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Your QuickBooks Reports Keep Opening on Accrual. Here Is How to Pin the Basis

Your QuickBooks Reports Keep Opening on Accrual. Here Is How to Pin the Basis

The problem

The company file is set to cash basis, you run a Profit and Loss, and the toolbar still says Accrual. Or a report you saved months ago opens on a basis nobody remembers choosing. The Cash and Accrual buttons sit side by side as two lightly shaded boxes, so which one is active is easy to misread at a glance, and a statement that leaves on the wrong basis is a number a client will act on.

Why QuickBooks can't do it

There are two settings, not one. Settings, then Account and settings, then Advanced, then the pencil in the Accounting section sets the default accounting method for reports. Every report also carries its own Accounting method control on the toolbar, and that control is what the report in front of you uses. A report saved under Custom reports keeps the basis it was saved with, so it ignores a later change to the company default. The Statement of Cash Flows has no accounting-method control at all. Accountants raised the combination of these behaviors on Intuit's public feedback board in September 2026, where it sits Under Review.

Do it in Google Sheets with Retriever

In Google Sheets the accounting method is part of the report definition rather than a toolbar state. It is stored with the report, it is printed above the numbers, and it does not drift between one run and the next.

  1. Choose the basis when you create the report

    Retriever's create screen has an Accounting Method setting with cash and accrual. The choice is saved with the report, so every refresh re-pulls on the basis you picked.

  2. Read the basis off the sheet, not off a toolbar

    Each report writes a header block above the data with the company, the report, the date range, the accounting method, and the time it was last updated. Anyone opening the file can see which basis produced the numbers.

  3. Keep a cash version and an accrual version side by side

    Create the same report twice, once on each basis, on two tabs of the same spreadsheet. QuickBooks will not show you both at once, and the difference between them is often the fastest way to find what is sitting in A/R or A/P.

  4. Change the basis later without rebuilding

    Edit Report changes the accounting method on an existing report. The layout, the formulas you built around it, and the formatting stay where they are.

See also

How to run an income statementHow to run a Balance Sheet reportHow to run the General Ledger reportClassic vs modern view reportingHow Retriever decides which rows and columns to refresh

The basis, recorded with the report

Retriever stores the accounting method as part of each report and prints it above the numbers, so a cash report stays a cash report through every refresh.

See how Retriever works

Frequently asked questions

Where is the company-wide accounting method in QuickBooks Online?

Settings, then Account and settings, then Advanced. Select the pencil in the Accounting section, set Accounting method to Cash or Accrual, then Save and Done. It changes the default basis reports open on. It does not change how transactions are recorded.

Why does a report still run on accrual after I changed the setting?

Two common reasons, both documented by Intuit. A report opened from the Custom reports tab keeps the accounting method it was saved with, so run it from the Standard tab instead. And a stale browser cache can keep showing the previous basis until it is cleared.

Can I see cash and accrual at the same time?

Not in one native QuickBooks report. In Google Sheets, pull the same report twice with different accounting methods and put the two tabs next to each other, or build a third tab that references both.

Does the Statement of Cash Flows have a cash or accrual option?

No. It has no accounting-method control, because it reconciles net income to cash movement and those adjustments assume an accrual starting point.

Should I change the company default to cash?

Talk to whoever prepares the return first. The basis the books are kept on is a tax decision rather than a formatting one, and changing the method a business files on generally requires IRS permission. Changing the report default is a reporting preference and does not change the filing.

Questions about this? Reach out at aubrey@retrieverhq.com.