Sometimes the report format we get in QBO isn’t exactly what we want. We have certain things that we want from the report, and we just can’t seem to get that in QBO.
It’s possible though, to export a report from QBO to Excel. In Excel dozens of tools are available allowing us to format the report in pretty much any way we want.
Let’s look at a profit and loss report in QBO.
We can make this process more efficient for the future. That is, we may want to create this report and format it in Excel from time to time. As such, it’s best if we get as many of those changes as possible into the QBO report before we export it.
Selecting the Customize button above the report in QBO opens the customize report window. In the section Rows/Columns, we make a couple of selections. We’ll add a column for the previous year and a column for a percent of income.
Let’s also change the title here, then we won’t have to do it in Excel.
We changed the title of the report to Statement of Income and removed the text from the footer.
Here’s what our report looks like now.
Better. There’s our new title. We have additional columns too.
One thing we may not like about this report, is that comparing year over year, the percent column applies to the left-most, or current year data. There is no percent column for last year.
That’s why we want to export the report to Excel. We can add the column we want there.
First, we’ll memorize this report. That will save the changes we make in QBO so that next time we want Statement of Income, we don’t have to customize it all over again.
Then, we’ll export to Excel.
Notice that we have moved the original percent column from QBO next to the current year data, the data it refers to. We’ve also added another percent column by entering a formula and copying it down, in order to get a percent column for the prior year data.
That’s a beginning. We now have all the tools Excel offers to make this report look just the way we want.
Hector Garcia, CPA
Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
7791 NW 46th St. Suite 109
Doral, FL 33166
954-414-1524
hector@garciacpa.com
