Projects functionality

We can generate the Project Profitability report to track your income and cost transactions as the Overview section only displays the total income and expenses, @ACO_llc.

First off, you're right that utilizing a project for your production company is not suitable as it is designed to handle only one customer per project. Thus, the transactions tracked are only those assigned to that specific project.

To run the Project Profitability report, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Projects in the left navigation panel.
2. Select the specific projects for which you want to analyze income and costs.
3. Click on Project Reports and then view the Project Profitability.

In case you want to use your reports outside of QuickBooks, check this guide to help you export them: Export your reports to Excel from QBO.

Feel free to click Reply if you have further concerns about projects. We're always available to help you out.

First off, you're right that utilizing a project for your production company is not suitable as it is designed to handle only one customer per project. Thus, the transactions tracked are only those assigned to that specific project.

I AM using only one customer per project. The theater is the customer, and related to the production there is both income (mostly from one source) and expenses (to a variety of vendors). It seems from everything you say that using a Project for each show should work perfectly. Any idea why it doesn't?

Hi, @ACO_llc. Allow me to offer additional insights into the Projects Overview feature, highlighting a few pros and cons.

You've observed that despite receiving income and incurring expenses for the project, these transactions are not visible in the project's Overview or any other reports. If there is a specific report you are interested in, could you please specify the data you wish to view? This information will assist me in identifying if a suitable option is available in QuickBooks Online. Additionally, within the Overview, these transactions will be displayed as a total amount per account or service item category.

You are correct; the transactions will be displayed in the Projects' Transactions tab. Given that the Overview tab summarizes all transactions involved in a project, I recommend clicking on the amounts for each category to view further details.

To track income, we can start by creating a "service" item for the total sales from customers, naming it "Customer Total Sales," and assigning it to the appropriate project. Additionally, make sure this service item is linked to an income account under the same name for consistency. I also recommend seeking accounting advice for effective tracking.

It's important to note that invoicing individual customers who watch the play can't be feasible as tracking them in the project can be challenging. However, by using this method, it will be easier to account for the income received from theatre-goers and view the breakdown of total income including billable expense income, markup, and other types of income. The amounts will be displayed in the Income section. I have included a video snippet to demonstrate how I invoiced the project for clarity.

To ensure expenses are accurately reflected in the Overview, create a billable expense that can be included on the invoice when it is associated with the project. This will be recorded as billable income, and any markup on the expense will be displayed accordingly in the project's Overview window. The source of the expense doesn't affect its reflection, provided that the Customer/Projects column is correctly labeled with the project's name. These transactions can be specifically viewed in the Costs section.

Please note that billable expenses and markups listed in the Costs section will appear as Billable Expense Income and Markup respectively in the Income section when these billable expenses are converted as invoices. Additionally, if the Billable checkbox is left unchecked in a transaction, yet the Customer/Project section is populated with the project's name, the transaction will continue to appear under Costs.

Furthermore, utilizing class and location for tracking can facilitate the breakdown into specific reports. It’s crucial to recognize that each report has designated targets and sources. Consequently, you are correct in exporting them to Excel to enable strategic customization.

For additional details on utilizing Projects, please refer to this article: Create projects in QuickBooks Online or Intuit Enterprise Suite. This resource provides links on how to add transactions, existing invoices, timesheets, and expenses to a project, serving as your future reference.

Always feel free to post if you have additional questions about the Project feature or other QuickBooks-related concerns, ACO_llc. We are always here to support you.

Thanks for the detailed response. I understand what you’re saying about how it’s *supposed* to work, but I can’t replicate it. Let’s get simpler.

Typically my projects don’t involve invoices at all. Let’s say I receive 10 checks from customers for tickets. That’s booked as income via a bank deposit, with the relevant project selected on each line. Why aren’t these income items showing up in the project overview? 

Likewise, some of our expenses don’t involve bills and some do. I select the relevant project when entering both bills and expense forms. Yet as with the income, I don’t see any of these expenses on the relevant project unless I drill down into the transactions.

Does the fact that I am editing past transactions make a difference?—

Given that the Overview tab summarizes all transactions involved in a project, I recommend clicking on the amounts for each category to view further details.

This is the crux of my problem. The Overview tab is NOT summarizing all the transactions involved in my projects. (And am I correct in thinking that only transactions posted to P&L accounts would be summarized in any event?)

Yes, @ACO_llc, if you categorize bank deposits as asset, liability, or equity accounts, they will not appear on the Overview page, only the profit loss accounts.

On the Bank Deposit page, under Add funds to this deposit, tick the check box beside "Track Returns for Customers" to assign your income to a specific project without associating an invoice.

To show the income transactions on the Overview page, follow the steps below:

1. In the RECEIVED FROM dropdown, select the appropriate project.
2. In the CUSTOMER/PROJECT, choose the customer.

Similarly, for expenses, choose the appropriate project in the Customer/Project column and use the expense account to ensure visibility in the project overview or any project reports.

Use this link to create projects in QuickBooks Online. It will guide you in viewing and editing the associated transactions and running project-specific reports.

Lastly, for enhanced reporting and optimal use of QuickBooks, contact our Live Expert Assisted team for personalized support and guidance, ensuring confident and efficient use of QuickBooks.

If you need more clarification about your Projects, get back to this thread by clicking the REPLY button. We are here to support and guide you through every step of the process.

Last question: Is there any way to get Journal Entries to appear in a Project? I have an expense that was booked to Prepaid Expense and then reclassed after the FY started by a JE which is not showing up in the Profitability report (though it DOES show in transactions). 

If the only way to fix this would be to go back to the original bill and class it to the appropriate expense account, then how can Projects work for situations where expenses and revenues span fiscal years?

You can manage your projects in QuickBooks Online (QBO) even if expenses and revenues happen across fiscal years, ACO_llc.

As to your first question, yes, there is a way for Journal Entries (JE) to show in your Project profitability report. If the Journal Entry (JE) that you have reclassified in your Fiscal year-to-date impacts your income and expense accounts and is appropriately linked to your project, then, it should be reflected in your Project profitability report. Just keep in mind that JEs are usually for making adjustments or corrections and their impact on the report varies depending on your accounting method (Cash or Accrual) and reporting period. For more details refer to this article: Find the missing income and expense transactions in your Profit and Loss report.

You can manage your projects even if expenses and revenues occur in different fiscal years. Just ensure that you link expenses and income transactions to the correct project when entering them. To assess your project's performance, pull reports like the Project profitability report, over a broader date range to include all related transactions.

If the journal entry still does not appear in your report, I highly recommend working with your accountant to determine if the best way to resolve this is by going back to the original bill from the previous fiscal year.

Feel free to return anytime if you have more questions. We're always here to help you out. 

I'm having a similar problem. I'm trying to help a local improv theater track profitability for classes, shows, etc. but the Project functionality doesn't seem to work at all. I don't even have an Overview tab. I can see expenses I've assigned to the project in the Transactions tab but they don't show up on any of the reports. Help has been extremely unhelpful. Just commiserating, I guess.

Hi @Improviser, nice to see someone in the same boat! I think we can help one another better than the AI bots. LOL! I've gotten pretty close to figuring out what I need to do to make it work for the coming season. Are you on QBO? What happens when you run the Project Profitability Report (from the Project Reports tab)?

Editing past transactions to get them to show up was a pain, and I still haven't conquered the issue of spanning fiscal years. But otherwise I have a project working for a show and the profitability report is a LOT cleaner to work with than the Class reports I have been using for this purpose. 

As to your first question, yes, there is a way for Journal Entries (JE) to show in your Project profitability report. If the Journal Entry (JE) that you have reclassified in your Fiscal year-to-date impacts your income and expense accounts and is appropriately linked to your project, then, it should be reflected in your Project profitability report.

This sounds good, but I can't see a way to link a Journal Entry to a project. The JE in question reallocates a Prepaid Expense to the appropriate account in the current fiscal year (debiting the Expense account, crediting Prepaid Expenses). There is no way I can see to indicate a customer/project to the JE.  So, am I correct in thinking that I would have to go back to the original transaction in the prior year--in this case, an expense without any bill booked to Prepaid Expenses--and create a whole Bill/Bill Payment process to make it show up in the project? If there is any way to link it to the project from the JE, that would be lovely to know. 

For more information on managing Projects, refer to Create Projects in QuickBooks Online or Intuit Enterprise Suite. This article offers guidance on adding transactions, invoices, timesheets, and expenses to your projects.

 If you need to use your reports outside of QuickBooks, refer to this guide for assistance with exporting them: Export your reports to Excel from QBO.

For more details about projects, use the reply button to respond to this thread. We're here to support and guide you at every stage.