Class not showing on reports

Thank you for sharing detailed information and a screenshot of your concern, @StevenPDX1.

I'm here to provide insights on how classes work on reports and give you the best report you can run to show the class for each transaction for a specific funds account.

The reason why classes aren't showing on the transaction report for a specific account is that the class is assigned to each line item of the expense transaction or other expense category/accounts. While the reason why the class of your journal entry is showing on the report is that the class was assigned to a specific bank account line item. I'll attach a screenshot below for your visual reference.

As a workaround, you can run and customize the Transaction Detail by Account report. Here's how:

1. Click Reports from the left menu.
2. Search for Transaction Detail by Account.
3. Choose the date range you want to show on the report from the Report period drop-down.
4. Click Customize.
5. Go to the Filter section, then select the specific bank account from the Account drop-down.
6. Click Run report.

This should show you all the classes associated with your transactions.

You might want to reconcile your bank accounts in the future. This will help you ensure your QuickBooks transactions match your bank statement.

Please let me know if you need more clarification about this. I'll be around to provide further assistance, @StevenPDX1.

PrepaidGiftBalance allows you to check how much balance you have remaining.

Mark:

Thank you very much for your assistance. I'm still confused as to what QBO is doing. Let me explain.

First and foremost, all I'm trying to do is get a simple report listing, in date order, all of the transactions in the Restricted Account register, along with their class. The reason for this is to make sure I have added a class to each transaction.

I did as you suggested: ran a Transaction Detail by Account report. The result is confusing. The first transaction dated 9/21/20 was a donation of $200.00. The top portion of the report shows the transaction in the section OnPoint Checking > Restricted Funds--with no class. Deeper into the report is a section called Donations > Restricted > Individual (a "category" on the Chart of Accounts). On this transaction, we see the class "Wildfire Relief" (this was the project the donor wanted her funds to be used).

I don't understand why QBO surpasses the class on the first transaction and shows it on the second one. As I said, all I want to do is make sure each entry in the Restricted Account has a class.

I studied the account settings as you indicated in your reply. Should I change the class setting to class the entire transaction rather than each line in a transaction? Will that solve this problem? Will it wipe out all of the classes I've entered?

I find this very confusing. Having transitioned from QB Enterprise to QBO, this behavior is very different and I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. 

Many thanks!

Steven

Here is a screenshot showing the two sections of the report.

Hello StevenPDX1, thanks for getting back here and adding a screenshot for additional reference.

Yes, changing the class setting will affect how classes are generated on the report. Still, you can change it in the settings and still be able to view them once you change it back to the old setup.

If you decide to assign classes to one to each row in transaction, you can change the income account of an item to Donation/Individual account to view the in the Class field on the report. You can seek assistance from your accountant to make sure everything will remain accurate.

In this case, we can send this feedback to our Product Development team. To do it, you'll need to sign in to your QuickBooks Online account to share with us your insights about the feature you want to include in the program. Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Select Feedback under Profile.
3. Enter your suggestion. Then, click Next.

Still, I recommend following the recommendation shared by my colleague above. We might need to customize it more to get the details you need. First, pull up the Transaction Detail by Account. Then, you can utilize the articles below for further guidance:

• Customize reports in QuickBooks Online
• Memorize reports in QuickBooks Online

Let me know if you still need help. We'll be around to assist you. Stay safe and have a good one.

Hi, Sarahann:

Thanks for the reply. I'm still not 100% clear about what's happening here, but I'm getting there...

I looked at the Product/Service list (what I'm used to calling Items in QuickBooks Enterprise). When I set them up, I did not specify a class on purpose. Under Donations > Restricted > Individual, the person may donate for one cause that we've given a class (say, "Wildfire Relief"), then donate a few months later for a second case (a class called "WIldfire Relief"). We have similar Items under Donations > Restricted for corporations, other foundations, and so on. We have a duplicate structure for Donations > Discretionary; that is, funds received from people that we can spend as we see fit.

We set it up this way for two reasons: to be able to see where our donations are coming from by type of donor and to segregate funds dedicated to a specific purpose (that is, "class") from funds we can spend in a general way (these do not have a class). I thought using classes would be a good idea because we can run a P&L (called a Statement of Activity for a non-profit) by class and see how much in donations we've received for a specific cause and how much we've spent on that cause. 

The Product/Services list mimics the chart of accounts (COA); that is, the COA is set up with the same income accounts as the Product/Services list. For example, both use the same parent/child structure; for example, Donations > Restricted > Individual.

It wouldn't make sense to swell the Chart of Accounts by creating an income account for every cause (Donations > Restricted > Individual > Wiildfire Relief. We wouldn't need to use classes in that case and over time, we'd end up with a huge COA. 

Here's what I'm trying to do. We have one checking account with the bank. At the same time, it's critical that I keep discretionary funds separated from restricted funds. I don't need to physically have two bank accounts. I just need to know, at any time, two important things: (1) how much money is in discretionary and restricted, and (2) how much money have we received and spent for a specific restricted cause.

To accomplish this, I created two sub-accounts under our checking account: Discretionary and Restricted. When a donation comes in, I code it under one of the two sub-accounts: OnPoint Checking > Restricted or OnPoint Checking > Discretionary. If it's restricted, I also assigned a class corresponding to the cause specified by the donor (for example, "Wildfire Relief.") I also set up a custom Statement of Activity by class that shows me how much income and expense we have by class.

What's critical is to make sure that every transaction in the OnPoint Checking > Restricted sub account has a class associated with it. It's also critical that no transaction in OnPoint Checking > Discretionary does NOT have a class (classes are ONLY for restricted funds that are donated for a specific purpose, or class.) All I want to do is run a balance sheet (Statement of Financial Position), click the OnPoint Checking > Restricted or OnPoint Checking > Discretionary, and see a list of transactions in date order and make sure there is or is not a class. I did that, but that's where I ran into a problem: The class does not show up. 

Why isn't is showing up? It seems that it's related to some (or all) of these quirky ways classes work in QBO: (1) The income or expense account doesn't have a class associated with it; (2) the item doesn't have a class associated with it, or (3) I'm using classes by line item in a transaction instead of classing the entire transaction.

With this explanation, and stating what I'm trying to accomplish, can you help me understand what I'm doing wrong? Should I abandon classes and instead use tags? Is there another way to set this up?

I'm sorry this is so long, but I'm hoping this will help you provide some advice to me. Thank you!

Steven

Thanks for getting back on this thread, @StevenPDX1 .Let me clarify a few things about how the classes feature works in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

The reason why classes don't show up in this report is that classes were assigned by line item. However, changing the option to classify checks, journal entries, and deposit transactions by One to entire transaction has no effect on your reports. This will only affect the posting of sales transactions.

As a workaround, you can run and customize the Transaction List with Splits report to view your transactions associated with each class. Here's how:

1. Click Reports from the left menu.
2. Search for Transaction List with Splits.
3. Choose the date range you want to show on the report from the Report period drop-down.
4. Tap the Customize button.
5. Select the Change columns hyperlink, then place a checkmark in the Class checkbox.
6. Click Run report.

Yes, the tags are also a great feature to track your transactions however you'd like in QBO. This feature is available in all QBO subscriptions. To find out more about this feature, please see these articles:

• What are tags and why should I use them?
• Why you should group your tags? 

I'd still recommend sending feedback or forwarding this request to our product engineers. This might be considered for future updates. You can follow the steps outlined by my peer, SarahannC, above.

Additionally, you'll want to personalize the format for your reports. Feel free to customize it on QuickBooks Online. This article will give you details on how: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online. 

Please don't hesitate to tag my name in the comment section if you have any other QuickBooks-related concerns. I'll be here to answer them for you. Stay safe!

Hey, @Kevin_C:

I appreciate your reply. It seems clear the classes work very differently in QBO than they do QB Enterprise.

Given this limitation, I take you back to what I'm trying to accomplish: find a way in QBO to separate out restricted and discretionary funds, and categorize income and expense by individual restricted fund categories like Wildfire Relief or Ukraine Aid.

I could fix this by manipulating the chart of accounts. For each restricted project that we take on:

Donations > Restricted > Wildfire Relief - all income accounts

Expenses > Restricted > Wildfire Relief - all expense accounts

There wouldn't be any granular detail on who the income came from (individual, corporate, etc.) or the type of expense (supplies, transportation, etc.) All discretionary expenses would fall into normal accounts. I wouldn't use class at all.

I tried exploring tags, but they don't show up in filters, journal entries, etc.

Can you think of any other workaround?

Many thanks,
Steven

Thanks for the details you've shared, @StevenPDX1.

Let me share some insights about how classes work in QuickBooks Online. 

Use classes to assign each line item of the expense transaction or other expense category or accounts, so they don't appear on the transaction report for a specific account. The class of your journal entry is displayed on the report when you allocate to a bank account line item. For your convenience, I've included a screenshot below.

I appreciate all the workarounds you have tried and for following the workarounds provided by my colleagues. Currently, we don't have other workarounds available in order for you to classify the transactions.

We have an article to guide you in memorizing a report once you have the best customization to include all the details you need in a report.

Let me know if I can be of more help in running reports using QuickBooks Online. Leave a comment below. The Community and I are always here to help you. Have a great day.

Thanks for the help and insight over this thread. I'm a 20-year veteran of QuickBooks and QuckBooks Enterprise and used classes extensively, including setting them up like I tried to do in QBO (I just assumed that classes were the same in both programs). That is obviously not the case. I still can't say I fully understand what a QBO "class" is, but I've learned enough to know that it won't work for what we need.

My solution was to create child accounts under Donations (income) and Restricted (expense), with each child account the equivalent of the project for which our donors are giving money. We don't get the detail we'd like in order to see how their donation was spent because we don't want to duplicate categories for every project (Supplies, Advertising, etc.). However, we can run a P&L and filter it by the project's income and expense category to see how much of donor's funds we have left on a specific project.

Thanks again for your help. I wish the solution had been as we originally set up QBO--it was a lot of work to reclassify all of our transactions.

Good Day, @StevenPDX1.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank you for letting us know about this. I also appreciate the time and effort you've exerted into this. I can outline the steps below so you can send feedback to our Product Development Team. They'll put your suggestion into consideration for future product updates. Here's how:

1. In the upper-right corner, click the Gear icon.
2. Select Feedback.
3. Enter a brief description of your product suggestion. and then click Next.
4. Type your email address.
5. Once done, click Send Message.

I've got you this article in case you'd like to have copy of your business reports in QuickBooks: Export your reports to Excel from QuickBooks Online.

Our door is open 24/7 if you have any additional QuickBooks questions. You can also notify me if you need assistance performing specific tasks in QuickBooks. I'll be more than happy to help you. Thanks for choosing QuickBooks. Take care and have a good one!

I have the same issue with Classes not showing on reports, and all the workarounds the "experts" suggested did not work for me either!  Makes NO sense, I coded all my credit card transactions to a class by line item, when I run the Detailed Trans report the Class column is blank. BUT, when you click on one of the trans it shows the class?!?! Frustrating indeed!

I hear you! I was frustrated on two levels: (1) trying to determine why classes were not showing up on reports as one would expect, and (2) none of the "experts" clearly articulating that classes in QBO work entirely differently than in QB desktop/enterprise.

That word--"Class"--has significant weight and functionality in QB desktop/enterprise. It's a very effective way to create a reporting methodology that compliments the chart of accounts. However, there is nothing in the QBO documentation that says, "Wait. If you're a QB desktop/enterprise user, Classes in QBO work entirely differently and you won't get the results you may be expecting." Why Intuit chose to use the same word--class--then severely deprecate its functionality in QBO serves only one purpose: To frustrate its users. To me, it's a classic case of, "I'll program whatever I want and I don't care who it effects." Or, at best, the programming team in charge of QBO not talking at all to the folks who code QB desktop/enterprise.

The only solution for our organization was to touch every transaction and change its account, then delete the class--a complete waste of valuable time. I'm sorry you also ran into this significant issue, and I'm sorry that Intuit chooses not to fix the issue and that the answers in this forum danced around the actual answer: Classes are dramatically different in QBO. I hope you find a workaround.

I am trying to run a Balance sheet by Class. 

Everything shows up by class from when the BS was first loaded, but the activity after does not. 

Those show up as unspecified on the BS by Class report. 

Crazy! I do not know how to fix this. 

Hello there, mickey. I'm here to share some insights about how running a balance sheet report by class works in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

In QBO, the unspecified or Not Specified transactions that are showing in your balance sheet are your Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, or Payroll transactions like Receive Payment and Pay Bills because these transactions can't be split into different classes. 

Also, please ensure to assign classes to your transactions so they won't appear as Not Specified in your Balance Sheet report.

Lastly, make sure to select the correct Report period, Accounting method, and other filter customization within the report to show the correct classification.

You can check out this article for more details about this process: Run a balance sheet by class or location in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, visit this article to learn more about how to focus on the details that matter most when you pull up reports in QBO: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

Keep me posted if you still have questions or concerns about managing your financial reports in QBO. I'll be here to lend a helping hand. Have a great day ahead!

No, everything showing up as unspecified are checks that were written and entered as an expense and assigned an expense category, as well as a class. 

Each item has its own entry and has been assigned it's own class. There are no items where there is more than one line item. 

I am pulling the report by the correct report period and accounting method.

I can share additional information about running balance sheet reports in QuickBooks Online (QBO), crazy4mickey.

Every transaction consists of two parts: the header and the detail.

Classes are only linked to details specific to any other item you choose or any product/service. 

In some cases, you may notice that your Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, or Payroll transactions have amounts categorized as "Not Specified." This occurs when the associated transactions like Receive Payment or Pay Bills can't be split into different locations. 

In case you want to personalize your report based on your need, here's a great resource you can check for guidance on what to do: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

I'm always available if you need further help running financial reports in QuickBooks Online. Don't hesitate to click the Reply button below or post in the Community again. Take care! 

I also find classes lacking and am frustrated they don’t show up on general ledger reports. I spent much time classifying programs and for what? I cant see the class unless I go into the entry. Not happy and QBO is lacking value. I should be able to see class on every journal entry rpt without having to go into the journal entry to actually see it!!!!!! 

Hello there, @TreasFVVC. I can see how beneficial having the option to view classes without going into the journal entry in QuickBooks Online (QBO). I want to ensure this will be taken care of.

Our product engineers are constantly working to improve and add new features to QBO to better meet our customer's needs and optimize their navigation experience. While the option you need is unavailable, you can send your feedback to them to request the addition of this ability. The insights in this forum are frequently reviewed by our developers to see what functions are most needed by users. 

Here's how:

1. In your QBO account, navigate to the Gear icon.
2. Next, select the Feedback option.
3. From there, enter the details of your product comments, suggestions, and requests. 
4. Then, click Next to submit. 

You can also visit our Customer Feedback for QuickBooks Online website to track the suggestion you've submitted.  

I also added this helpful resource that you can use as a guide in case you need to modify the details of your report: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

I'm just around the corner to help if you have other concerns managing your reports in QBO. Please don't hesitate to post again here.