tell after looking at the detailed report). That product in particular accounts for $136k in income. How would I go about making sure that it is included as income on the P/L? Can you walk me through the steps?

Thank you.

Yes, LManS2024. To ensure a specific product appears on the Profit and Loss (P/L) report in QuickBooks Online (QBO), here are the detailed steps for you.

If your specific product isn’t reflected as sales on the P/L report, one possible reason could be the accounting method—either Cash or Accrual—applied to both your P/L and Sales reports. It's essential to understand that this significantly affects when sales are recognized in your reports.

For additional details on how cash and accrual basis impact reports, you can visit this link: Choose between Cash and Accrual Accounting Methods in QuickBooks Online.

On the other hand, ensure that all income generated from products and services should be recorded in a designated Income-Sales or Expense account so that it appears in the Profit and Loss report. 

When generating both your P/L and Sales reports, apply the same filters to ensure the numbers align correctly.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Navigate to Reports in the left sidebar.
2. Choose your desired report.
3. In the Accounting method section, select either Cash or Accrual for both reports.
4. Click on Run report.

After pulling up the report, it should appear as shown in the attached sample screenshot below.

To learn more about personalizing your reports in QBO, you can visit to this article: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

Feel free to hit that Reply button if you have any additional questions about viewing your reports' data in QBO. We'll be here to lend a hand.

They are both in accrual, so this is not the problem here.

I simply think that for whatever reason, certain sales are not being included as income in the P/L. There should be a function/action to ensure that all things billed for are included as income. Again, there is clearly a product (shown in the sales report at $136k) that has been billed and paid for, that is not being included as income on the P/L report. It seems like it should be something very simple to make sure it's accounted for as income, I'm just missing something.

Thank you for your prompt response on the thread, LManS2024.

There are various factors that could contribute to the issue, such as: 

• The date ranges of the reports do not match.
• The accounting bases of the reports do not match.
• Sales items point to incorrect sales accounts.
• The P&L report includes transactions that do not use items (e.g., the Expense Tab on a bill or a journal entry).
• List or transaction damage in the company data file.

To resolve the problem, we need to ensure that the items correctly point to the relevant accounts, and I have provided step-by-step instructions to help with this process. You can follow these steps: 

1. Go to the Gear ⚙ icon and select Products and services.
2. Find the item and select Edit.
3. From the Income account dropdown, choose the account you want to use.
   Note: Can't see the account? Make sure the account's detail type is Sales of Product Income.
4. Select Save and close.

Additionally, you may refer to this article that aims to help match your sales and profit & loss reports: Profit and Loss report does not match a sales report.

If you have any further questions or concerns regarding your reports, please feel free to leave a comment below. Take care and thank you for your time.