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Generating Reports Study Guide
When reviewing reports a good place to start is in the very beginning, granted most people want to start with the Profit and Loss to see if they are in the red or better yet the black! However, this Study Guide begins with the Chart of Accounts. Based on the information from the worksheet Joe’s Chart of Accounts looks like this: (Reports→List→Account Listing) These are the accounts necessary for Joe to enter his first month of activity. This list was printed at the end of the month. Note that only the Asset, Liability, and Equity accounts show a balance, this is correct. These three types of accounts carry a running total and each possesses a register which can be accessed and transactions can be entered directly. The description column is blank, entering a description is optional and Joe chose not to do that. The tax line for each account shows “unassigned” for all accounts. The tax line is entered either at the time you set up the account or later when edited. The tax line ties the account if applicable to the specific tax line it is associated with. This is necessary if a person wants to use Turbo Tax or if they want to produce a report that lists accounts by the tax line. The report can be done either in summarized form or detailed. The next report is the Transaction List by Date. This report is important to have in case you have to re-enter transactions for any reason. It is also helpful to refer back to. The Transaction List by Date looks like this: (Reports→Accountant & Taxes→Transaction List by Date)
The first column identifies the type of account, this can be helpful to know how an entry was made…was it a credit card charge, a sales receipt, or perhaps done as a general journal. The cleared column indicates that the first four transactions have been reconciled, the next column indicates whether the transaction was split or not, and the last two columns reflect whether the transaction was a debit or a credit. The last two columns show how the associated asset, liability, or equity account was affected. In the case of the first three transactions, the accounts Checking, Savings, and Equipment were debited or increased by the opening balances. When the loan balance was entered it was increased by a credit. The checks show up as credits because checking was decreased by the purchases and the credit card account was increased by the supplies charged. The three sales receipts appear in the debit column because checking was increased by the entries. The transfer is a credit because savings was decreased. Refer to ABM 111 Unit 4 (http://www.morgancc.edu/abm/curric/sg/cert1/ABM_111/U4/default.htm) if you need a review of debits and credits! The Transaction Detail Report lists each account and the transactions associated with that account. For example the Checking account will list all checks and deposits for that account. The same transactions will also appear in the assigned income, expense, asset, liability, or equity account. So, the transfer from Savings to Checking appears in the Checking account but also in the Savings account. This report is helpful to verify that you have designated the correct account to each transaction. It is also a useful report for your accountant or tax preparer to verify your entries. A portion of the report appears below: (Reports→Accountant & Taxes→Transaction Detail by Account)
your accountant or tax preparer that you know which to print. If you file taxes on a cash basis do not print Accrual reports! You can specify your report to show a single period of time or you can have it compare one period to another. Joe has only entered one month of activity otherwise he could print a Year to Date Comparison report. The report separates income from expenses (remember only income and expense accounts appear on the Profit and Loss); subtotals each section, and then gives you a Net Income. Prepare yourself, that Net Income can be either a positive or negative amount depending on the transactions entered for that period. The Net Income is then transferred automatically to the Equity section of the Balance Sheet. If you are using Classes a Profit and Loss report can be selected that shows how each class has preformed to that point. The Balance Sheet is a snapshot in time; it reflects the accumulated balance for any given moment. Remember the Balance Sheet includes Assets, Liabilities, and Equity accounts and it MUST balance! Assets = Liabilities + Equity! The beginning and ending Balance Sheets are below to reflect the two different time periods. (Reports→Company & Financial→Balance Sheet Standard)
Notice which account balances changed from the beginning Balance Sheet to the ending Balance Sheet. Checking, Savings, Visa, and the Mortgage Loan balances all changed due to the activity entered for the month. Also note the $10,328 Net Income that came across from the Profit and Loss report. The Statement of Cash Flows shows how your cash position changed over a period of time, in the example below it compares January 1 with January 31. The report shows the amount of cash earned from profit, where additional cash was received, and where the cash was spent. (Reports→Company & Financial→Statement of Cash Flows)
Had he entered the sales to specific customers the report would have provided information specific to each customer. Had the sales been entered as invoices the reports would have looked like this: He could also generate an Aging Report had he invoiced the customers: (Reports→Customers & Receivables→A/R Aging Summary)
The Aging Report provides a listing of customers with an outstanding balance; the balance also appears on the Balance Sheet: The $12,000 from the Aging Report appears in the Accounts Receivable section of this Balance Sheet. Note the Current Assets have increased by the $12,000 but the Net Income in the Equity section remained the same. That is because the Sales Receipts were deleted and replaced by the Invoices or Receivables. Setting up Customers information is useful for billing purposes as well as creating a contact list: (Reports→Lists→Customer Contact List)
The summary is easily matched to Joe’s Bank Statement. The beginning balance matches the statement beginning balance, the 10 checks and payments equaling $1,672.00 and the 4 deposits and credits equaling $12,500.00 all match the information on his statement, as well as the ending balance. Congratulations! The Reconciliation Detail Report lists each of the checks and deposits for greater detail. These reports can be printed at the time of the reconciliation or by going to
Reports→Banking→Previous Reconciliation. Is it necessary to print these reports? It could be useful if down the road Joe goes to reconcile and his beginning balance is off, prior reconciliation reports might help in locating the discrepancy. There are a host of other reports available for your perusal. At this point turn your attention to the modify feature of the reports. Any report that has the Modify button in the upper left hand corner allows manipulation: The dates can be changed, you may toggle between cash and accrual, the display setting can be changed (if Joe had more months of data entered he could select Month and the various months would appear side by side which is very handy for working on a projected cash flow), additional columns may be added, etc. Be sure to explore this feature.
If you do modify or filter a report to your specific liking and wish to use it again, memorize it: Granted, there is nothing unique about the above report but if you do modify one and do not want to have to modify it again the next time you want the same information, save it. To generate it then go to Reports→Memorized Reports→Memorized Report List→and select the desired report. *This is just the tip of the iceberg…explore the opportunities!
