Lesson: Reporting and analytics purpose, and within each of these is the related

report.
Let’s run through this together and you can have a
look at all the different reporting options—because
Basic reports there are lots!

The story so far 1. Select the Reports link in the Left

QuickBooks Online has powerful reporting Navigation Bar
functionality, designed to help you and your clients
save time and be more efficient. The Reports Center is divided into three tabs, but
Reports can be customized to include the most of what you need is in the Standard tab. This
information important to your clients, allowing shows the most common reports business owners
them to monitor just how well their business is will want to run.
performing. Favorites
This section remembers those reports run most
often. So it’ll show that you looked at Business
How can QuickBooks Online help? Snapshot. It’ll allow you to quickly access regular
Reports give your clients a full set of analytics on reports.
just how well they’re doing and, of course, help to Business overview
identify where they could make improvements to This displays income and expenses in year-over-
grow and be more profitable. year comparisons, often using pie charts and bar
This lesson is an opportunity to refresh the skills graphs. It also shows a snapshot of who is owed
and knowledge you gained in the Introduction to money, and who owes money to the business.
QuickBooks Online for Accountants course. We’ll Then you’ll see reports grouped by Sales
also take a look at how you can build on your categories and Expense categories and a section
knowledge throughout the rest of the module. for Employee information.
For My Accountant
The benefits of reporting There are lots of reports that you can run here,
from Account Lists to Transaction List by Date.
Many of them are available to your clients from
Your clients need to have a clear snapshot of how other Report tabs, but those reports most common to
they are doing. QuickBooks Online reports provide accountants are grouped here for quick access.
valuable insights into: The Custom reports tab
Any reports run with customizations will show here,
 The financial position of a business providing that you have saved them!
 The results of operations for a specific time The Management reports tab
period Here, reports are grouped into professional-styled
 Statistical information such as the best- report packages. You can download them, and there
selling item or gross profit margin are options to add professional elements such as a
 Information about customers, vendors, and cover page, table of contents, and custom letters, as
employees well as the reports. Have a look at the Sales
Performance package. You can present these
But first we need a quick recap of a key concept that reports to clients and vendors or financial
clients need to know: the difference institutions as a professionally packaged summary
between cash- and accrual-basis reporting. of a client’s business.
Cash-basis reports You can customize the heading and content of the
These reports display income at the time it was reports to suit you and your client’s needs.
received and expenses at the time they were paid. Spend a little while going through some of the
This is great when your clients need a quick reports. Maybe you can set up a customized report
overview of their cash flow. to suit a specific need Craig has identified? That can
Accrual-basis reports be done right here.
These reports display income at the time it was To customize and save a report, first run a report,
invoiced and expenses at the time they were then select the Customize button for options to
purchased, regardless of when payment occurred. choose from.
This is appropriate when your clients want to view
income earned and expenses incurred.

Reports and subscription

The Reports Center
levels
In this section, we’re going to look through the
Reports center, tab by tab. The reports available to your clients or their team
Watch the video to see how it’s done. The members depend on the subscription levels, user
individual steps are below for you to follow. roles, and features they or you have enabled.
Navigating the Reports Center There are many to view so we’ve put together a
The reporting categories are listed by business downloadable guide that you can refer to.
To get you started, here’s an overview of what Reports include A/P Aging Summary and Detail,
reports are available in each subscription type. Vendor Balance Summary and Detail, Bill Payment
Select the tabs/steps in turn. List, and Unpaid Bills.
For your clients, managing cash going out of the
business is crucial. They can gain insight into which
QuickBooks Online Simple Start
vendors to pay and when by using these reports and,
This option allows for basic data entry to track your as a result, manage their cash flow.
money in and money out, as well as customer tracking
and invoicing. The A/P Aging Summary
This report summarizes the status of unpaid bills
QuickBooks Online Essentials and unapplied Vendor Credits. It serves as a quick
More features, therefore more reports. You can run glance at which vendors are most overdue.
vendor and product reports to track your accounts Why would you run one of these reports? You can
payable balances and have more insight into the use the A/P Aging Summary to help Craig
company’s financial results. understand how to pay vendors strategically, instead
of just paying the first ones he thinks of or those he
QuickBooks Online Plus likes best!
This option opens all the features of QuickBooks For example, if Craig has a vendor who is making
Online. It offers more comparison reports for finance charges, you can encourage him to pay that
company financials. Unlike Essentials, you can run vendor first rather than a bill that is still within
reports relating to location and class, purchasing payment terms. That way, Craig can maintain his
and inventory, time activities, and more. pool of available cash and not run short when he
Now select the Report Differences by needs to buy supplies essential for completing
Subscription Level link for your copy of the current work.
reporting levels.
Tools P&L and Balance Sheet reports

 Report differences by subscription level The Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet are two
other essential reports that help Craig assess his
ProAdvisor tip financial performance. Profit and Loss is also
To see the reports included in each QuickBooks referred to as the Income Statement.
Online subscription, go to quickbooks.intuit.com.  An Income Statement summarizes the amount of
QuickBooks Online Advanced offers the same financial activity associated with each income or
reporting functionality as QuickBooks Online Plus expense account for a specific period of time, so the
but with the addition of smart reporting with business can assess whether it is operating at a
Fathom. profit or a loss.
To run a Profit and Loss report
If you were looking at Craig’s Landscaping and
Basic reports Design business account, you would navigate to the
Reports Center and find the report under Business
Accounts Receivable overview.
Accounts Receivable (or A/R) reports in On the Profit and Loss Report screen, there are
QuickBooks Online allow you or your clients to see options to customize the report to suit your client.
who owes the business money and how much they Within the report period, you can change the display
owe. of columns and compare with another period.
Reports include Customer Balance Summary and You’ll find an example under the Tools section,
Detail, A/R Aging Summary and Detail, Collections where you can download copies of these reports.
report, Invoice List, and Statement List. To run the Balance Sheet report:
Managing the amount of money owed to a business From the Reports Center, under Business
can be hard. Using A/R reports helps Craig manage overview, you’ll see Balance Sheet.
his cash flow more efficiently by making the details The reporting period for an Income Statement
of open customer balances visible. differs from that of a Balance Sheet. A Balance
Sheet summarizes the financial position of a
What is an A/R Aging Summary report? business at a single moment in time; that is why it’s
The A/R Aging Summary report lists each customer commonly referred to as a snapshot of the business.
with an open balance. It lists the open invoices in This report reflects whether the assets that the
different columns based on whether they are current business owns are enough to offset its liabilities and
or how long they are overdue: 30, 60, or 90+ days. leave a net equity balance after all liabilities have
By running this report, you and Craig can see who been paid off.
owes money and their payment terms. As above, you have options to sort and filter this
report to suit your client’s needs.
You can download and view this report in the Tools
Accounts Payable section.
Accounts Payable (or A/P) reports in QuickBooks
Online allow you and your clients to see what the
business owes and when payments are due. The value of reports
The story so far
Dan Cheng is a Virtual Assistant. He has many Analyzing the Profit and
clients and needs his QuickBooks Online reports to
be clear and easy to read because he has little time Loss report
to spend on the admin for his own account. 
You have been reviewing his accounts up to 2019. As part of your analysis of the Profit and Loss
How can QuickBooks Online help? report, you will want to run through some top-level
It is important that you work with your client to questions with your client. You’re looking for
create value from his reports and build reporting discrepancies or things that look out of place, such
packages Dan will find invaluable. as:
QuickBooks Online adds value for your clients with Income:
powerful reporting features—you’ll both want to
get the best from them.  Does their total income look about right?
 Which income streams brought in more
revenue?
The Profit and Loss  Is all their income categorized?

report
Expenses:
There are a few key reports in the end-to-end
accounting lifecycle that will help you analyze the  Are there any expense items in Ask My
state of your client’s business.  Accountant?
Helping your client interpret the figures in their  Point out expenses that were different from
Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet will help them prior periods and ask why
gain business insights and make sound business  Review key areas like revenue, gross profit,
decisions. and net profit
The Profit and Loss report is the best place to start
because it’s the report the client will be most Let’s take a look at how the conversation between
familiar with. you and Dan might go.
Profit and Loss summarizes the amount of financial The key metrics to consider when analyzing the
activity associated with each income or expense Profit and Loss report are:
account for a specific period of time. This will tell
you whether your client is operating at a profit or a  This year to date
loss.  01/01/2020
By running a prior period Profit and Loss  To [date automatically sets as today]
comparison report, you can reveal cash flow trends
 Compare another period: Previous Year
in spending and earnings from the business.
 Check % change
 Check % of income
Running a Comparative  Accounting method: Accrual

Profit and Loss report You’ll see that some transactions will need
reclassifying. We’ll take a look at that in more
Dan is concerned that his year to date hasn’t been as detail in a future module.
lucrative as the previous year. To check this for
him, you can run the Profit and Loss report and take
a look at his accounts. 
The Balance Sheet
You can run a Comparative Profit and Loss report
from within the same report—there is no need to Another key report in the end-to-end accounting life
run two separate reports. cycle is the Balance Sheet.
Watch the video to see how it’s done. The A Balance Sheet summarizes the financial position
individual steps are below for you to follow. of a business at a single moment in time. That is
why it’s commonly referred to as a snapshot of the
1. Enter the Report Center from the Left business. This report reflects whether the assets that
Navigation Bar the business owns are enough to offset its liabilities
2. Select Profit and Loss from the Business and leave a net equity balance after all liabilities
Overview section have been paid off.
3. Set the Report period to This Year-to-date Select the tabs in turn. 
4. Check to make sure the date ranges from
How to run the Balance Sheet
01/01/2020 to today’s date
5. Select Previous Year from the Compare
another period drop-down list and set the 1. Enter the Report Center from the Left
checkboxes to % Change and % Income Navigation Bar
6. Set the Accounting method to Accrual 2. Select Balance Sheet from the Business
7. Select the Run report button Overview section
3. Set the Report period to Last year or enter
custom dates 01/01/2018 to 12/31/2018
 4. Select the Run report button  
Performance Center charts
Browse the pic
The Performance Center lets you visualize up to 10
Analyzing the Balance Sheet groups of values on a single chart, allowing you to
track things like revenue via a number of channels: 
When analyzing the Balance Sheet, the key areas to
focus on are:
 Products and Services
 Classes
 Reviewing each checking/credit card for an
 Locations
accurate balance
 Projects
 Reviewing accounts receivable
 Employees 
 Reviewing any new asset purchases
 Reviewing any prepaids and confirming they
You can also micro-filter specific customers,
were accurately categorized
classes, and locations (to name a few), with up to
 Reviewing loan accounts and making sure five filters to choose from.
they have been reconciled against current
ending balances
 Reviewing owner transactions in the equity Custom chart builder
section
You can also use the Performance Center to create
 Checking that the net income in the Balance
custom charts for your customers. This is great for
Sheet matches the net income on the Profit
those who want to make their financial data visually
and Loss report for the same period (e.g.
digestible. You can create visual representations 10
year or quarter end) and the same accounting
different datasets on the custom charts: 
method (e.g. accrual)
 COGS
Let’s take a look at how the conversation between  Net Profit  Cash
 Expenses 
you and Dan might go.  Accounts Flow
 Revenue
Receivable  Current
 Gross
 Accounts Ratio
Validating the Balance Sheet Profit
Payable  Quick
In order to validate and prove the balance on the Ratio
Balance Sheet or Trial Balance reports, you can
either drill down into the detailed transaction reports Data accuracy
or run subsidiary reports. QuickBooks Online uses real-time data for custom
You can find a list of subsidiary reports to help you charts, so report visualization is 100% accurate. Existing
prove the Balance Sheet in Tools. reports are updated every four hours, and Intuit is
Browse the pic working to make updates even more frequent.
ProAdvisor tip
You can also run comparison reports for the
Balance Sheet, to compare it with a previous period.
Performance Center
Or add the % options to give you the opportunity
for further analysis.
charts: a demonstration
Let’s see how easy it is to create custom charts
Performance Center using Custom Chart Builder in the Performance
Center. 
charts We’re going to create a custom chart that tracks
revenue by consultant. You can add up to 25 custom
Introduction charts to the Performance Center view. 
New features in QuickBooks Online Plus make it In this example, the company uses classes because
easier for managers and decision-makers to they track their revenue for each of their consultants
visualize company financial data. This enables more using the class list.  
effective business performance monitoring and Watch the video to see how it’s done. The
informs commercial strategies.  individual steps are below for you to follow.
 
In this lesson, you’ll discover some of the ways to 1. Go to Reports and select Performance
leverage this enhanced financial visualization.  Center
2. Select the + Add new chart button
3. Select Revenue, then Continue
Enhanced financial 4. Name the new chart Revenue by
Consultant
visualization 5. For Time period, select This year to date
6. For Group by, select Classes
7. Select the consultants Deborah Wood,
What tools does QuickBooks Online Plus offer to
Natalie Chapman, and Jonathan Graham
enable financial visualization?
Explore the tabs to find out.
 There are other filters that you can add, but Who are my top customers?
they’re optional.  You can also Report to use:
select Compare to add comparative data by Sales by Customer Summary
the previous period, or the previous year for Why:
the same period. Let’s add the new Revenue A business can look at the characteristics of their
by consultant chart to the dashboard. top customers to help identify potential new
8. Select Add to Dashboard customers who have the same characteristics.

You can change the default date range and

What are my top-selling and/or worst-selling products?
make edits, or delete the chart, known here
Report to use:
as a Widget. You can also edit the chart to
Sales by Product/Service Summary
show the same data in a different light. Let’s
Why:
change the view so we can see each
A business can decide which products they should
consultant’s income for the entire date
buy more of (high volume) or which products to put
range.
on sale (low-volume or slow-moving products).
9. Choose Vertical bars 

Creating reports to How much do I owe my vendors?

Report to use:
answer common business A/P Aging
Why:
questions Lists all vendors with open balances and shows how
old the balances are.

The story so far

Dan is impressed by the power of the Reports Answering common
Center so far. He hopes to be able to use reports to
make some business decisions.  client questions–part 2
Effective reporting can give him the business
intelligence he needs. How much money did I make?
How can QuickBooks Online help? Report to use:
QuickBooks Online gives you and your clients the Profit and Loss
tools to keep track of their financial data so that it’s Why:
accurate, reliable, complete, and available in real Shows profitability and how much money was
time. Using reports to their full potential will earned and spent on each category.
prepare you to help your clients make decisions and
support their business goals. Can I afford that new equipment?
Report to use:
Balance Sheet
Start with the end in mind Why:
Balance Sheet shows cash balances, money owed to
In order to make good decisions about their business, the company, money owed by the company, and net
clients need data that is accurate, reliable, and complete. income for the period.

Let’s take a look at how best practice workflows and How much is my inventory worth?
accurate bookkeeping are crucial to the reporting Report to use:
process. Inventory Valuation Summary (or detail)
Why:
Shows the book (purchase or cost) value of
Answering common inventory items with quantity on hand.

client questions–part 1
How much revenue (less cost of goods sold) is
There are a number of common business questions available to cover operating costs?
clients will ask. You can be their hero by providing Report to use:
them with key reports to answer their questions. Profit and Loss
You can download a pdf of the common Why:
questions here. This is an important profitability metric. You can
Select each question to find out more.  tell a business owner whether they need to raise
prices or reduce spending, or both.
Who owes me money?
Report to use:
A/R Aging
Why:
Answering common
Lists all customers who currently owe balances and
shows how old the balances are.
client questions–part 3
How much have I spent on (insert category)? 1. Start in the Profit and Loss report
Report to use: 2. Run the report for 2019
Profit and Loss 3. Drill down into Total Services
Why: 4. Select Customers from the Group by drop-
This can help a business understand where they are down list and select Run report
spending their money. 5. The entries are now grouped together by
customer
How much have I paid (insert category)? 6. Select the Save customization button 
Report to use: 7. Return to the Reports Center to see your
Expenses by Vendor Summary (or Detail) customized report in the Custom
Why: reports tab
This can help a business to negotiate better pricing
from their vendors if they are buying a lot from one Grouping by % of income
particular vendor.
1. Start in the Profit and Loss report
Which vendors may also be classified as 1099 2. Run the report for year to date and include
independent contractors? Check % of income
Report to use: 3. Drill down into Total Expenses
1099 Contractor 4. Select Account from the Group by drop-
Why: down list and select Run report
1099 Contractor reports are critical to verifying and 5. The entries are now grouped together by
validating 1099 contractor payments and account
compliance requirements. 6. From this report, Dan can see that 1099
Subcontractors is his highest % of income

If I show a profit, why isn’t there any cash in the

bank?
Report to use:
Statement of Cash Flows
Why:
The Statement of Cash Flows shows the cash
flowing in and out of a business for a specific
period of time. It breaks down the source of cash
received and spent into operating, investing, or
financing activities. This can help a business
identify whether it’s generating more cash than it’s
using.

Customizing reports
In addition to selecting the right report to answer
your client’s queries, you can also customize the
reporting options. 
Select the tabs in turn. 

Grouping items
Grouping items in a detailed transaction report can
make it much easier for you to make sense of the
data. 
You can also save your customization for your
clients to return to in the future.

1. Start in the Profit and Loss report

2. Drill down into Overhead Expenses
3. Select Name from the Group by drop-down
list and select Run report
4. The entries are now grouped together by
iTunes and My Landlord
5. Select the Save customization button 
6. Return to the Reports Center to see your
customized report in the Custom
reports tab

Grouping by customer