# QuickBooks Online guides

Step-by-step guides for getting more out of QuickBooks Online, from building the reports you rely on to understanding how QBO works.

## Reporting basics

- [Intuit Enterprise Suite multi-entity features, explained](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/intuit-enterprise-suite-multi-entity-features): Intercompany journal entries, cross-company bill pay, allocation templates, dimensions, and consolidation, plus what IES costs and when a consolidated workbook is enough instead.
- [The new sales tax liability report in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/sales-tax-liability-report-quickbooks-online): QuickBooks rebuilt the Sales Tax Liability report. How to find it, read the nested jurisdictions, drill down accurately, pivot by tax rate, and combine district taxes for your state form.
- [Phases, progress invoicing, and change orders in QuickBooks Advanced](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-progress-invoicing-phases-change-orders): QuickBooks Advanced added project phases, AIA-style progress invoicing, and change orders. What each one does, how they connect, and what still lands in a spreadsheet.
- [Playbooks in Intuit Accountant Suite: client setup you only build once](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/intuit-accountant-suite-playbooks): Define chart of accounts, company settings, policies, books close, team access, and custom fields once, then apply them to up to 1,000 clients at a time.
- [Classic vs modern view reporting](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/classic-vs-modern-view-reporting-quickbooks-online): What changed in QuickBooks Online's new reporting experience, what stayed the same, and where the controls moved.
- [QuickBooks Modern Reports: what changed, what stayed](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-modern-reports): QuickBooks Online retired Classic reports in 2026. What Modern Reports changed, what stayed the same, and how to get your reports into Google Sheets.
- [How to Turn On Location Tracking in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/turn-on-location-tracking-quickbooks-online): Location tracking lets you tag transactions with a location (a region, store, department, or entity) so you can break your reports out by location. It's a one-time setting, and it takes about a minute to turn on. Location tracking requires QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced.
- [How to Run the General Ledger Report in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/general-ledger-report-quickbooks-online): The General Ledger is the full record behind your financial statements: every account, and every transaction posted to it, with a running balance. It is the report you open when a number on the Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss looks off and you need to see the transactions underneath it. Here is how to run it in QuickBooks Online.
- [How to Run the Statement of Cash Flows in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/cash-flow-statement-quickbooks-online): The Statement of Cash Flows shows how cash actually moved through your business over a period, split into operating, investing, and financing activities. It answers a question the Profit and Loss cannot: where the cash went, even in a month you were profitable. Here is how to run it in QuickBooks Online.
- [How to Run the Trial Balance Report in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/trial-balance-report-quickbooks-online): The Trial Balance lists every account with its ending debit or credit balance as of a date, with the two columns totaling to the same number. It is the quick checkpoint accountants run before closing a period or preparing the financial statements. Here is how to run it in QuickBooks Online.
- [How to Run A/R and A/P Aging Reports in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/accounts-receivable-payable-aging-quickbooks-online): Aging reports show unpaid amounts bucketed by how overdue they are. The accounts receivable aging is what your customers owe you; the accounts payable aging is what you owe your vendors. Together they are how you stay on top of collections and upcoming bills. Here is how to run both in QuickBooks Online.
- [How to Run an Income Statement in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/income-statement-quickbooks-online): If you are looking for the income statement in QuickBooks Online, you are looking for the Profit and Loss. They are the same report under two names: accountants and lenders usually say income statement, and QuickBooks says Profit and Loss. It shows income, cost of goods sold, and expenses over a period of time, ending in net income. Here is how to run it and how to read what it gives you.
- [QuickBooks Online Reports: The Full List, by Group](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-online-reports-list): QuickBooks Online ships more than 150 standard reports, organized into groups on the Reports page. Most people use six or seven of them and never find the rest. This is the map: what each group covers, which report in it you probably want, and how to get to it quickly.
- [How to Create Custom Reports in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/custom-reports-quickbooks-online): A custom report in QuickBooks Online is a standard report you have filtered, re-columned, and saved. You are not building a report from a blank page, you are starting from one of the 150-plus standard reports and narrowing it. Knowing that up front saves a lot of hunting for a report designer that does not exist on most plans.
- [How to Run a Sales Report in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/sales-report-quickbooks-online): QuickBooks Online has several sales reports and they answer different questions. Picking the wrong one is the usual reason two people quote two different revenue numbers from the same books. This covers which report to run for which question, and why a sales report and the Profit and Loss can disagree.
- [How to Set Up Class Tracking in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/class-tracking-quickbooks-online): Class tracking tags each transaction with a category of your choosing, such as a program, service line, property, or department, so you can run a Profit and Loss for each one. It is the closest QuickBooks Online gets to segment reporting inside a single company file. Class tracking requires Plus or Advanced.
- [How to Build Management Reports in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/management-reports-quickbooks-online): Management reports are QuickBooks Online's report packages: a cover page, a table of contents, the financial statements you choose, and optional notes, assembled into one document you can send to an owner or a board. They are the tidiest thing QuickBooks produces natively, and they come with one limitation worth knowing before you build a process around them: the finished package exports as a PDF or a Word document, never as a spreadsheet.

## Using Retriever

- [How to exclude a few accounts from a Profit and Loss](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/exclude-accounts-from-profit-and-loss-retriever): Select all accounts then deselect a few, or use the is not filter so new QuickBooks accounts still appear on your P&L.
- [How to safely give your clients drill-down access](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/give-clients-drill-down-access-retriever): Invite your clients as view-only users so they can refresh and drill down into their own QuickBooks reports, without seeing your other clients, users, or companies.
- [Drill down on reports summarized by customer, class, location, or vendor](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/drill-down-by-customer-class-location-retriever): Retriever can now open the transactions behind a cell when columns are customers, classes, locations, or vendors (in addition to dates). Budget vs. Actuals drills from Actual columns.

## Profit and Loss

- [Profit and Loss by Month](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-by-month-quickbooks-online): Breaking your Profit and Loss out by month is the fastest way to spot seasonality, catch a spending spike early, and see whether revenue is trending up or down. Here's how to build one in QuickBooks Online's new modern view.
- [Profit and Loss by Customer](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-by-customer-quickbooks-online): Not every customer is equally profitable. Splitting your Profit and Loss by customer shows you which relationships are actually driving margin, and which ones might be costing you more than they're worth.
- [Profit and Loss by Class](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-by-class-quickbooks-online): If you use QuickBooks Online classes to track departments, programs, locations, or business lines, a Profit and Loss by Class report is one of the most useful views you can build. Here's how to set it up in the new modern view.
- [Profit and Loss by Quarter](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-by-quarter-quickbooks-online): Quarterly Profit and Loss reports strike a balance between month-level detail and a full annual summary, useful for board updates, investor reporting, or your own quarterly check-ins. Here's how to build one in QuickBooks Online.
- [Profit and Loss Comparison (Year-over-Year)](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-comparative-year-over-year-quickbooks-online): A comparative Profit and Loss report puts this year and last year side by side, so you can see growth (or decline) at a glance without exporting two separate reports. Here's how to set it up in QuickBooks Online.
- [Profit and Loss Comparison (Month-over-Month)](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-month-over-month-quickbooks-online): A month-over-month Profit and Loss comparison puts a month next to the one before it, so you can catch a cost creeping up or revenue slipping before it becomes a trend. Here's how to build one in QuickBooks Online.
- [Profit and Loss Comparison (Quarter-over-Quarter)](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-quarter-over-quarter-quickbooks-online): A quarter-over-quarter Profit and Loss comparison lines a quarter up against the previous quarter, handy for board decks and investor updates where month-level noise gets in the way. Here's how to build one in QuickBooks Online.
- [Profit and Loss Comparison (Year-to-Date)](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-year-to-date-comparison-quickbooks-online): A year-to-date comparison answers a simple question: are we ahead of or behind where we were this time last year? It lines the year so far up against the same span in the prior year. Here's how to build one in QuickBooks Online.
- [Profit and Loss Detail (Detail View)](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-detail-report-quickbooks-online): When a Profit and Loss summary raises a question (why did travel expense spike this month?), the Detail report is where you find the answer. It lists every transaction behind each account, not just the totals.
- [Profit and Loss by Location](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-by-location-quickbooks-online): If you run multiple stores, offices, or job sites, a Profit and Loss by Location report shows you which locations are actually profitable, and which ones are dragging on the business. Here's how to build one in QuickBooks Online.

## Budgeting

- [How to Run the Budget Overview Report in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/budget-overview-quickbooks-online): The Budget Overview report shows the numbers you planned, your budgeted income and expenses for each account, laid out by period (and by class, customer, or location if your budget is subdivided). Here's how to open and read it in QuickBooks Online.
- [How to Run the Budget vs. Actuals Report in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/budget-vs-actuals-quickbooks-online): A Budget vs. Actuals report puts your plan next to reality. For every account it shows what you actually earned or spent, what you budgeted, how far over or under you are, and the percentage of budget used. Here's how to run it in QuickBooks Online.
- [How to Create a Budget in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/how-to-create-a-budget-quickbooks-online): A budget in QuickBooks Online is what powers the Budget Overview and Budget vs. Actuals reports. Setting one up takes a few minutes: name it, pick the fiscal year, and enter the amounts you expect for each account. Here's how.

## Balance Sheet

- [How to Run a Balance Sheet Report in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/balance-sheet-quickbooks-online): A Balance Sheet is a snapshot of what your business owns and owes on a single date: assets on one side, liabilities and equity on the other, always balancing to the same total. Here's how to run it in QuickBooks Online's modern view.
- [How to Run a Balance Sheet Comparison in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/balance-sheet-comparison-quickbooks-online): A Balance Sheet Comparison puts your current position next to a prior year or period so you can see how much cash, receivables, debt, and equity have changed. Here's how to build one (and add the $ change and % change columns) in the modern view.
- [How to Create a Balance Sheet by Month in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/balance-sheet-by-month-quickbooks-online): Splitting your Balance Sheet into monthly columns shows the month-end balance of every account across the year, the fastest way to see cash building, receivables growing, or debt being paid down over time.
- [How to Create a Balance Sheet by Quarter in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/balance-sheet-by-quarter-quickbooks-online): A quarterly Balance Sheet gives you the same period-over-period view as the monthly one, but with fewer, wider columns, handy for board decks and year-end reviews where twelve monthly columns would be too much.
- [How to Create a Balance Sheet by Class in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/balance-sheet-by-class-quickbooks-online): A Balance Sheet by class breaks your assets, liabilities, and equity into a column per class. It's useful for tracking separate funds, programs, or business lines, but only accounts you've tagged with a class will populate, so expect it to be sparser than a Profit and Loss by class.
- [How to Create a Balance Sheet by Location in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/balance-sheet-by-location-quickbooks-online): A Balance Sheet by location breaks your financial position into a column per location (region, store, department, or tracked entity) so you can see where your cash, receivables, and liabilities actually sit.
- [How to Create a Balance Sheet by Customer in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/balance-sheet-by-customer-quickbooks-online): A Balance Sheet by customer breaks your balances into a column per customer, most useful for seeing Accounts Receivable, customer deposits, and prepayments tied to each client in one view.

## Solutions & workarounds

- [Budget vs. Actuals Showing the Wrong Dates in QuickBooks? Fix the Period in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/budget-vs-actuals-wrong-dates-quickbooks-online): QuickBooks Budget vs. Actuals keeps reverting to the full year. Here's how to lock the exact dates in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [Remove COGS, Gross Profit & Unused Rows from a Budget vs. Actuals (or P&L)](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/remove-cogs-gross-profit-budget-vs-actuals-quickbooks-online): QuickBooks won't let you remove COGS, Gross Profit, or unused rows from a P&L. Here's how to drop them in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [Compare More Than Two Years (or Periods) in One QuickBooks Report](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/compare-multiple-years-quickbooks-report): QuickBooks' "Compare to" adds only one prior period. Here's how to compare three, five, or ten years side by side in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [Show, Sort & Filter QuickBooks Reports by Account Number, in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/show-account-numbers-quickbooks-reports-google-sheets): QuickBooks' modern reports bury account numbers and won't sort or filter by them. Show, sort, and filter by account number in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [Download a Batch of QuickBooks Reports in Excel, Not PDF](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/download-quickbooks-reports-excel-batch-google-sheets): QuickBooks only downloads a report group as PDF, and group exports lose formatting. Here's how to get a whole batch in Excel (refreshable) with Retriever.
- [Filter a Balance Sheet by Customer Type in QuickBooks, in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/filter-balance-sheet-by-customer-type-quickbooks-google-sheets): Modern QuickBooks reports can't filter a Balance Sheet by customer type. Here's how to filter and group by it in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [Hide Zero-Balance Accounts on Your QuickBooks General Ledger, in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/hide-zero-balance-accounts-quickbooks-general-ledger-google-sheets): Saved Modern General Ledger reports show zero-balance accounts with no Non-zero setting. Here's how to hide them for good in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [Share a Customized QuickBooks Report With Anyone, via a Google Sheet Link](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/share-customized-quickbooks-reports-google-sheets): Modern QuickBooks reports dropped shareable custom URLs. Here's how to share any customized report via a Google Sheet link with Retriever.
- [Build a Clean, Desktop-Style Budget vs. Actuals, in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/clean-budget-vs-actuals-report-quickbooks-google-sheets): QuickBooks Online's Budget vs. Actuals is hard to read and lacks the Desktop layout. Build a clean, board-ready version in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [Change the Company Name Shown on a QuickBooks Report, in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/change-company-name-quickbooks-report-google-sheets): QuickBooks won't let you change the business name atop a report. Here's how to control the company name and header in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [QuickBooks P&L by Day Shows "All Other"? Get Every Daily Column, in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/profit-and-loss-by-day-all-other-column-quickbooks-google-sheets): A full-year QuickBooks P&L by day caps at 200 columns. Here's how to get all 365 daily columns in Google Sheets with Retriever.
- [How to Connect QuickBooks to Google Sheets, and Keep Your Reports Live](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/connect-quickbooks-to-google-sheets): Send QuickBooks Online reports to Google Sheets and keep them live. Retriever refreshes on a schedule, with no CSV exports and no Advanced plan.
- [How to Export Your Chart of Accounts from QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/export-chart-of-accounts-quickbooks-online): Export your QuickBooks Online chart of accounts to a live Google Sheet. Retriever pulls your full COA and refreshes it as accounts change.
- [How to Export Journal Entries from QuickBooks, Into a Live Spreadsheet](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/export-journal-entries-quickbooks-online): Export journal entries from QuickBooks Online to a live Google Sheet. Retriever pulls your journal and GL detail and refreshes on a schedule.
- [Export a QuickBooks Report to Excel, Without the Stale-File Problem](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/export-quickbooks-report-to-excel-google-sheets): QuickBooks Excel exports go stale. Here's how to export any QuickBooks Online report to a refreshable, Excel-compatible Google Sheet with Retriever.
- [How to Export Your Customer List from QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/export-customer-list-quickbooks-online): Export your QuickBooks Online customer list to a live Google Sheet. Retriever pulls your full customer list and refreshes it as customers change.
- [How to Export Invoices from QuickBooks to Excel, Kept Refreshable](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/export-invoices-quickbooks-excel-google-sheets): Export invoices from QuickBooks Online to Excel or Google Sheets and keep them live. Retriever pulls your invoice list and refreshes on a schedule.
- [How to Export Your Check Register from QuickBooks, Into a Live Spreadsheet](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/export-check-register-quickbooks-google-sheets): Export your QuickBooks Online check register to a live Google Sheet. Retriever pulls your check and expense detail and refreshes on a schedule.
- [QuickBooks Reporting Software: How to Choose the Right Tool](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-reporting-software): QuickBooks reporting software and tools: built-in reports, FP&A platforms, and Google Sheets connectors. How to pick the right one for your team.
- [How to Automate and Schedule Your QuickBooks Reports](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/automate-quickbooks-reports): Schedule QuickBooks Online reports so they refresh on their own. What the native email schedule does, and how to get live report data in Google Sheets.
- [QuickBooks Chart of Accounts Template: Build One From a Real Company File](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-chart-of-accounts-template): Build a reusable chart of accounts template in Google Sheets from a real QuickBooks Online company, then apply the same structure to every client.
- [Google Sheets Accounting Templates That Stay Connected to Your Books](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/google-sheets-accounting-template): The accounting templates worth building in Google Sheets, and how to feed them live QuickBooks Online data so they do not go stale after the first month.
- [Google Sheets Profit and Loss Template, Connected to QuickBooks](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/google-sheets-profit-and-loss-template): A profit and loss template for Google Sheets that pulls from QuickBooks Online and refreshes on a schedule, so the monthly P&L builds itself.
- [QuickBooks Balance Sheet Template: Build It in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-balance-sheet-template): A balance sheet template in Google Sheets fed by QuickBooks Online, with the ratio and comparison rows QuickBooks does not calculate.
- [Budget vs Actual Template: Variance Reporting in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/budget-vs-actual-template): A budget vs actual template in Google Sheets fed by QuickBooks Online, with variance columns and periods you set separately for budget and actuals.
- [Filter a Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet by Account Number in QuickBooks Online](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/filter-profit-and-loss-balance-sheet-by-account-number): QuickBooks Online cannot filter financial statements by account number range. How to split reports by account number block in Google Sheets.
- [QuickBooks Comparative Reports Are Out of Account Order? Restore It in Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-comparative-report-account-order): Comparative reports in QuickBooks Online push accounts with no current activity to the bottom of each section. How to restore account order in Sheets.
- [Debit and Credit Columns on QuickBooks Reports and Drill-Downs](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/debit-credit-columns-quickbooks-reports): Drilling into a QuickBooks account shows Amount and Balance, not Debit and Credit. How to get true debit and credit columns in Google Sheets.
- [The Class Column Is Gone From Transaction List by Vendor. Here Is How to Get It Back](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/class-column-transaction-list-by-vendor-quickbooks): QuickBooks retired the Class column on the Transaction List by Vendor report. The native workaround, and how to rebuild the original view in Sheets.
- [QuickBooks Online Advanced vs Plus: What the Extra $200 a Month Buys](https://retrieverhq.com/guides/quickbooks-online-advanced-vs-plus): Advanced costs $200/month more than Plus. Which reporting features are gated behind it, who needs them, and when the upgrade is avoidable.

## Comparisons

- [LiveFlow Alternative: QuickBooks to Sheets From $60/mo](https://retrieverhq.com/compare/liveflow-alternative): A cheaper LiveFlow alternative: Retriever syncs QuickBooks Online to Google Sheets on a schedule from $60/mo. Transparent, self-serve, no demo.
- [LiveFlow Pricing: What It Costs + a Cheaper Option](https://retrieverhq.com/compare/liveflow-pricing): LiveFlow doesn't publish pricing and is demo-only. Here's what users report about cost, plus a transparent alternative from $60/mo.
- [LiveFlow vs Retriever: QuickBooks to Google Sheets](https://retrieverhq.com/compare/liveflow-vs-retriever): LiveFlow vs Retriever: pricing, QuickBooks-to-Google-Sheets sync, setup, and multi-entity support. See which reporting tool fits your budget.
- [G-Accon Alternative: Simple QuickBooks-to-Sheets Sync](https://retrieverhq.com/compare/g-accon-alternative): A simpler G-Accon alternative: Retriever syncs QuickBooks Online to Google Sheets on a schedule. Read-only, focused, transparent from $60/mo.
- [QuickBooks Spreadsheet Sync + an Any-Plan Alternative](https://retrieverhq.com/compare/quickbooks-spreadsheet-sync-alternative): QuickBooks Spreadsheet Sync only works on Advanced or Accountant. Here's what it does, and how Retriever syncs to Google Sheets on any plan from $60/mo.
- [Fathom Alternative: QuickBooks to Google Sheets, $60/mo](https://retrieverhq.com/compare/fathom-alternative): A focused Fathom alternative: Retriever syncs QuickBooks Online into Google Sheets on a schedule from $60/mo. Self-serve, read-only, $12 per additional company.
- [Jirav Alternative: QuickBooks to Google Sheets, $60/mo](https://retrieverhq.com/compare/jirav-alternative): A lightweight Jirav alternative: Retriever syncs QuickBooks Online into Google Sheets from $60/mo, self-serve. Focused reporting, not a full FP&A platform.