Changing Expense Entries from 2006 to 2005

Use a suspense account (set one up as an Other Expense if you don't have already have one).

Make a journal entry on the date of check payment to debit the suspense account for the total of the 2005 expenses and credit the appropriate expense accounts.

Create a second journal entry dated in 2005 to debit the expense accounts and credit suspense. It'll be a wash. Type a detailed note into each JE that explains why you did this.

You can't since it is included in a 2006 check.

What is normally done under these circumstances is to accrue the expenses in

One entry will do - do the 2005 entry on 12/31/05, then check the box that says "reversing entry". It'll enter automatically in 2006.

Best,

Peter

Yoy say you are a small business - sole proprietor? If so, and you are just starting to use QB, then on the Jan '06 check, the part that pertained to '05, just code to "Owner's Draw". It won't be expensed into '06. HTH N Owen

Accountants love to clutter the books with offsetting journal entries. This came from the days when "books" were kept in ink on paper and could not be changed.

Why not just change the date on the original transaction?

All evidence to the contray. It appears that the OPs accountant never gave him any adjusting entries to post for the 2005 tax year. I would say this is the opposite of clutter.

There are many occasions where the accountant does not have access to the files and simply sending the client journal entires is an acceptible method of correcting the books.

Are you aware that many non-ink and paper accounting systems in use today do not permit going back and changing posted transations?

Well, in this case the original transaction is a check, written in January. Change it and you alter your reconciliations.

But, there is much to be said for NOT altering transactions. Sometimes sales tax accounts are affected. Sometimes annual income/expenses will be skewed. Sometimes, you just wanna keep an accurate account of when you were paid or paid someone else (difficult as it may be to believe).

Today I spent a couple hours with my accountant going over reports for last year. She made sure I had any necessary G/L entries recorded. I wonder why the OP's CPA couldn't give them the necessary formats?

Because the CPA has no idea what a format is. Neither do I.

Yes, I am aware. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles do not permit changing a transaction. So doing screws up the audit trail, causes CPAs to twitch, and causes your cat to develop warts.

Generally accepted accounting principles or US GAAP are the accounting rules used to prepare financial statements for publicly traded companies and many private companies in the United States. Generally accepted accounting principles for local and state governments operates under a different set of assumptions, principles, and constraints, as determined by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

The ability or inability to change transactions has absolutely nothing to do with GAAP.

I need a report that shows total payments to a group of vendors in a year. (The filter's easy - Name Zip.) Can I get a total in QBPro, or do I have to export to Excel?

Format - " As a noun, the format is the structure, or layout, of an item.

-Screen formats are the layout of fields on the screen.

-Report formats are the columns, headers and footers on a page.

-Record formats are the fields within a record."

The OP queried "our CPA....said I need to change the 2005 expenses to post in 2005 ...... using a General Journal Entry. How do I do that?"

I wondered that the OP's CPA did not specify the accounts/debits/credits and amounts needed to make the J/E, rather than leave his client to try and figure it out on their own.

Then you agree in the context of this thread the term format should not be used.

As far as the accountant not giving the client the J/E's that depends on the nauture of the engagement and the fee the client is willing to pay. I'm sure there is a logical answer. I am not that quick to find fault with the accountant without all the details.