use subaccount vs tags

Taking the step to optimize your financial tracking is an admirable move that will benefit your organization greatly, Mo. Let’s dive into the details and make your financial management as smooth as possible.

In QuickBooks Online (QBO), both subaccounts and tags offer unique advantages for tracking revenue and expenses, and they are available across all QBO plans.

Subaccounts enable you to categorize main accounts into smaller ones for more detailed financial reporting. For instance, you can create a sub-account for each event of your nonprofit-organization. This setup allows you to track the income and expenses associated with each specific event.

Tags, on the other hand, are customizable labels that allow you to categorize transactions more flexibly. You can tag invoices, expenses, and bills according to various criteria that matter to your organization. For example, you could create tags for each event and group them under an Events tag group.

Regarding your question about generating Profit & Loss (P&L) by Tag Group reports. Yes, you can run this report to analyze the financial performance of your nonprofit's events. Although the class feature is exclusive to QBO Plus and Advanced subscriptions, this report is accessible in all versions of QBO.

To run P&L by Tag Group report, follow the detailed steps below:

1. Go to Reports in the main menu.
2. In the search box, type Profit and Loss by Tag Group.
3. Click the Customize button to adjust the date range and other filters needed.
4. Select the appropriate tag group if you want to filter by specific tags.
5. Hit on Run Report to generate your P&L report based on the tags.

Additionally, I'd like to share some helpful resources that can guide you in leveraging tags and customizing reports in QBO to gain deeper insights into your nonprofit's finances:

• Implementing Tags in QBO
• Customize reports in QBO

I encourage you to revisit this thread or create a new one if you have more questions about managing your revenue/expense account in QBO. Your nonprofit’s success is crucial to us, and we're dedicated to ensuring your financial management is as efficient and effective as possible.

Thanks for the response.  Next question.  Would you use tags & Subaccounts at the same time or is that basically the same thing.  My understanding is that reports with subaccounts all roll up to the main account and don't print by subaccount where you can print a P&L by tagged event.

Your understanding is correct. Tags and subaccounts serve different purpose and can be used simultaneously, but they function differently in reports. Allow me to explain this further to guide you through, MoAggie.

Tags offer flexibility for detailed reporting and analysis across different dimensions like projects or events, allowing you to generate specific reports such as a P&L by tagged event. On the other hand, subaccounts help structure and organize transactions under a main account but may not provide the same level of detailed reporting as tags. While subaccount organize transactions under a main account, providing structure but less detailed reporting compared to tags. 

Using both enhances reporting by combining the structure organization of subaccount with the flexible filtering of tags. It's up to you to decide if you want to use both for different purpose. 

QuickBooks Online (QBO) offers a wide array of comprehensive financial reports that provide valuable insights into your business operations. These reports can be tailored to display specific accounts or data points as needed, allowing you to access the most relevant information when you need it. To help you make the most of this feature, I recommend checking out the following resource: Customize Reports in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you have any  other concerns or questions when using tags and subaccounts. Our Community team is dedicated to ensuring you get the most out of your QuickBooks experience. Have a nice day!