Blog

General ledger reports offer a quick and easy way for business owners and accountants to identify all Quickbooks transactions within a given time frame. Unlike the standard built-in Quickbooks account manager, using the general ledger allows users to modify and amend their transactions. Once the report is complete, you can go scroll through the transactions recorded for the given time period and modify those with discrepancies or errors. For a step-by-step walkthrough on how to run a general ledger report, keep reading.

Steps To Running a General Ledger Report:

1. Log in to your Quickbooks account.
2. Click on the ‘Report’ option from the drop-down menu.
3. Choose ‘ Accounting and Taxes’ from the available options.
4. Click ‘General Ledger Report’
5. Select ‘Next’ to run the report.

Why Is My General Ledger Report Showing a Positive Balance With One Account Filtered?

One of the most common problems Quickbooks users experience when running general ledger reports is their report showing a positive balance when only a single account is filtered. Some users automatically assume this problem is due to a bug or error, but there’s actually a reason for this issue — when you run a general ledger report with all accounts selected, Quickbooks creates split details for each transaction. When you run this same general ledger report with a single account filtered, however, it excludes transactions associated with the filtered account; thus, creating a positive balance.

The good news is that you can fix this issue in just a few simple steps. Go ahead and create a general ledger report using the steps listed above. Once the report is complete, click on the ‘Customize Report’ option, followed by the ‘Filters’ tab. Next, enter in the amount in the ‘Filter’ field (amount you wish to filter). You should now see a dialog box with several new options, one of which is ‘Include Split Detail?’ Make sure this option is checked and click ‘OK’ to run the report again.

Following these steps should balance the filtered account appropriate, creating a negative balance in your general ledger report.

Other General Ledger Report Tips:

• Refresh your general ledger reports by using the ‘Refresh’ button.
• Save a general ledger report for later use and/or reference by clicking the ‘Memorize’ button at the top of the report.
• General ledger reports can be printed with the ‘Print’ button.
• General ledger reports can be exported in XML or PDF format.