How to Run an Expense Report in QuickBooks

Running expense reports is one of the vital components of managing your business using QuickBooks. It gives you an overview of what you’re spending your money on, and whether you’re managing your finances properly. But how exactly do you run expense reports in QuickBooks?

In this article, we’ll show you different ways to run an expense report in QuickBooks. We’ll also discuss several other expense-related features that will help you get a grip on your expenditures.

How Do You Run an Expense Report in QuickBooks?

In QuickBooks, there’s no need for you to run expense reports manually. The program does this for you automatically in the Reporting section. This process is performed by obtaining information from the expenses you entered using QuickBooks. To ensure accurate expense reports that give you a clear picture of your company’s expenditures, you need to input your expenditures directly into the program.

There are many types of reports in QuickBooks. The most general one is the Profit & Loss report that displays all your income and outlays. If you’re looking to run a concrete expense report, you can do so by running the ‘Expenses by Vendor Expense Report’. Here’s how to do this:

1. Go to the “Reports” tab.
   
2. In the “Company and Financial” section, choose the desired report.
3. Choose “Expenses by Vendor Detail.”
4. Right-click on the report to access it.

Now you have an overview of certain expenses of your company. If you want to print the report, click the “Print” option, and customize your printing properties. Once you’re done, press “Print” again.

You can also save your report as a PDF file. Just enter the “File” section and click “Save as PDF.”

How Do You Run Vendor Expense Reports on QuickBooks Desktop?

If you’re using QuickBooks on your PC, running expense reports according to vendors is slightly different. The process is as follows:

1. Log into your QuickBooks Desktop.
2. Press the “Reports” tab at the top of your screen.
   
3. Select “Vendors and Payables”, and then select “Unpaid Bills Detail.”

This will give you access to all the unpaid bills belonging to your business. However, this won’t let you see a lot of in-depth information about each vendor with who your business collaborates. To get a closer look at individual expenses by vendors, take these steps:

1. Choose the “Customize Report” tab on your unpaid bills display.
2. Select the “Filters” option.
3. Set the parameters to indicate “Paid Status” bills.

This will categorize your expenses and give you an overview of each bill your company has paid. If there are too many bills on the screen, you can categorize the expenses further by selecting a date range.

How To Display Expenses on an Annual Basis

Reviewing your business operations on an annual basis helps to ensure that your business remains solvent. Accordingly, going through the expenses your company incurs every year is an integral part of managing your finances with QuickBooks. This is how you can track your expenses on an annual basis:

1. Click on the “Reports” menu.
2. Go to “Find Report by Name” and select “Transaction Detail by Account.”
3. As you’re looking at your report, press the “Customize” tab.
4. Press the “Filter” button to access more options.
5. In the “Transaction Type” menu, press “Expense.”
6. While going through the “Account” menu, select the accounts you want to see in your report.
7. Select the “Run Report” option.
8. Select “Report Period” and choose “This Fiscal Year” or “This Calendar Year.”
9. Press the “Run Report” option.

Once you’re done, you can press “Save Customization” to save the preferences for your report. As a result, you won’t have to make the same modifications every time you receive your report.

To go to your customized report once again, take the following steps:

1. Access the “Reports” section.
2. Press “Custom Reports.”
3. Choose the customized report.

How To Display Expenses

If you want your expense reports to show the amount of money you pay vendors per month, you can do so this way:

1. Enter the “Reports” menu.
2. Find and select “Expenses by Vendor Summary.”
3. Press the “Customize” option.
4. State the date range for your report period, depending on the dates of your bills.
5. Press the “Columns” menu in the “Columns/Rows” tab.
6. Select “Months.”
7. Press the “Run Report” option.

Here’s what you should do to save your monthly reports:

1. While your report is running, press the “Save Customization” tab.
2. Type in the name of your report.
3. Choose if you want to share your report with select users or all users. If you don’t select either of the options, only the creator of the report will have access to it.
4. Press the “OK” button.

After you’ve saved your report, finding it is quite straightforward. Just follow these actions:

1. Access the “Reports” menu.
2. Choose “Custom Reports.”
3. Search for your report by its previously saved name.

Keep Your Expenses at Bay

Now that you know how to run your expense reports in QuickBooks, both on an annual and monthly basis, keeping track of your finances will be much easier. You can access your reports at any time to see if there have been some unnecessary outlays harming your business. If so, use QuickBooks to determine which expenses have no place in your business.