QuickBooks Report Consolidation

Consolidating financial information across multiple entities in QuickBooks can be complex. While merging reports may seem easy, the QuickBooks report consolidation feature, which is designed to unify company reports, is unavailable. This makes consolidation a lengthy accounting procedure.

Consequently, accountants often export, map, and merge financial reports using Microsoft Excel. This procedure is recurring, error-prone, and increasingly challenging as the business expands. However, QuickBooks Enterprise offers more simplified consolidation processes.

Furthermore, QuickBooks Enterprise provides more seamless consolidation capabilities. It empowers users with the multi-company reporting facility to issue consolidated reports, namely:

• Balance Sheet Summary
• Other consolidated financial reports
• Balance Sheet Standard
• Profit & Loss Standard

Such capabilities make multi-company financial evaluation easy and enhance reporting precision.

To learn more about consolidating reports in QuickBooks Online and Enterprise, read this extensive guide. Learn about the steps, preventive measures to avoid issues, and the benefits of consolidating reports in QuickBooks.

What is QuickBooks Consolidated Reporting?

QuickBooks consolidated reporting allows you to merge financial information from several company files into a single report. It offers consolidated oversight for businesses handling several entities. Leveraging the QuickBooks Enterprise capabilities, users can generate unified and comprehensive reports like:

• Consolidated Profit & Loss
• Balance Sheets
• Trial Balances

In QuickBooks Enterprise consolidated reports, each company is listed in its individual columns with a combined total. However, only the balances are combined, while intercompany adjustments and currency conversions are unaffected.

Steps to Set Up Consolidated Reporting in QuickBooks Enterprise

Prior to setting up consolidated reporting in QuickBooks Enterprise, it is crucial to meet certain prerequisites. Once the prerequisites are met, commence setting up consolidated reporting in QuickBooks Online.

Here are the prerequisites to consolidate reports in QuickBooks Enterprise:

• An active Microsoft Excel.
• Single QuickBooks version across all accounts.
• Active and running QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
• Single-system accessibility for all company files.
• Login privileges for every company file

Once the prerequisites are met, follow the steps shared below for multi-company reporting in QuickBooks Enterprise:

1. Create Company Files

Confirm that the Chart of Accounts is without irregularities across all businesses. Using the Same account names and account types enables QuickBooks to consolidate balances accurately. Discrepancies occur in separate line items.

2. Access QuickBooks Enterprise

Commence QuickBooks on the device where all the company files are saved. It is not necessary to access every file individually in advance.

3. Use Multi-Company Reporting

To access the multi-company reporting feature, navigate to “Reports”. Now, click “Combine Reports from Several Companies”. This option is available in QuickBooks Enterprise.

4. Include Company Files

• Click the “Add Files” option, search for each .qbw file, and choose it.
• Add the login details when notified.
• Perform the same steps for all entities required to be included.

5. Check Account Consistency

QuickBooks maps similar accounts automatically. In case the structures or names are misaligned, merging is not possible. Consistent accounts in source files guarantee precise balance merging and reporting.

6. Issue the Report

Select the report type (be it P/L, Balance Sheet, etc.), set the date range, and choose the Cash-basis or accrual-basis accounting. Next, to generate the consolidated report, click the option “Combine Reports in Excel”.

7. Save the Settings

Save the chosen files and reporting criteria. This allows you to start future consolidated reports more quickly, while preserving previous selections.

How to Perform Report Consolidation in QuickBooks Online?

It is possible to consolidate reports in QuickBooks Online with ease. The consolidation can be done in the following two ways:

Manual Consolidation

To perform manual consolidation, follow the steps shared below:

• Export Data
  For every company, export the financial reports. In case the entities function across multiple regions, change the currencies.
• Import to Spreadsheet
  Ensure to transfer all the exported data into a master sheet. For consolidation purposes, match accounts and arrange figures.
• Check and Confirm
  Verify the totals, confirm transactions, and rectify issues. Prior to confirming the reports, check for uniformity across entities.

Note: Manual consolidation may also need the following:

• Currency conversions
• Changes in ownership stakes
• Removal of internal transactions
• Modifying journal entries

Multi-Entity Consolidation with QuickBooks Online

Manual consolidation in QuickBooks Online takes a lot of time and is prone to issues, usually for multi-entity companies. Report consolidation in QuickBooks Online needs a manual approach. This is because multi-company reporting is not present in QuickBooks Online.

Here are the steps for multi-entry consolidation in QuickBooks Online:

• Ensure consistency in the Chart of Accounts
  Ensure that codes, account names, and groups remain the same for all entities. Prepare a template to ensure consistency and streamline the consolidation process.
• Manually Include Entities
  Export reports from every company and prepare them for the merger. This is due to the reason that QuickBooks Online does not connect multiple organizations directly.
• Adjust Reporting Preferences
  Establish reporting timelines, currency conversions, and consolidation terms. Match data by entity and account before the merger.
• Create Consolidated Reports
  Export Cash Flow data, Balance Sheet, and Income Statement to a specific spreadsheet. Such a spreadsheet can be Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. Then manually merge the totals.
• Conduct Manual Changes
  Manage internal removal of transactions, rectifications, and journal entries to confirm precise consolidation of financials.

Best Practices for Successful Report Consolidations in QuickBooks

Here is the list of the best practices for QuickBooks report consolidation:

• For audit reasons, keep a track of account mapping.
• Before annual reports, start a trial consolidation of a limited period.
• Before implementation, align the chart of accounts across all entities.

Conclusion

A consolidated QuickBooks report for reporting and budgeting is crucial for successful financial management. QuickBooks Enterprise and third-party software integrations offer tools to include financial information across several entities. This helps businesses to get a consolidated overview of the performance, enhancing decision-making and boosting overall financial stability.

This guide shows how to consolidate reports in QuickBooks Online and Enterprise. In case there are still any queries or doubts, feel free to reach out to our team of QuickBooks experts.

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