A great question we were recently asked by our clients:


Q - In QBO, when we generate a Balance Sheet report, it asks us to select a period with a starting and end date.  Why? When a Balance Sheet is rendered at a Point in Time and is supposed to represent from the start of the business.

A - The starting date of the report is only to determine what transactions appear in the report if you were to drill down on a particular number on the balance sheet.  So for example, if you ran a balance sheet from June - September, and drilled down to see the transactions in your Prepaid Expenses, you would by default see all the transactions in that account that occurred between June and September. 
The Balance Sheet is absolutely cumulative to the end date of the report.

Hope that helps if your client asks the same question!


Updated: June2018