Have you ever been frustrated with the titles on QBO reports? For some time, we have been able to edit report title names but for the first time in QBO, we can now edit section titles too. Let me first list how it works then I will share why editing section headings are heady especially during client meetings.
The new QBO 'Edit titles' feature in Reports.
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What are you really editing?
If you’re wondering what is being edited on the report, let me explain. On every report, the section titles act as headers for the Chart of Accounts group. When creating reports, each Chart of Accounts group is sectioned together on a report to make it easy to see like accounts. For example, Current Assets typically refers to the bank account and funds available. Each of the listed bank accounts is a sub-account of the group header Current Assets. The Chart of Accounts group and all related sub-accounts are grouped for easy reporting.
Client Comprehension
If the goal of reporting is to share the financial position of the company then it makes sense to clear up as much confusion as possible, right? One way is to edit the section title on reports to help client understanding. By labeling the sections with familiar terms clients have a greater chance of comprehension.
Here’s an example, “Accounts Receivable” could be replaced with “Open Invoices” or “Long-Term Liabilities” could be “Bank Loans” or “Fixes Assets” could be “Property”. Another common area of confusion is Equity accounts. You could edit these sections titles to something you and your client agree to make comprehension easier.
You might want to use this feature to make report section titles more easily understood by your client(s).
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How to Edit Section Titles
Each section title you rename will appear on corresponding reports. This means if you rename “Accounts Payable” to “Outstanding Bills” on all Balance Sheet reports the section will appear as “Outstanding Bills”. This helps to keep continuity for reporting.
Steps to edit section titles
- Run desired report
- Click Edit Titles
- Rename sections
- Save
- Wait a few minutes for the edits to take effect
- Refresh report
- Done
Editing section titles is quite simple with this new feature in QuickBooks Online.
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Next, let’s look at editing a Profit and Loss Report. Most clients understand the terminology used on a Profit and Loss report but there are a couple of useful edits you can make which will enhance reports.
One of my clients has “Other Income and Expenses” recorded in their books. Part of their occasional income is the harvest bee honey. The expenses and income are typically their normal activity but there are related bee expense and income. In this example, we could edit the section title “Other Income” to “Honey Income” and “Other Expenses” to “Honey Expenses”. In this case, having clear section titles helps to clarify for all parts of the Bee related income and expenses.
An example of how I chose to use this new 'edit section titles' feature to make reporting more specific to the needs of my client.
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Now when my client reviews their Profit and Loss statement the honey income and expense are easy to track.
You can see the result of the 'section title edits' I made for my client, this is pretty neat.
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QuickBooks Online Edit Section Titles
If you think you or your clients will use this feature the good news is it is easy to set up and track. Once you create the new Section Titles for all corresponding reports the section titles will stick until you chose to change them or go back to the default section titles.