QB Never Do #4

Never post a transaction to a "Parent" account, when "sub" accounts are available. If you do, it creates an extra line on reports that looks something like this:

Auto Expenses - Other

Let's say that you have a "Parent" account called Auto Expenses. Under it, you may have "sub" accounts. The sub accounts might have names like this:

Gasoline
Repair/Maintenance
Registration
Insurance

In this example, you would always use the sub accounts, and would never use the Parent account of Auto Expenses.

You can always tell which accounts are sub accounts, because they are located under the Parent account, and are always indented.

This same rule hold true for any name on any list: Chart of Accounts, Customer List, Vendor List, Item List, Other Names List, etc. Any time you have a Parent/sub relationship between list names, always use the sub.

When you run reports and see the "- Other" after a list name as shown above, you know that a sub account was not used. Double click on the amount until you trace it back to the original transaction. Reclassify it to a correct sub account.

If you are working in a closed period, talk to your accountant before making changes of any kind to your QB file, even simple reclassification changes described here.