Maximizing Efficiency with QuickBooks Reports

QuickBooks is a widely used accounting software that can powerfully streamline accounting processes. Within QuickBooks, users can generate various financial and operational reports to help organizations gain financial insights and make more informed decisions.

QuickBooks reports serve many purposes, working together to offer a comprehensive view of your company’s finances. By using them to their full potential, you can optimize efficiency and keep up with the evolving needs of your business, your industry, and, ultimately, your goals. Discover how to leverage QuickBooks reports to your company’s advantage.

Standard QuickBooks Reports

Several standard QuickBooks reports are fundamental in managing your company’s financial health. Basic reports are simple to generate yet essential to help you gather actionable insights and keep your company on the right course.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjLJz5U10oU&t=27s

Customer Balance Summary

1. Look for the “Customers & Receivables” category, then find the “Customer Balance Detail” report.
2. You’ll have the option to customize the report settings. These settings allow you to specify the date range and filter by customer, job, and aging period.
3. You can select those filters to refine the report and focus on specific customers or jobs. You can also select aging periods to show the age of outstanding invoices.
4. After choosing your criteria, run the report. It will now display balances, related details, a breakdown of transactions, and more.

Accounts Receivable Aging Detail

1. Look for the “Customers & Receivables” category, then find the “A/R Aging Detail” report.
2. The report will ask you to set a reporting date, typically the end date of the period for which you want to generate the report.
3. Once you’ve set the reporting date, run the report. The results will display detailed information about your accounts receivable balances organized by aging periods (e.g., current, 1-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days, over 90 days), showing each customer’s transactions.

Collections

1. Look for the “Customers & Receivables” category. You should find the “A/R Aging Detail” report within this category.
2. You can customize the report to display invoices with a minimum date past due, additional columns, and additional filters, including terms and due dates.
3. Then, run the report to display detailed information about your accounts receivable balances grouped by customer, including contact and relevant invoice information.

Intermediate QuickBooks Reports

Beyond basic QuickBooks functionality, intermediate-level reports use additional metrics to look deeper into your company’s financial landscape. Reports like these offer a slightly more comprehensive examination than basic or standard reports.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvNwUVtEz6A&list=PL_rLeYtQXVXHHGYZijmxOygdHl3aF0Fc6

Audit Trail

1. Navigate to the “Accountant & Taxes” category, then find the “Audit Trail” report.
2. You’ll have the option to customize settings to filter the data you want to view, including the date range, transaction type, or specific accounts.
3. After customization, run the report. It will display a log of all transactions and changes to help you track modifications to your data within the specified range and filter selections.

Voided/Deleted Transactions Summary and Detail

1. Navigate to the “Accountant & Taxes” category, then find either “Voided/Deleted Transactions Summary” or “Voided/Deleted Transactions Detail.”
2. Select a date range to display whether your company has any voided or deleted transactions in the range.
3. You’ll have the option to customize settings to display more columns, offering a view into the transaction dates, who modified the transaction, and the date of void or deletion. Afterward, run the report.

Advanced QuickBooks Reports

When strategic and complex financial insights are necessary, you can generate enterprise-level QuickBooks reports leveraging the software’s greater data analysis capacities. QuickBooks Advanced Reporting (QBAR) capabilities go beyond popular standard QuickBooks reports to provide features catering to your specific business needs with templated reports.

Custom Reports: An Overview

No matter your industry, you can design customized report templates to align more closely with your needs. Within the software, you can create custom templates with several available options, including custom columns, headers, footers, filters, and group data.

Watch as we walk through QBAR reports we’ve made for QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise software, including:

• Sales Order by Item with Purchase Requirements
• Customer Sales and Payment Percentage
• Sales Orders with Back Orders
• Quantity on Hand

Advanced Report Templates

These templates offer various industries myriad benefits by tailoring financial data analysis to track inventory, project costs, service-specific expenses, job profitability, and more. Here are several custom reports that offer unique value to different industries and their operational goals.

Job Profitability Summary

For a concise overview of the financial performance of individual projects or jobs, you can establish a Job Profitability Summary to analyze job names or numbers, one at a time. This summary can help you track which are most profitable and determine where costs need to be optimized.

Job Costing

This report provides detailed information about the expenses, revenues, and profitability of specific projects or jobs, breaking down costs and expenses and allowing you to track cash flow per project.

Inventory

An Inventory report offers insights into the quantities and values of items in stock to help you manage your inventory more efficiently. In this report, you can customize for different inventory information, reorder points, valuation methods, and periodic physical inventory counts.

Work in Progress for Job Costing

This Quickbooks report generates information for Work in Progress (WIP) projects or jobs. It displays their financial status, which is especially helpful for businesses engaging in long-term projects or those spanning multiple stages.

Commission

Commission reports help businesses accurately calculate and distribute commissions to their sales team, ensuring transparency in the process. This transparency can further motivate sales performance and ensure compliance with company policies and commission agreements.

Estimate vs. Actual

To improve cost estimation accuracy and track your company’s financial strategy, Estimate vs. Actual reports compare cost projections with the actual costs and revenue incurred during execution.

QuickBooks Online Reports: FAQ

How Do I Set Up Custom Reports in QuickBooks?

Creating custom reports in QuickBooks involves using the software’s built-in report customization features. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you set up custom reports:

1. Access the Reports Center in the main navigation menu.
2. Choose a category that closely matches the information you want to customize (e.g., “Sales,” “Expenses,” “Profit and Loss,” or another category).
3. Locate an existing report within the category to serve as a starting point for your customization.
4. Customize the report with the available options:
   1. Modify Columns and Fields: Add, remove, or rearrange columns and fields to display only your desired information.
   2. Set Filters: Apply filters to show only relevant data, including date ranges, account types, customers, and vendors.
   3. Add Headers and Footers: Customize headers and footers with company data and other relevant information.
   4. Sort and Group Data: Choose how you want to sort and group the information to make the report more meaningful.
   5. Format and Styling: Adjust font size, color, and layout options.
5. Save customizations and run the report to ensure it represents the information you want and need.

How Does QuickBooks Report to the IRS?

QuickBooks doesn’t directly report financial data to the IRS, but it does provide tools and features to help you prepare accurate tax information to fulfill your reporting requirements. QuickBooks assists with tax reporting by facilitating accurate recording, financial statements, sales tax reporting, payroll reports, export data, integration with tax software, and more.

How Do I Delete a Memorized Report in QuickBooks?

To delete a memorized report in QuickBooks, follow these steps:

1. From the main menu, select “Reports” and then “Report Center.”
2. Navigate to the “Memorized” tab and locate the report you want to delete from the memorized reports list.
3. Right-click on the report to open a context menu. Then, select “Delete Memorized Report.” QuickBooks will ask you to confirm the deletion.

Remember that this action is permanent. After deleting a memorized report, you won’t be able to retrieve it. You can prevent permanent deletion by exporting custom report data or saving a copy of the report elsewhere.

Elevate QuickBooks Reports with Fourlane

Whether you’re seeking seamless software integration, strategic guidance, or QuickBooks support, the experts at Fourlane can help. Discover how our expertise can transform your QuickBooks accounting processes.

Get in touch to schedule a consultation with our specialists to learn how you can enhance your QuickBooks experience.