How to Combine Reports in QuickBooks (Desktop & Online)

Combining reports in QuickBooks is an essential feature for businesses with multiple company files or those requiring consolidated financial data across divisions, subsidiaries, or entities. Both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online offer ways to merge reports, albeit with different approaches and features. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the process of combining reports in QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, offering step-by-step instructions, best practices, and considerations.

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Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

• Why Combine Reports in QuickBooks?
• Differences Between QuickBooks Desktop & QuickBooks Online Reporting

1. Types of Reports You Can Combine

• Balance Sheet Reports
• Profit and Loss Statements
• Cash Flow Statements
• Custom Reports

1. Combining Reports in QuickBooks Desktop

• Method 1: Using the QuickBooks Statement Writer (QSW)
• Method 2: Combining Reports Using Excel
• Method 3: Using QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise for Multi-Company Reports

1. Combining Reports in QuickBooks Online

• Method 1: Using Excel to Combine Reports
• Method 2: Using Third-Party Apps
• Method 3: Manual Consolidation with QuickBooks Advanced

1. Best Practices for Combining Reports

• Standardizing Your Chart of Accounts
• Ensuring Data Accuracy
• Reconciling Accounts Before Combining

1. FAQs
2. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Why Combine Reports in QuickBooks?

Combining reports is crucial for businesses that operate across multiple entities or divisions. It allows management to view consolidated financial performance, detect trends, and make informed decisions. For example, if you have multiple subsidiaries, consolidating financial statements such as balance sheets or profit and loss (P&L) statements helps present an accurate overall picture of your company’s financial health.

Differences Between QuickBooks Desktop & QuickBooks Online Reporting

While QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online both provide powerful reporting features, they handle report consolidation differently:

• QuickBooks Desktop: More robust features, including tools for multi-company reporting and more direct control over financial data.
• QuickBooks Online: Limited direct options for combining reports. However, you can use third-party apps or Excel to combine data across entities.

2. Types of Reports You Can Combine

Before diving into the specific steps, it’s important to understand the types of reports you can combine across different entities.

Balance Sheet Reports

A balance sheet provides a snapshot of your company’s assets, liabilities, and equity at a given moment. Combining balance sheets from multiple entities provides an overview of the entire company’s financial health.

Profit and Loss Statements

Also known as the income statement, this report shows your company’s revenues and expenses over a specific period. Combining these reports helps in assessing overall profitability.

Cash Flow Statements

A cash flow statement shows the flow of cash in and out of your business. Combining cash flow reports across entities helps in understanding liquidity and cash management across the board.

Custom Reports

Custom reports that focus on specific metrics such as sales, expenses, or inventory can also be combined. These reports are typically created based on a company’s unique requirements.

3. Combining Reports in QuickBooks Desktop

QuickBooks Desktop offers several ways to combine reports, either using built-in tools or exporting data to Excel for manual consolidation.

Method 1: Using the QuickBooks Statement Writer (QSW)

QuickBooks Statement Writer (QSW) is an add-on available in QuickBooks Desktop that helps combine reports from multiple company files. This method is recommended if you frequently need consolidated reports.

Steps:

1. Enable Statement Writer: Ensure that QuickBooks Statement Writer is installed and enabled in your QuickBooks Desktop.
2. Open Statement Writer: In QuickBooks Desktop, go to Reports > QuickBooks Statement Writer.
3. Add Files: In the Statement Writer, you can add multiple company files from which to pull data.
4. Select Report Type: Choose which reports (Balance Sheet, P&L) you wish to combine.
5. Customize Reports: Use the available tools to customize the look, format, and content of the report.
6. Export to Excel: Once the reports are generated, you can export them to Excel for further analysis or modifications.

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Method 2: Combining Reports Using Excel

If you don’t have access to the QuickBooks Statement Writer or prefer a manual approach, exporting reports to Excel and combining them is a viable option.

Steps:

1. Generate Reports: Open each company file in QuickBooks and generate the reports you want to combine (Balance Sheet, P&L, etc.).
2. Export to Excel: Use the Export button in QuickBooks to export each report to Excel.
3. Open Excel: Once the reports are in Excel format, open them and copy the relevant data into a master spreadsheet.
4. Align Data: Ensure that the data from each report is properly aligned in the master spreadsheet.
5. Combine Totals: Use Excel formulas to sum up the figures from each report to create consolidated totals.

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Method 3: Using QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise for Multi-Company Reports

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise offers advanced features that make combining reports easier, especially if you’re working with multiple entities.

Steps:

1. Open Multi-Company Reporting: In QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, go to Reports > Combine Reports from Multiple Companies.
2. Select Companies: Choose the company files you want to include in the combined report.
3. Choose Reports: Select the reports you want to combine, such as Balance Sheet, P&L, or Cash Flow.
4. Specify Date Range: Set the date range for the reports.
5. View Combined Report: QuickBooks will generate a combined report that includes data from all selected companies.

4. Combining Reports in QuickBooks Online

Unlike QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online doesn’t have built-in multi-company reporting tools. However, you can combine reports using Excel, third-party apps, or by upgrading to QuickBooks Advanced.

Method 1: Using Excel to Combine Reports

As with QuickBooks Desktop, one of the simplest ways to combine reports in QuickBooks Online is to export them to Excel and manually merge them.

Steps:

1. Generate Reports: In QuickBooks Online, go to the Reports tab and generate the desired reports for each entity.
2. Export to Excel: Click the Export button to save the reports as Excel files.
3. Open Excel: Open the exported reports in Excel and combine them into a single workbook.
4. Consolidate Data: Manually align and consolidate the data using Excel formulas.

Method 2: Using Third-Party Apps

There are several third-party apps available that integrate with QuickBooks Online to help with multi-company report consolidation. Some popular options include:

• Fathom: Fathom offers advanced reporting tools and is particularly useful for consolidating data from multiple entities.
• Qvinci: Qvinci allows you to sync data from multiple QuickBooks files and generate consolidated reports.
• LivePlan: LivePlan helps businesses with multi-entity reporting, especially for forecasting and budgeting.

Steps:

1. Choose an App: Select a third-party app that suits your business needs.
2. Connect QuickBooks: Authorize the app to access your QuickBooks Online data.
3. Generate Combined Reports: Use the app’s built-in tools to combine reports from multiple entities.

Method 3: Manual Consolidation with QuickBooks Advanced

If you have QuickBooks Online Advanced, you can create custom reports and manually consolidate data across multiple entities.

Steps:

1. Create Custom Reports: In QuickBooks Online Advanced, use the custom report builder to create detailed reports for each entity.
2. Export Reports: Export these custom reports to Excel.
3. Manually Combine Data: Use Excel to manually combine the data from each report.

5. Best Practices for Combining Reports

When combining reports across multiple entities, following best practices can ensure data accuracy and consistency.

Standardizing Your Chart of Accounts

To avoid discrepancies between reports, it’s crucial that all entities use the same chart of accounts. This ensures that financial data is reported uniformly across the board.

Ensuring Data Accuracy

Before combining reports, verify that the data in each company file is accurate and up to date. This includes making sure that transactions are recorded properly, accounts are reconciled, and there are no discrepancies in financial statements.

Reconciling Accounts Before Combining

Ensure that all accounts (especially bank and credit card accounts) are fully reconciled in each entity before combining reports. Unreconciled accounts can lead to inaccurate or incomplete data in the final consolidated report.

6. FAQs

Q1: Can I combine reports across multiple currencies in QuickBooks?

Yes, QuickBooks Desktop allows you to combine reports in multiple currencies. However, ensure that the exchange rates are consistent across entities before combining.

Q2: What is the maximum number of company files I can combine in QuickBooks Desktop?

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can combine up to 30 company files for reporting purposes.

Q3: Is there a way to automate the combining of reports in QuickBooks Online?

While QuickBooks Online doesn’t offer native automation for combining reports, you can use third-party apps like Fathom or Qvinci for automation.

Q4: Can I combine reports if my entities have different fiscal year-ends?

Yes, but it’s essential to adjust the reporting periods manually to ensure consistency in the combined reports.