How to Set Up Customer Statements in QuickBooks Online

This lesson covers how to set up customer statements in QuickBooks Online. We’ll show you how to control the level of detail provided and add an aging table to the bottom of your statement.

We hope you enjoy this tutorial for QuickBooks Online, our best overall pick for small business accounting software. We recommend following along in your own QuickBooks account. If you don’t already subscribe to QuickBooks, you have the choice of a 30-day free trial or 50% off for three months.

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This lesson is one in our series of Free QuickBooks Tutorials. You can either watch the video below, read through the step-by-step instructions, or do both. The video was made with a slightly older version of QuickBooks Online. While the process of formatting statements is essentially unchanged, the layout of the screens are slightly different. The step-by-step instructions are from the most current version of QuickBooks Online.

The Importance of Setting Up QuickBooks Customer Statements

Statements provide a summary of goods and services sold to the customer during the statement period, grouped by invoice. If a customer pays their invoices promptly, there is probably no need to send a statement. However, for customers that are slow to pay, statements are a great way to remind your customers of their outstanding invoices.

How to Set Up QuickBooks Customer Statements

Your company account and settings includes options for your customer statements. Click on the cog wheel in the upper right corner of QuickBooks Online and select Account and settings in the first column:

Then, click on Sales in the left menu and scroll down to click on Statements. This reveals the three options available for QuickBooks customer statements, which allow you to adjust the level of detail provided in the statement.

1. List each transaction as a single line: If you select this option, the statement will only show a summary of the invoice, including the invoice date, number, and amount. Here is an example of a statement from our fictitious company, Paul’s Plumbing, with a summary of the invoices:

2. List each transaction, including all detail lines: This option will provide a complete recap of the transaction. Each line item on an invoice will be summarized and shown separately. This is how a QuickBooks customer statement appears when all detail lines are included:

The decision to summarize invoices (option 1) or provide detail (option 2) is a personal preference. However, I recommend summarizing the invoices if the customer has already received a detailed invoice.

3. Show aging table at the bottom of the statement: By selecting this option, a summarized accounts receivable aging report will print at the bottom of the statement showing any amounts that are past due. I recommend showing this table to alert customers of any overdue amounts. The aging table for our sample invoice looks like this:

Click the green Save button once you have selected your statement options.

Wrap Up

You now know how to set your statement options in QuickBooks Online. The next lesson in our QuickBooks Online Training Course is How to Set Up Expenses in QuickBooks Online. That lesson will cover your available options for tracking and billing expenses to customers and the level of expense detail to provide on expense and purchase forms.