cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
AlbertD
Level 3

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

Hello all QB experts! I have something simple that I cannot get to work, but feel that it's complex enough to even challenge the most senior expert QBO employee (since I had two cases that were opened and they couldn't figure it out and then closed the case with no resolution). So, I'm moving to the community and sharing in hopes that another company or user or QB employee has the same set up and actually has it working.

 

Our current product configuration is QBO Advanced integrated with QBO Payroll integrated with QB Time/TSheets. In QBO Advanced we established Projects for each Customer. The Projects automagically import to QB Time/TSheets as advertised. We then assigned the Projects to our employees so they can job cost their hours to specific Projects. Employees submit their Timesheets in QB Time/TSheets and Supervisors approve them. Administrators click the Export button and all approved Timesheets in QB Time/TSheets for each Project are imported back to QBO Advanced like clockwork. QBO Payroll is then processed in the QBO Advanced Payroll section and Payroll is processed without a hiccup. Direct deposits are made and then the following day the banking transaction appears for review and matches are made and categorized as expected.

 

Now we come to the part where the magic is supposed to happen according to QB Videos; we click on Projects and go the Project we want to take a look at from a reporting perspective, specifically "Costs." To the right of "Costs" there is a drop down with the options "Hourly Costs" and "Payroll Expenses." When you click "Payroll Expenses" we're supposed to see a "Payroll Expenses" account under the "Expenses" section under "Costs" which should be further decomposed to "Company Contributions," "Wages," and "Taxes" - matching the corresponding COA. But, nothing shows up. We've done everything the video said to do, but Payroll Expenses do not show up as advertised. To make matters worse, the P&L by Customer then doesn't segregate by cost objective either because the Payroll Expenses get moved to the "Not Defined" area of the P&L by Customer Report.

 

I'm curious if there is any QB Jedi/Wizard that knows exactly how to get this to work as advertised, or is it really a feature that doesn't work. Here is a link to the video that we're trying to replicate:

How to Use Project Profitability Reports in QuickB... (intuit.com)

 

I'm hoping someone can help me with this issue! Thank you in advance for your time and consideration if you take up the challenge and save the day!

9 Comments 9
JessT
Moderator

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

Hi AlbertD,

 

I really appreciate how you stated the details of your concern. As you said, this has been brought up with our Support team. With that, I recommend contacting them again so they can take further action on this case. They have tools to check this issue.

 

If you have other questions, you can go back to this thread.

AlbertD
Level 3

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

Hi Jess - I appreciate your response. Unfortunately, the VIP support line only opens the case, then transfers to another agent who then hangs up on us. We wasted 4 hours being transferred by QBO team to the TSheets team who then transfers to the QBO Payroll team who then hangs up on us. We've been at this for a week and can't get a single QB Employee or VIP folks to help us with this issue. Again, this issue isn't being resolved by anyone at Intuit or QB, they just open and close the cases with no ability to call back, hence the reason I'm now asking the community. We've experience one product group blaming other product groups. We need someone who can debug the issue and offer a resolution how to get the product to work as advertised.

 

Can you show me how to get this feature working?

Juliana
Level 1

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

I do not have a solution unfortunately because we too purchased QBO Advance and the corresponding t-sheet program for these same reasons and have been very disappointed.  Not only can I not get the job costing section to work, but I was also informed by our payroll setup expert that I can no longer point my payroll items to specific (or any) cost of goods sold categories I used for years in desktop.  I now have to figure out how to run reports to gather labor costs, then enter journal entries on every payroll to move the labor to the cost of goods categories.  and that long process only solves my P&L issue. 

 

The whole reason we moved to QBO Advance was that they advertised the job costing capabilities.  

 

I will keep checking this thread to see if anyone has found a way to make this work.  If not, I may give up and move my client back to the desktop. I am really grateful I only moved a single client as a test case as the process has been a nightmare.

AlbertD
Level 3

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

Since my post over a year ago the QB Team still cannot demonstrate how to get Advanced working like their video. Calling their help desk, no matter what tier of support they transfer you to, will not help either. And unfortunately, you will not find a QB Team Member replying to this thread with a solution, projected timelines for when it will work like the video, etc.

 

That said, after a year of using Projects for cost objectives/job costing/labor pools, I have discovered many things that work and a few things that do not work. Things that work will always show up on your report "P&L by Customer" and under "Projects" nicely. Things that do not work will always show up under report "P&L by Customer" as a Customer labeled "Not Specified" which is the last column before "Total" to the right.

 

Things that do not work (again, found under the "Not Specified" Customer left of "Total"):

1. Company Contributions for employees, for instance Retirement or Health Insurance matching, will always show up under "Not Specified." Since payroll/paycheck/direct deposit is an immutable expense in QBO (cannot be edited), you cannot edit and reassign from "Not Specified" to a named Project.

2. Employer Taxes (FUTA, SS, Medi, SUI, etc.) associated with Paid Time Off for employees will always show up in "Not Specified" and cannot be reassigned from "Not Specified" to a named Project.

3. Wages associated with Paid Time Off for employees will always show up in "Not Specified" and cannot be reassigned from "Not Specified" to a named Project.

 

Things that do work (costed to a Project): everything else assigned to Project, i.e., Payables and Receivables - everything in your COA.

 

Under Projects, you will find that using "Hourly Cost" is super basic. You will need to assign hourly cost rates to each employee. When you have different rates for different Projects for the same employee, like most consulting firms, then you cannot use the "Hourly Cost" feature at all, because what you pay is not what you bill - and we need to track different bill rates per employee per project/client.

 

The Hourly Cost view could use a refactor in my opinion since what they are trying to offer in Advanced is the cost of a unit of labor before profit is applied to yield a sale price (e.g., a wrap rate of sorts). If they want to offer a wrap rate, then it would be better to add a wrap rate feature with indirect labor pool support and work breakdown structures.

 

I have found the Payroll Expenses view is integrated with TSheets/QBO Advances/Intuit Payroll and therefore more realistic and accurate for Job Costing. From my perspective, if the QB Team can fix the three items mentioned above, then we'll have a 100% basic solution for Job Costing when using P&L by Customers as Cost Objectives.

 

Hope this helps. -A

 

Go Get Geek
Level 3

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

A client of mine is having a similar issue. According to this article, paychecks are not supposed to be showing in the Project Profitability report when Hourly Costs is the Labor Costing Method. However, my client says that it had changed recently and I can confirm that paychecks are now showing for projects even when changing to this method whereas before they were not. 

 

She has contacted support a couple times already and has been disconnected by one on chat and the 2nd one by phone couldn't even identify (understand) the issue nor show any existing case created from the first chat. 

 

Projects.pngReport.png

JessT
Moderator

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

Hi Go Get Geek,

 

I appreciate the screenshot and the details of your concern. However, it would be best if your client can reach out to our Support team again so they can start a screen-sharing session to check this behavior. They are available from 6 AM to 6 PM PT.

 

On the other hand, you can submit feedback about the changes by going to the Gear icon and choosing Feedback,

 

If you have any other concerns, feel free to go back to this thread.

Go Get Geek
Level 3

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

I contacted support myself. It's a known bug. The Engineering team opened a ticket on 9/14/22 so it is relatively new, and they are still investigating it and trying to figure out how to fix it. This is their ticket number: INV-76976. 

bmckee18
Level 1

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

I am experiencing this issue as well.  I am wondering if there ever was a solution found?   

 

 

 

ReymondO
QuickBooks Team

Payroll Expenses drop down in Projects not working as expected.

Thanks for joining the thread, @bmckee18.

 

I'm happy to provide insights regarding the drop-down options displayed in the Project menu.

 

The reason you're unable to see the Payroll Expenses account under the Expenses drop-down list is because the Project menu in the video is using an old interface. Due to recent updates in QuickBooks, the Payroll Expenses are now displayed in a different interface, specifically under the Employee rate section.
payroll expenses.PNG
For our latest video about tracking your labor costs and profitability in QuickBooks Online Plus, Advanced, and Accountant, please check this article: Track hourly labor costs and profitability by project in QBO.

 

For additional reference about creating and managing projects, you can refer to this resource: How to add project income, expenses, labor costs, and run project-specific reports from a single das....

 

Tap the Reply button if you have additional concerns or clarifications when tracking projects in the program. I'll be happy to assist you anytime.

Sign in for expert help
Ask questions, post replies & join our community of QuickBooks users.

Need to get in touch?

Contact us