If you want a clear picture of your business’s financial health, the Balance Sheet report in QuickBooks Online is one of the most important tools you can use. It shows what your company owns, what it owes, and what’s left over for you as the owner at a specific point in time. In other words, it’s your financial snapshot.
In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to run a Balance Sheet report in QuickBooks Online, how to customize it, how to compare different time periods, and how to troubleshoot common issues when numbers don’t line up. Whether you’re a small business owner, bookkeeper, or manager, this walkthrough will help you get more value from your financial reports.
What Is a Balance Sheet in QuickBooks Online?
A Balance Sheet is one of the three core financial statements, alongside the Profit and Loss statement and the Cash Flow statement. It shows three key elements:
- Assets: Everything your business owns (cash, bank accounts, inventory, equipment, accounts receivable, etc.)
- Liabilities: Everything your business owes (credit cards, loans, accounts payable, taxes, etc.)
- Equity: The owner’s stake in the business
The basic formula looks like this:
Assets – Liabilities = Equity
In QuickBooks Online, the equity total also includes your net income for the current fiscal year to date. That’s why your Balance Sheet changes over time, even if you don’t add new assets or loans.
Think of the Balance Sheet as a “freeze frame” of your business finances on a specific date, not over a range of time like a Profit and Loss report.
Steps to Run a Balance Sheet Report in QuickBooks Online
Running a Balance Sheet report in QuickBooks Online only takes a few clicks.
- Go to Reports from the left-hand menu.
- Under Standard reports, find and select Balance Sheet.
- Choose the date or period you want to review.
- Click Run report or Refresh to update the numbers.
That’s it. You’ll instantly see your assets, liabilities, and equity laid out in a clean, easy-to-read format.
Pro Tip: Use the Balance Sheet Summary
If you want a high-level overview instead of detailed account lines, run the Balance Sheet Summary report. It shows totals by category, which is perfect for quick reviews or sharing with stakeholders.
Why Your Balance Sheet May Look Different from Other Reports?
It’s common to notice that your Balance Sheet doesn’t match other reports, even when you think you’re using the same filters. This usually happens because the Balance Sheet works differently from income and expense reports.
Here’s why:
- The Balance Sheet is cumulative. It carries balances forward from the beginning of your company’s books.
- Other reports, like Profit and Loss or Sales reports, focus only on the date range you select.
- For example, if you collected $50 in sales tax in March and $60 in April, your Balance Sheet will show $110 total in the sales tax liability account.
- If you run the Balance Sheet for April, it still shows $110, because it includes everything up to that date—not just April.
- But a sales or income report for April would only show $60.
This difference doesn’t mean your reports are wrong. It just means they answer different financial questions.
Comparing Your Balance Sheet with Accounts Receivable Aging Reports
When you compare your Balance Sheet to the Accounts Receivable Aging Summary or Aging Detail reports, you need to pay attention to one key setting: the Aging method.
If you’re running a Balance Sheet for a past date, make sure your A/R Aging report uses Report period as the aging method. This ensures that the total Accounts Receivable number matches on both reports.
If the aging method is set incorrectly, the totals can look different—even though your books are technically fine.
How to Compare Balance Sheets Across Different Time Periods?
One of the best ways to understand your business’s financial progress is to compare Balance Sheets over time.
QuickBooks Online makes this easy with the Balance Sheet Comparison report.
Here’s how to do it:
- Go to Reports.
- Search for and open Balance Sheet Comparison.
- Choose Custom dates from the report period dropdown.
- Set your From and To dates.
- Click Refresh to update the report.
This view lets you see changes in assets, liabilities, and equity side by side, which is perfect for year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter analysis.
Why Your Balance Sheet Might Not Balance?
Your Balance Sheet should always follow this rule:
Assets = Liabilities + Equity
If it doesn’t, something is off in your data. Here’s how to track down the problem:
- Click into each account on the report to review the transactions behind the balance.
- Start with a broad date range, like year-to-date.
- Gradually narrow the range down month by month.
- Once you find the exact date the numbers go out of balance, review the transactions from that day.
- Look for incorrect journal entries, deleted transactions, or miscategorized accounts.
This step-by-step approach helps you pinpoint the exact entry causing the issue so you can fix it quickly and confidently.
Why Your Balance Sheet May Not Match the Account Register?
If your company’s fiscal year doesn’t match the calendar year, you might notice differences between your Balance Sheet and your account registers.
You have two main options to fix this:
Option 1: Change the Report Date
- Go to Reports and open the Balance Sheet.
- Choose the correct fiscal period from the report period dropdown.
- Click Refresh to update the report.
Option 2: Update Your Fiscal Year Settings
- Go to Settings and select Account and settings.
- Open the Advanced tab.
- In the Accounting section, edit the First month of income tax year.
- Set it to the correct month (for example, January if you use the calendar year).
- Save your changes.
This ensures your reports and registers speak the same financial “language.”
Running a Balance Sheet by Location or Class in QuickBooks Online
If you use QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced, you can track performance by location or class. But it’s important to understand how QuickBooks assigns data before filtering your Balance Sheet.
Headers vs. Details: Why It Matters
Every transaction in QuickBooks has two parts:
- Header: The main account (for example, Accounts Receivable or Bank)
- Detail: The specific expense or income line item
Balance Sheet reports pull data from headers, while Profit and Loss reports usually rely on details.
- Classes are linked only to details.
- Locations are linked to both headers and details.
Can You Filter a Balance Sheet by Class?
Short answer: not accurately.
Because Balance Sheet data comes from headers—and headers aren’t tied to classes—filtering or displaying columns by class won’t give you reliable results. Many balances will show up under “Not Specified,” which defeats the purpose of class-based reporting.
However, you can filter your Profit and Loss report by class, since it uses detail-level data.
How to Filter a Balance Sheet by Location?
Unlike classes, locations work well with Balance Sheets because they connect to both headers and details.
Here’s how to do it:
- Go to Reports.
- Open the Balance Sheet report.
- From the Display columns by dropdown, select Locations.
- Click Run report.
Now you’ll see your Balance Sheet broken down by location, which is perfect for multi-branch or multi-division businesses.
What “Not Specified” Transactions Mean?
You might see some balances under “Not Specified,” especially for:
- Accounts Receivable
- Accounts Payable
- Payroll transactions
This usually happens because related transactions (like bill payments or received payments) can’t be split across multiple locations. If you truly need those split, you may need to divide the transaction or use a journal entry.
For complex cases, it’s smart to work with your accountant to avoid creating reporting issues or audit risks.
Final Thoughts
Your Balance Sheet in QuickBooks Online isn’t just a compliance report, it’s a powerful decision-making tool. It helps you understand liquidity, debt levels, and overall financial stability at a glance.
When you know how to run it, customize it, and troubleshoot it, you gain real control over your business finances and that’s where smarter growth starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Balance sheet reports list accounts that reflect your company’s financial position at a point in time. These include asset accounts (like Bank and Accounts Receivable), liability accounts (such as Accounts Payable and Long‑term Liabilities), and equity accounts (such as Owner’s Equity). These account types are classified specifically as balance sheet accounts in QuickBooks.
Though QuickBooks Online doesn’t have a report literally titled “Open Balance Report,” you can view open balances using customer/vendor related reports:
1. Customer/AR Open Balances: Run the Customer Balance Detail or Open Invoices report via Reports → search for the desired report to see outstanding receivables.
2. Vendor/AP Open Balances: Similarly, run the Vendor Balance Detail or Unpaid Bills report in the Reports menu.
These show you who owes you money (open receivables) and what you owe (open payables).
To run a report sorted or filtered by a specific account:
1. Go to Reports.
2. Use the search box to find the report you want (e.g., Account Transaction Detail, Balance Sheet, or Profit & Loss).
3. Open the report and click Customize.
4. In the Filter section, choose the specific Account or group of accounts you want to report on.
5. Click Run report.
This shows transaction data or balances for only the account(s) you select.
A balance sheet can show monthly columns by customizing the report’s display:
1. Go to Reports → search for “Balance Sheet.”
2. Open the report and customize the Report period to include the months you need.
3. Change the Display columns by setting to Month in the customization options.
4. Click Run report.
This displays the balance sheet with a monthly column breakdown.
“Financial Statements” in QuickBooks typically refers to your core reports (Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, Cash Flow). To run any of these:
1. Go to Reports in the left navigation.
2. In the search bar, type the name of the statement you want (e.g., Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss).
3. Select the report from the list.
4. Choose the date range and basis (Cash or Accrual) as needed.
5. Click Run report.
You can further Customize each report for filters, columns, and formatting.
First, confirm the report’s accounting basis (Accrual or Cash) and run the Balance Sheet. If Total Assets ≠ Total Liabilities + Equity:
1. Drill into accounts to locate transactions causing the discrepancy.
2. Narrow the date range progressively (e.g., yearly → monthly → weekly → daily) to find when the imbalance began.
3. Investigate any transactions around that date, and correct or reenter them as needed.
4. If necessary, adjust or delete incorrect transactions to restore balance.
This troubleshooting helps identify and fix the cause of an out‑of‑balance report.
QuickBooks automatically generates a Balance Sheet report based on your recorded transactions and account setup:
1. Go to Reports in the left menu.
2. Search for and open Balance Sheet.
3. Set the Report period (e.g., As of date or range).
4. Click Run report.
QuickBooks calculates assets, liabilities, and equity as of that period and displays the results. You can also use Customize to add or remove details and change the report basis.
