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Profit and Loss Detail (Detail View)

How to Create a Profit and Loss Detail Report (Detail View) in 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.

New to QuickBooks Online's modern view? See how it compares to the classic view.

Steps

  1. Open the Profit and Loss Detail report

    Go to Reports and search for "Profit and Loss Detail" (distinct from the standard summary "Profit and Loss" report).

    QuickBooks Online Reports menu with Profit and Loss Detail selected
  2. Set your date range

    Choose the period you want to investigate, often a single month when you're drilling into a specific variance.

    QuickBooks Online date range selector
  3. Filter to the accounts you care about (optional)

    Click Customize, open the Filters section, and set "Filter by" to an option like Distribution account (or Customer, or Class) to investigate part of the report rather than every transaction.

    QuickBooks Online Customize panel with account filter applied
  4. Review the transaction list

    The report updates automatically, listing every transaction (bills, invoices, journal entries, and more) grouped under each income and expense account, with running totals.

    Profit and Loss Detail report in QuickBooks Online listing individual transactions

See also

QuickBooks P&L by day stuck on "All Other"? Get every daily columnExclude a few accounts from a P&L in Retriever

Frequently asked questions

Can I click into a transaction from the Detail report?

Yes. Every line in the Profit and Loss Detail report is clickable and opens the original transaction (bill, invoice, journal entry, etc.) so you can review or edit it directly.

Is this the same as the Transaction Detail by Account report?

They're closely related. Profit and Loss Detail is scoped to income statement accounts specifically, while Transaction Detail by Account covers a broader set of account types including balance sheet accounts.

Why is this report so much slower to load than the summary version?

It's pulling every individual transaction rather than pre-aggregated totals, so large date ranges or high transaction volume will take noticeably longer to run. Narrowing the date range or filtering to specific accounts speeds it up.

Tired of rebuilding reports? Need more customization?

Retriever pulls QuickBooks Online reports like this one into Google Sheets on a schedule. They refresh on their own, and once the data is in Sheets you can pivot, chart, and customize it far beyond QuickBooks' fixed report layouts.

See how Retriever works

Related report guides

Profit and Loss by MonthProfit and Loss by CustomerProfit and Loss by ClassProfit and Loss by QuarterProfit and Loss Comparison (Year-over-Year)Profit and Loss Comparison (Month-over-Month)Profit and Loss Comparison (Quarter-over-Quarter)Profit and Loss Comparison (Year-to-Date)Profit and Loss by LocationClassic vs Modern View Reporting

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