Profit and Loss by Customer Reporting - "NOT SPECIFIED" Customer

I can share some information about adding expenses to a project, @AlbertD.

You can add an Invoice, Receive Payment, Expense, Estimate, Time, or Bill to a project in QuickBooks Online. Just enter the project name in the Customer/Project dropdown. 

Here's how to add an expense to a project:

1. Go to Bookkeeping, select Transactions and select Expenses.
2. Find and open the transaction you want to add to your project.
3. In the Customer/Project column, select the dropdown. Then select the project. Do this for each expense item you want to add to your project. This is different from the payee for the expense.
4. Click on Save and close.

You'll see a Not Specified in the reports when a transaction doesn't have a customer assigned. To fix this, you can edit each transaction and make sure that there is a customer assigned to them. Check this guide here: Transactions Under Not Specified Category. This provides more information about the difference between classes and locations and how they affect the transactions on the report.

Here's how you can add existing expenses to a project or add new transactions to a project: Set up and create projects in QuickBooks Online. 

I'm just a post away should you ever need anything. Just leave a comment below and I'll get back to you. Have a great day ahead!

Hi @MJoy_D  - than you for your response. Unfortunately, payroll direct deposits cannot be edited. QBO Advanced does not allow you to edit the payroll transaction/journal entry to re-assign PTO related Payroll Expenses to a project. Once payroll is run QBO locks the transaction. Payroll Expenses for PTO paid via QB Payroll Premium inside QBO are locked transactions - cannot be edited in QBO. Is there a way to assign PTO related Payroll Expenses to a project?

Thanks for keeping us updated, AlbertD. I'll share some information about how QBO handles your payroll expenses.

In QuickBooks Online, only the payroll expenses from regular hours worked will be posted to a customer job. They'll be allocated if the weekly timesheet or single-time activity is used by tagging it to a project and specifying the pay type prior to creating a paycheck.

For paid time off/PTO-related expenses, we're unable to link them to a project. I can understand how important to have this functionality to better track your labor costs and profitability. That said, I encourage directly sending feedback to our Product Development Team to help improve your experience in the program. Here's how:

1. Sign in to your company file.
2. Go to the Gear icon.
3. Choose Feedback.
4. Enter your product comments in the description box.
5. Click Next to submit your inputs.

To learn more about how the project feature works, you may visit our FAQ page.

Should you need more help in managing your other business expenses, just let me know in the comment section below. I'm always ready to assist you further.

Hi @KlentB  - thank you for providing this explanation. As you suggested, I submitted feedback. Here is what I submitted as feedback this morning. I hope someone from Intuit can reach out and provide an update as to when we can see this fixed. Thanks again!

Feedback submitted:

Hi QBO – we could really use an accurate “Profit and Loss by Customer” report that includes all expenses related to a Project. As of today, which has been the case for more than 2 years now, since we upgraded to QBO Advanced, QBO Payroll Premium, and QB Time, the "Profit and Loss by Customer" report does not include Payroll Expenses associated with Employee Paid Time Off hours entered, submitted, and exported in QB Time. Payroll Expenses associated with Employee Paid Time Off hours get assigned to a Customer Project called “NOT SPECIFIED.” Since we use QBO Payroll Premium we cannot reassign the Taxes, Wages, and Company Contributions etc. related to PTO to a Project because the direct deposit journal entry is locked and cannot be edited. We would like the ability for employees to assign their PTO to a Project so that when approved hours are exported back to QBO, and payroll is run, Payroll Expenses related to PTO (e.g., Taxes, Wages, Company Contributions, etc.) are assigned to a Project instead of “NOT SPECIFIED.” Can you fix the system for us to assign Payroll Expenses related to PTO to a Project so that we can run a 100% accurate “Profit and Loss by Customer” report for Job Costing? It was the reason we upgraded to QBO Advanced in the first place, for the Projects feature - so we could create cost objectives and segregate costs, but the system does not support 100% accurate Project reporting at this time. Thank you!