The Transaction Detail by Account in QuickBooks Online

The Transaction Detail by Account report lists every transaction grouped under the account it posted to, with a line of detail for each one. For each account in your chart of accounts, it shows the individual transactions that ran through the account in the period, with a subtotal per account. It sits close to the General Ledger, with the emphasis on reading the activity account by account.

What the Transaction Detail by Account shows

Under each account heading, the report lists the transactions that touched that account: the date, the transaction type, the number, the name or payee, a memo, the split (the other account on the entry), the amount, and a running balance within the account. It subtotals each account and gives an overall total at the end. You can also customize it to a single account or a handful of them, which turns it into a focused view of exactly where one figure came from.

Cash basis vs accrual basis

The report can change with the accounting method you choose, because the basis affects which transactions land in each account and in which period. On the accrual basis, receivables and payables activity appears; on the cash basis, the report follows the movement of money. When a reviewer needs a specific basis, having both saves a round trip, so a complete archive captures it in cash and accrual. You can switch the method near the top of the report and run it again.

Why a CPA or auditor asks for it

It is the report to reach for when a question is about one account rather than the whole ledger. If a CPA or a buyer questions a single line on the Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet, the Transaction Detail by Account shows every transaction behind that account's balance without making them read the entire General Ledger. That makes it a practical tool for answering a narrow due-diligence or audit question quickly.

How to run and export the Transaction Detail by Account in QuickBooks Online

1. Go to the Reports menu and type "Transaction Detail by Account" into the report search box, then open it.
2. Set the report period. For a complete archive, choose All Dates rather than a single year.
3. Set the accounting method to Cash or Accrual near the top of the report, and run it. To focus on specific accounts, use the report's customize or filter option.
4. Use the export control at the top of the report to export it to Excel or PDF. The file downloads to your computer.
5. Switch the accounting method to the other basis, run the report again, and export that version too.

Our guide to exporting all your data from QuickBooks covers how account-level detail fits with the other records you want before you cancel.

Keeping the Transaction Detail by Account after you cancel

We include this report in your Books Backup archive on request, and you can also export it yourself before you cancel. Either way it is worth having, because a cancelled paid QuickBooks Online company stays read-only for 12 months and is then permanently deleted, a trial only 90 days, and the IRS generally expects business records to be kept for at least three years, and longer in some situations. The account-by-account detail is what lets you answer a question about one specific account years down the line.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the General Ledger?

They cover much of the same ground. The General Ledger is the full, posting-by-posting record of every account with running balances, while the Transaction Detail by Account emphasizes the individual transactions under each account and is easy to narrow to specific accounts. Many reviewers are happy with either, and the standard archive includes the General Ledger by default.

Can I run it for just one account?

Yes. Use the report's customize or filter option to limit it to a single account or a set of them, which is useful when a question is about one figure rather than the whole ledger.

Does the report include my receipts and attachments?

No. It shows the transactions under each account, but the receipts and documents attached to them are stored separately, and QuickBooks' own export separates those files from their transactions. Keeping each attachment tied to its transaction is part of what a complete archive preserves.