Generate a PNL with all accounts but NOT inactive accounts

making an account inactive is just to get it off some lists

So if the account has transactions in the date range of the report, it will show on the P&L regardless of whether it is set to inactive or not.  There used to be a setting for do not show zero balance accounts, that might help if the account fits the criteria.  Other wise all you could do is create "unused dummy" accounts in one company so the listing will line up

Yes ALL accounts mean just that, all of them inactive and active.

Hi there, @barak. 

I can help you export a Profit and Loss report that shows only all active full current Chart of Accounts. Here's how: 

1. In the Profit and Loss report page, go to the Show non-zero or active only section. 
2. Select Active in the drop-down list, then click Run report. 
3. Click the Export button on the top right of the report. 

For future reference, read through this help article: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online. It also includes a quick video clip to guide you. 

Let me know if you have additional questions, @barak. I'm always around here to help. 

Sorry guys, I'm struggling with Quickbooks terminology.   If "Active" Accounts are those with transactions associated with them, but "Inactive" refers to accounts that are essentially invisible that you no longer use, what do you call accounts that are NOT inactive but DON'T have transactions associated with them? 

As an example, let's say I have a chart of accounts with 50 accounts I want to use, but only 30 of them have transactions in them.  And I also have 20 accounts I've made inactive because I no longer want them.  When I run a PNL, my only two options are to generate a PNL with only the 30 accounts with transactions in them (aka "active) or a PNL with all 70 accounts, including the 20 I made invisible, which I no longer wanted to see.  

What I'm trying to figure out is how I run a PNL that is JUST the 50 accounts that make up my current chart of accounts.  I want this because I have multiple companies with this chart of accounts but each company may have a different set of "active" accounts.  Every time I consolidate them, it's a mind melting exercise in excel of scanning and adding rows missing rows, copying and pasting, etc.  If I could export exactly the 50 accounts that comprise what I'm calling my "current" chart of accounts, the PNL's would line up precisely right out my quickbooks export and it would be a piece of cake to consolidate. 

If this isn't possible, are there any other methods that make consolidation possible without taking years off your life?  

Thanks for the help!

Barak

@barak 

Since you're exporting Chart of Accounts COA from an existing company file with inactive accounts, there is no way to make this work as you want in QBO.

If these are all brand new companies with no data, you can wipe out and start QBO with an empty Chart of Accounts (w/few QBO default accounts only) and then import your formatted identical Chart of Accounts. This way you can consolidate the P&L report in Excel as you want.

Hope this helps!

Sadly these are 2-10 years old and we've been refining our COA over the years, with a major revamp this January.  I find strange that quickbooks wouldn't provide a way to export all your "current" accounts since these are the ones you actually use (or plan to use).  Is my situation unique in some way?  I watched bunch of videos on consolidation of QBO companies and they all do the same painstaking insertion of missing accounts to get everything to line up.  

The workaround I've discovered its to start off the year by adding a zero balance transaction into each account in order to force QBO to show the account as part of the "Active" accounts.  It's tedious, but you only do it once and and after that you can generate full PNL's and consolidate with almost a single cut and paste.  I think I'll go that route.  

Thanks for the help. 

I'm looking to do the same thing.  I want to generate a report with ALL Active accounts, even with zero balances as I would like to see what the account structure will look like on each report.  Has there been a resolution to this issue?

Thanks for joining in this conversation, @ayordy. At the moment, This is unavailable in QuickBooks. 

I know how relevant to your business to generate a report with ALL Active account. I'll take note of your concern and forward it to our engineers. 

In the meantime, you can visit our QuickBooks Blog site to stay updated about feature releases and newly added products and services by visiting the 

Please let me know if you have any other concerns or questions. I’m here ready to help you.

"At the moment, This is unavailable in QuickBooks. "

I realize Quickbooks is much cheaper than most SME Accounting Suites, but for the last year every time I google how to do something I need in Quickbooks, this is the answer I get.  Luckily our company is in a position to begin looking into Netsuite or Sage.  It's just ridiculous what this software doesn't have the ability to do.  It's like zero actual accountant consultants were used to determine priorities.

It seems that choosing "Active Rows" would allow then the option of displaying the Distribution Accounts chosen and only the Distribution Accounts chosen.  But Active Rows seems to be no different than "non-zero" rows.  Is there a difference?  This is a huge problem to not allow a report that shows exactly which rows (income & expense accounts) that I want to see each time I run the report.  If I choose All Rows I get all of these default accounts that I don't want and can't delete.  Can we get this fixed?

The Community has got your back, @kwink. 

I see a duplicate post of your concern where my colleague, @ChristieAnnB responded.

I'd like to route you to your similar post, please head to the Generate a PNL with all accounts but NOT inactive accounts thread at this link.  

Also, to make your QuickBooks experience more meaningful, you might want to visit our help page to browse articles that can guide you with your accounting tasks. To get started go to our QBO help articles page. 

Keep me posted if you have any other QuickBooks-related concerns. I'm always here to help. Have a great day ahead.

I'm trying to run a PnL by class and this does not work. Active accounts with $0 in transactions or negative numbers do not show with these settings.

Hi there, @eoraclu.

I can help you with customizing your Profit and Loss by Class report.

Usually, the figures depend on how you customize or filter the report. If you want to display all of your active accounts with $0 or negative balances, you can follow these steps:

1. On the report's page, click on the Customize tab.
2. Uncheck the box beside the Except zero amount, then tap on Run report.

Then, select All or Active under the Show non-zero or active only section to compare the result.

For more tips about running or customizing your reports, I recommend checking out this article: Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

Moreover, you can also export your report to Excel and make the necessary customization from there. You can open this article for your guide: Export your reports to Excel from QuickBooks Online.

If you have any other questions about your reports, please let me know by adding a comment below. I'm more than happy to help. Have a good one!

This does not work. I've read multiple forum threads where people representing Quickbooks state that this is the solution. It's not. I've tried this multiple times and it will not show accounts that have no transactions during the FY. I've tested it multiple times. I've also cleared the desktop app cache and reset it on the recommendation of another post. I've tried multiple strategies to manipulate the accounts in excel the way I need them, and it takes far too much time, for something that we are supposedly able to run with a few clicks. This is incredibly frustrating.

If you look at the description of Active just above the pull down box, it even implies that the accounts aren't going to show - "Choose Active to hide empty rows or columns. Choose Non-zero to also hide ones where the total is zero." What's the difference between empty rows and those that total zero? The only way I have been able to get active accounts that total zero to show is by selecting "All", which then pulls up dozens of deleted accounts.

Please, we need an actual solution to this.

Thanks for posting here again, @eoraclu. Let me provide additional information about customizing reports in QBO. 

The non-zero option when customizing the reports hide rows and columns with no activity or a total amount of zero. You may also check this article for more information: How do I show only active rows and columns in my reports?.

Currently, the option we can perform is the steps provided by my colleague @Angelyn_T.

I'll be adding these articles to help you manage reports in QuickBooks:

• Customize reports
• Memorize reports

Please let me know if you have other concerns. I'll be around to help you. Stay safe always.

The instructions you've linked clarify that there is no way to show an Active account that has no activity:

1. Choose which rows or columns to show:
   • Active: Hide empty rows and columns.
   • All: Show all rows or columns.
   • Non-zero: Hide rows and columns with a total of zero.

This is extremely confusing, since the "Active" label leads one to think that they are going to be able to see all Active Accounts, when active is actually referring to filtering out accounts that have no transactions. This wreaks havoc to the linked cells on my excel budget reports when suddenly an account has a transaction and adds another line to the profit and loss.

The only "solution" I came across is from another user who was entering a 0 transaction at the beginning of the year in every single Active account to make sure it came up in the profit and loss report.

I also find this response unhelpful and frustrating.  I have to consolidate two entities with two different currencies, and the only way to simplify the consolidation process is to be able to export the P&L reports with a chart of accounts that perfectly aligns (even when there are no transactions for the reporting period).  If I can't get them to align in Excel, then I have to go through a very tedious process of making them align manually. I want to be able to select all accounts and NOT have the deleted accounts appear, but there is no way to do that.  Makes the argument for switching to Sage Intacct or Netsuite stronger!  

If I want to show only active accounts even ones with zero is there a way?

I can show you how to filter the report, maraloftus.

You can select the accounts that you want to include in your report and then show all non-zero accounts. Let me show you how: 

1. Click the Report menu.
2. Pull up the Profit and Loss report.
3. At the upper-right, click Customize. 
4. Click the Filter option and under the Distribution Account drop-down, select all active accounts you want to include in the report.
5. Select Run report.

You'll want to save a customized report so you don't have to customize it every time you run the financial report. 

The Community is always here if you need anything else. Have a great day ahead. 

I am using desktop. This looks like it may be instructions for the online version? Is there a way to do it in desktop?

I just sent a reply but now I understand what you suggested. Thank you! This will work!!