How To Run an Accounts Payable Aging Report in QuickBooks Online
Tim is a Certified QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) Pro, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and CPA with 25 years of experience. He brings his expertise to Fit Small Business’s accounting content.
Mark has researched and reviewed accounting software at Fit Small Business since 2019 and has developed an extensive knowledge of accounting software features and how unique business needs determine the best accounting software.
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
This short tutorial presents the steps on how to run an accounts payable (A/P) aging report in QuickBooks Online. An A/P aging report displays a list of your bills, separating them by the number of days they’re overdue. This helps you prioritize the payment, especially when cash flow is tight. By taking this lesson, you’ll learn how to generate an A/P report using default settings and how to customize it so that it shows only the elements you want.
Our free QuickBooks online course library, which includes this guide, aims to help you get the full benefits of QuickBooks Online, our top-rated business accounting software. If you have purchased QuickBooks, log in to your account and follow this tutorial. Otherwise, contact Intuit to either request a 30-day free trial or get a 50% discount for three months.
Step 1: Locate Accounts Payable Aging Summary
Click Reports from the left menu bar and scroll down to the What you owe section. Next, select Accounts payable aging summary from the list of reports shown.
Select Accounts payable aging summary under the “What you owe” section
Step 2: Set Up a Basic A/P Aging Report
From the Accounts payable aging summary screen, scroll up to locate the menu bar, which contains basic setup options.
Set up basic options for the AP report
To create your A/P report using default settings, you must complete the following fields:
A. Report period: The A/P report will list your bills outstanding as of the report date that you enter here.
B. Show non-zero or active only: This setting lets you include all rows or columns or add or hide those with no data or those with nonzero totals.
C. Aging method: The number of days a bill is overdue can be calculated based on either the report date chosen in item A or the date the report is created.
D. Days per aging period: A/P aging reports are commonly based on intervals of 30 days per column, but you can adjust it to a different number of days.
E. Number of periods: Set the number of periods, or columns, that you would like to display in your A/P aging report.
F. Run report: Choose this option to reflect your changes.
G. Customize: You can make further customizations to your report by clicking this as further explained in our next section, Step 3.
H. Save Customization: You can create and name a new report with the same options you have chosen.
Step 3: Customize Your A/P Aging Report
Hit the Customize button (item G in our prior section) to customize your A/P report further.
General
The first section allows you to apply general settings like the number format and the reporting period you wish to run. It also includes unique options for adding values in thousands of dollars, excluding zero amounts from the report, and choosing a preference for displaying negative numbers.
General A/P report options in QuickBooks Online
Rows/Columns
The rows/columns option has the same settings found in item B of our previous section.
Rows/columns settings for your A/P report in QuickBooks Online
Aging
In addition to choosing the aging method you did in item C in Step 2, you can also indicate the number of periods and days covered for every aging period.
Applying aging settings to your A/P report in QuickBooks Online
Filter
The filters allow you to filter the aging report based on vendor and location.
Applying a filter to your A/P report in QuickBooks Online
If you don’t have the option to filter your QuickBooks accounts payable aging report by location, you need to turn on location tracking as illustrated in Step 4 of our advanced settings guide.
Header/Footer
Choose what information to display in the header and footer of your A/P aging report.
Header and footer options for the A/P aging report
You can opt to add your logo to the top of your A/P aging report if you uploaded one while setting up your company.
Once you are done customizing your report, click the green Run report button.
Step 4: Print, Email, or Export Your A/P Report (If Necessary)
You can print, email, or export your report by clicking on the icons in the top right corner of the report.
Email, print, or export your A/P report
Choose the envelope icon to email a copy and the printer icon to print a copy. You can also click the drop-down arrow next to the export icon to select between exporting your report as a PDF or an Excel file.
Here is a sample QuickBooks A/P aging report.
Why Is the Accounts Payable Aging Report Important
The A/P report provides a list of your bills separated by the number of days the bills are overdue. This is an extremely useful report as it ensures that you don’t inadvertently miss a vendor payment and that you prioritize which bills get paid first when you are low on cash.
Wrap Up
By learning how to run an accounts payable report in QuickBooks Online, you’ve completed the final lesson in our free QuickBooks Online tutorials! We hope you’ve found this information helpful and encourage you to revisit our guides as questions arise while using QuickBooks Online.
