retained earnings

QuickBooks maintains approximately 13 different Special Account Types. These types are assigned to individual accounts in a company’s chart of accounts. The assignment of a Special Account Type to an account permits that account to carry out a special function.

1. AccountsReceivable
2. UndepositedFunds
3. InventoryAssets
4. AccountsPayable
5. PayrollLiabilities
6. OpeningBalanceEquity
7. RetainedEarnings
8. UncategorizedIncome
9. CostOfGoodsSold
10. PayrollExpenses
11. UncategorizedExpenses
12. Estimates
13. PurchaseOrders

Special Account Types and the assignment of those types to accounts are not visible to a typical QuickBooks user.

However, a typical user can determine which account is assigned a Special Account Type by recording a transaction that should impact the balance of an account functioning as an account with a Special Account Type and tracking which account balance was affected. For example, an expense transaction of $100 in the prior year should impact the account functioning as RetainedEarnings. Be sure to delete these test transactions once you’ve completed your testing.

It’s important to understand that an account’s Special Account Type is independent of its name. That is, an account can be named Undeposited Funds but not have a Special Account Type of UndepositedFunds. This situation typically occurs if accounts were renamed and preferences changed over time. If QuickBooks creates a new account that’s a Special Account Type and the default QuickBooks name is already in use, it will place an asterix at the start of the account name, as in *Undeposited Funds. If you observe accounts that start with an asterix, it’s likely that these accounts are the actual accounts assigned Special Account Types.

(+1 rating, 1 votes)

Loading...