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Reports: profit & loss, balance sheet, and the accountant's set

One Report dropdown, grouped the way QuickBooks groups its Reports menu, with period chips, cash or accrual basis, and a print-ready layout.

1. Open ReportsIn Books & Payroll, click Reports in the left rail and pick from the Report dropdown. Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet are under Company & Financial; A/R Aging under Customers & Receivables; A/P Aging and 1099 Summary under Vendors & Payables; Payroll Summary under Employees & Payroll; General Ledger, Trial Balance, Audit Trail, and (on a farm) Schedule F under Accountant & Taxes.
2. Set the periodChips for This month, Last month, This quarter, This year, and Last year, or type From and To dates. The Balance Sheet asks for an "As of" date instead.
3. Cash or accrualThe Basis chips switch between Cash (money counts when it actually moves) and Accrual (a sale counts when you invoice it, a cost when you owe it). The default basis is set under Preferences on the Chart of Accounts.
4. CompareOn the Profit & Loss, "% of income" adds each line as a share of total income, and "Prev year" adds the same window one year earlier beside it. They add context; they never change a figure.
5. Read the Profit & LossIt is laid out in QuickBooks' bands: income, cost of goods sold, Gross Profit, expenses, Net Ordinary Income, then Other income and expense. The chart beside it drills from money in versus money out down to categories and payees.
6. Print or save as PDF"Print / Save PDF" opens the print dialog with a clean header: your business name, the report, the period, and the date it was generated. Choose Save as PDF to email it to your accountant.
7. The accountant's setGeneral Ledger shows every posting in an account with a running balance. Trial Balance lists every account with its debits and credits, says plainly if it is out of balance, and "Export CSV" at the top saves it as a spreadsheet. Audit Trail shows who changed what, and when.
8. Payroll and 1099sPayroll Summary shows each employee's hours, gross, taxes, and net for the period, then each payroll run with a link to its register. 1099 Summary shows what each 1099 vendor was paid this year.