How to Add on Reports for QuickBooks

Sometimes it may be necessary to customize the reports in QuickBooks.

The QuickBooks software program contains automated reports that are generated based on the data that is entered in the program. These basic reports include the profit and loss statement, the income by item, income by sales rep, the balance sheet and more. These particular reports are valuable to use. On occasion, however, it is necessary to create or customize add-on reports to glean more specific information. The QuickBooks software program provides the "Modify Report" key to enable this customization. The difficulty level of completing this task depends on the type of data being sought.

Instructions

Changing Basic Reports

1. Print the basic reports. Click on the reports tab located at the top of the menu bar and scroll down to the "Company & Financial" tab and click on it. Open the Profit and Loss statement and click on the "Print" key. Scroll down a little further for the "Balance Sheet" and print that one. The columns that can be modified, either added or deleted, depend on which report is open at the time.

2. Choose which type of report to customize. There are two types of custom "add-on" reports in the reports menu. The first is the "Custom Summary." This report will create custom reports based on income and expense accounts. The second is the "Custom Transaction" report which will create custom reports that deal directly with each sales, invoice, credit card and payment transaction.

3. Customize how the report is displayed. With each report there are four key areas that can be customized to create an add-on report. These areas include the Display which will allow you to alter the report date range, the basis, and the columns which will be displayed. Click on the column to check or uncheck the ones you'd like to see.

4. Alter the filters areas. The second area is the Filters. Here, you can alter the report to display data by account, amount, date, or any one of the fifty four different filters. The report can also be further customized by accounts, either all of them in the chart of accounts or by just a few.

5. Change the headers/footers. The third area is the Header/Footer or where the titles of reports can be changed. The text of the company name, report title, subtitle and date prepared is entered directly into the blank text boxes.

6. Change appearance of report by changing fonts & numbers. The last area is the Fonts & Numbers which is where you may change the fonts used either in the whole of the report or simply change the fonts in each area of the report.

Adding On the Add On Reports to QuickBooks Menu

1. Memorize the customized report. Once the changes you desire have been made to the report, and the information you need is displayed to your satisfaction you will need to "memorize" the report. From the open report page, hold down the "CTRL" key and the 'M' key.

2. Change the name of the report from the QuickBooks default name. You may find it necessary to re-run a similar report with different data columns. You will be able to specify the name of this new report. Change the name in the highlighted text box labeled, "Name."

3. Add this new report to other group reports. It is possible to memorize this report into a group of other report groups that will allow you to generate multiple customized reports with just a few clicks. To do so, click the box labeled: "Save in Memorized Report Group." Click the "Ok" button and you will hear the "camera-snap" sound and the report and/or its group will be memorized.

4. Add new report to icon bar. Once the report has been named and memorized, it's a simple matter of adding this report to the icon bar for quick recall. To do so, from the open window, click on the View menu and choose the "Add Window to Icon Bar."

5. Rename report specifically for use on Icon bar. This will allow you to create a custom description of the information you wish this report to disseminate. Click the "Ok" button and you are done. This is different than the name you gave it earlier for use on the reports screen and should be abbreviated.

References

• Intuit: Product Tips: Five Essential Reports
• QBalance.com: QuickBooks Reports
• All Business: Run Quick Reports in QuickBooks to Keep Expenses in Check