Using Classes for a Balance Sheet.

Question:

Can I get a completely "classed" out balance sheet? I have two stores (classes) operating off of one set of QuickBooks. The P & L classes out fine, but the balance sheet doesn't. I class my expenses when I enter them as a bill into A/P. Many of the bills are split between the classes. When the bill payment check is written, it doesn't reflect the change in the checking account by class like it would if I paid the expenses directly by check. Does either of the newest versions of QuickBooks Pro or Premier class the bill payment checks. Is there any simple way to accomplish my goal without a bunch of intra-company transfers? Setting up two separate checking accounts wont work because I would still be paying bills that are split between classes. Thanks. Nice Site!

Answer:

The balance sheet is designed to show the financial position of the whole company. The purpose of classes is to show the profitability of different operating segments of your business. The classes only apply to the P&L statement and other reports related to profitability.

To illustrate...You have one checking account with one balance. The checking account doesn't have a different balance because you are looking at a particular class. However if you take out transactions from your checking account you will be left with an inaccurate balance.

It sounds almost like you want to keep two different files for your two stores. In this case you would have to use two checking accounts one for each so that everything balances. I do not recommend this approach, because you will create a nightmare with inter-company transfers as you predicted earlier. You also would become your accountant’s worst enemy.

You currently are following the best course of action in my opinion, it just the classes were not designed to produce 2 different balance sheets.