Expenses are showing up as negative expenses on P&L, which in turn is causing the expenses to increase the net income. I have checked that all accounts are correct. Help?

courtneyolsonhom · ‎November 10, 2023

Anonymous · ‎November 11, 2023

Thank you for letting us know about your concerns with expense transactions in QuickBooks Online (QBO), courtney. I’m here to give you insights into how negative expenses are made and help you determine these types of transactions.

There are various ways we can verify why these expenses are showing as negative on your Profit and Loss (P&L). Before we dig deeper into this, negative expenses are transactions that are refunded or credited back from your vendors. Therefore, an increase in your net income will be visible.

Additionally, Bills could affect the reporting as it will show up as an expense if payment hasn’t been applied yet. However, it varies from what accounting method you’re applying in the report. Once a payment has been applied, the bill payment will show a positive amount on both Accounts Payable (A/P) and the transaction bank accounts.

To see why such transactions appear to be different from what we are expecting, I recommend re-checking every expense account and tapping the values in the P&L report to view every transaction associated with these amounts.

Once done, you’ll be routed to the Transaction Reports which show all the transactions under a specific account. From there, we can determine if the transaction is a vendor refund if it appears to be a Deposit type and in a negative amount. I’ll show you how:

Go to the Reports menu and locate Profit and Loss Report.
Check all the Expenses accounts, and tap the Amount under the Total column.
Once in the Transaction Report, check a Deposit transaction to determine if it’s causing the negative expenses.

Moreover, I've added an article that'll help you customize, also save the current customization setting of your reports to prevent you from personalizing it again:

The instructions above should explain the circumstances as to why your expenditures are showing as negative. Moreover, I’d be eager to help you more if you have further questions or concerns about looking through your financial reports. You can tap the Reply button to post your queries here.

EOLLC · ‎September 27, 2024

I have the same problem. I switched from paying a contractor by paper checks to direct deposit via QB. The contractor's expense account didn't change, but when we started DD, the expense started coming through as a negative number. Since QB Online doesn't allow you to actually view the entry for these payments, I can't figure out how it's calculating two debits (the bank account and the expense account).

AnneMariee · ‎September 27, 2024

Let’s work together to get to the bottom of the issue you’re experiencing with your Profit and Loss report, EOLLC.

In QuickBooks Online, changing payment methods when paying contractors shouldn’t affect how expenses are recorded in your reports. So, it’s unusual for the expenses to appear as negative numbers unless, as my colleague mentioned, you’ve received a refund. Additionally, there might be a cache-related issue preventing you from clicking on specific transactions to view further details. To isolate the issue, let's perform troubleshooting steps together.

Begin by accessing your QuickBooks Online company in a private browser to allow QuickBooks to start on a clean slate. Once you’re in, run a Profit and Loss report and check if the amounts are still appearing as negative. Also, see if you can click on the direct deposit transactions to access their reports for more insight.

If everything works smoothly in the private browser, I recommend going back to your regular browser to clear the cache and remove any outdated files. Alternatively, you can use a different supported browser.

However, if the issue persists, I recommend reaching out to our live payroll support team for assistance on the matter. They can review your account in a secure environment and further investigate why you're experiencing this issue.

Here's how to contact our payroll team:

Go to the Help menu and select the Search tab.
Next, click Contact Us.
Select a topic to connect with the right expert or choose to ask about something else to enter a brief description of your concern. Then, press Continue.
Lastly, pick either Start a Chat or Get a Callback to start connecting with them.

To ensure your concerns are promptly addressed, please check out support hours here: Contact Payroll Support.

I'll also leave this article on paying contractors with direct deposit for more info on the process: Pay a contractor with direct deposit.

If you need additional assistance with any QuickBooks-related matters, feel free to explore our help articles.

It's my goal to ensure a smooth experience when using QuickBooks. If you have any other concerns or questions about the software, please feel free to drop them in the comment section below. I'll be around to help you out, EOLLC. Keep safe!

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Expenses are showing up as negative expenses on P&L, which in turn is causing the expenses to increase the net income. I have checked that all accounts are correct. Help?