QSW stands for QuickBooks Statement Writer, in case you have missed previous posts on this topic. It is the Report Writer in QuickBooks Accountant and QuickBooks Enterprise. The report writer works with Excel to create reports with formats unavailable in QuickBooks alone.
Previously we have taken brief looks at managing rows and columns. Today’s post will examine how we can change the order of rows appearing in a QSW report.
In QuickBooks alone, there is little control over the order in which rows appear.
Let’s use a balance sheet for example.
The rows in a balance sheet report are accounts. The accounts appear, within their groups of account types, in alphabetical order.
One way to change the order of the accounts is to turn the preference on to use account numbers. If you do, the accounts will appear in numerical order. By numbering appropriately, you could determine the order of the rows in your report.
However, this causes the report numbers to appear on the reports. This is an unacceptable solution for many.
Numbers do not appear in the QSW report. Below is a balance sheet in QSW.
No numbers. But we are stuck with the same problem as we had before turning account numbers on in QuickBooks. The accounts may not be in the order we wish.
Look at the Property and Equipment section of the balance sheet shown above. Accumulated Depreciation is the first fixed asset type account shown. Traditionally, it would be the last account shown in this section.
In QSW, this is an easy fix.
The right-hand arrow in the screenshot points to the Statement Writer tab of the Excel ribbon. This tab contains many of the QSW commands.
The left-hand arrow points to the command: Insert Rows. Using this command, we will insert a row at the bottom of the Property and Equipment section of our report.
We will have several row types to choose from. We will choose Account as we want this row to show the value of a QuickBooks account. QSW will insert a blank account type row.
In the Row Properties panel shown, we will click on a button labeled “Manage Rows”. In the screenshot, the actual button is obscured by the menus that appear once it is selected. We will choose Add Accounts, then By name.
From the account list that QSW presents, we will choose Accumulated Depreciation. QSW will display this informational message.
This message informs us that, since Accumulated Depreciation already appears on the report, QSW will delete it from the previous location in order to add it to the location we have just specified.
QSW will not duplicate the account rows, merely re-arrange them.
Our report will now show the rows in the Property and Equipment section of the report in the order we want.
Hector Garcia, CPA
Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
12401 Orange Drive #136
Davie, FL 33330
954-414-1524
hector@garciacpa.com
