Expenses by Vendor Summary Report - Cash vs. Accrual Basis

Hi, @userjcrabtree.

I can share some insights about the differences between the accrual and cash base accounting methods in expenses.

Expenses on the accrual basis include everything you owe, regardless of whether or not you've sent a payment, while Expenses on a cash basis include only the values that you have already paid.

This is why Accrual Basis shows only the 9.50 applied to the vendor, and the Cash Basis shows 418.49. You can also see this in your other vendor report data. In addition, I'd like you to check with your accountant if you need more advice about how the amounts work and affect other accounts in your books. If you don't have one, you can search here.

Furthermore, feel free to read through these resources to learn more information about the accounting methods in QuickBooks Online and how they affect income and expense reports:

• Choose between cash and accrual accounting methods in QuickBooks Online.
• Why are my income and expense transactions missing from my Profit and Loss report?

Let me know if you have other QuickBooks concerns about running reports. I'm always here to lend a hand. Take care, and more power to your business!

Hi Jovychris_A

Thank you for the reply! Here is what I am running into with that explanation. 

We already paid for this invoice, both on a cash and accrual basis. There is no balance outstanding for this transaction. That is why it is confusing to me that it does not show up as an expense to this vendor. 

Because we provide supplies to client's at zero cost, I had sent an invoice to the client for 0.00. 

I would think that would allow the full amount of to post on the Expenses by Vendor Summary. 

But I do not see it listed. It seems as though the inventory items listed do not get applied to the vendor in the cash basis of expenses by vendor summary, even if the vendor bill has been created. 

Does that make sense? 

I appreciate you for coming back to the thread, @userjcrabtree.

Let's customize the date of the transactions before we run the Expenses by Vendor Summary report. 

For the Accrual method, we can check if the date is according to when the bill was created. And for the Cash method, let's make sure the date is exactly as when the payment has been made. This is to ensure that both the accrual and cash balance match. 

If this doesn't match the two amounts, we can check the payment applied in the cash method if it is the correct amount.

I'll also provide articles below to help you learn how:

• Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.
• Create, access, and modify memorized reports.

Know that the Community is always here to back you up. Have a great day ahead.