How to Combine Reports From Multiple Company Files in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Before you start

• Make the chart of accounts in each file as alike as you can. Intuit says this makes combined reports easier to read.
• Have Microsoft Excel on the computer you'll use. The combined report opens as an Excel spreadsheet.
• Know where each company file is, and have a login for each. Intuit says you may need to sign in to the files and switch them to multi-user mode.
• Decide the date range and report basis before you start. Intuit's steps set one From and To range and one basis for the combined reports.

Which reports you can combine

• Balance Sheet Standard
• Balance Sheet Summary
• Profit & Loss Standard
• Profit & Loss by Class
• Statement of Cash Flows
• Trial Balance

Intuit lists only these six. Sales, inventory and customer reports aren't among them, so for those you export each file's report to Excel, as shown further down. To use Profit & Loss by Class, see how to set up class tracking.

Step 1: Line up the chart of accounts

QuickBooks merges accounts that have the same name, the same type, and sit at the same level in each report. Names aren't case-sensitive. It keeps accounts on separate lines when:

• They're at different levels, such as an account in one file and a subaccount in another.
• They're spelled differently, such as Phone and Telephone.
• They have different account numbers.
• One has an account number and the other doesn't.

Accounts are listed by type. Within each type, they follow the order in the first company file. Accounts from the other files are added in the order QuickBooks finds them. Before your first run, we suggest comparing the account lists and fixing names, numbers and levels that don't match.

Step 2: Combine the reports

1. 1Open QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and go to Reports > Combine Reports from Multiple Companies.
2. 2Select Add Files, find another company file and select Open. Repeat for each file.
3. 3Under Select reports for combining, check the reports you want.
4. 4Set the From and To dates, then choose a report basis.
5. 5Select Combine Reports in Excel.

Excel opens with the combined figures. We suggest saving the workbook where your team can find it. Intuit lists combined reports as available in both single-user and multi-user mode.

Step 3: Check the combined report

Intuit's steps end when Excel opens. We suggest these checks before you share the workbook:

• Look for the same account on two lines under slightly different names. That points to names, numbers or levels that don't match across files.
• Compare each entity's totals with the same report run inside its own file.
• Intuit's steps don't mention removing amounts your entities owe each other. Any such adjustment would happen in the workbook.

On Pro or Premier: combine in Excel by hand

Intuit points Pro and Premier users to this method. It also works in Enterprise for reports the combine tool doesn't cover, since Intuit says any QuickBooks report can be exported to Excel.

1. 1Open the first company file and run the report.
2. 2Select the Excel dropdown, then Create New Worksheet, then OK. Save the workbook.
3. 3Open the second company file and create the same report. We suggest using the same dates and settings.
4. 4Export it to a new worksheet in the same workbook, and save.
5. 5In Excel, combine the reports on a third worksheet and save the workbook.

To refresh an exported report later, keep that company file open and select Update Report on the QuickBooks tab in Excel. For report setups you rerun every month, see how to create and memorize custom reports.

If your entities bill each other

Intuit's article says that in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 2023, linked company files can send each other intercompany bills and checks. It says this is only in Enterprise Accountant, Diamond and Platinum.

• Set it up under Company > Intercompany Transactions. Create a relationship, choose Due To and Due From accounts, and have the other file approve it.
• Intuit warns that a relationship can't be removed, and recommends a backup first. Undoing it means restoring a backup from before the relationship was created.
• The file that receives a bill or check approves it and picks an expense account. QuickBooks then creates the journal entry.
• For a list of intercompany transactions across related files, go to Company > Intercompany transactions > Transactions > View Reports.

Where QuickBooks Desktop leaves the work to you

• Only six financial reports can be combined. Sales, inventory and customer reports have to be exported and merged by hand.
• Keeping the chart of accounts aligned across files is ongoing work. An account added or renamed in one file gets its own line unless the other files match it.
• The result lives in Excel. Someone has to run it, check it and file it each period.
• Adjustments between your own entities happen in the workbook.
• Each file needs its own login, and files may need to be in multi-user mode.