Sales by Item Summary and Detail

These reports show you how many items you've sold, and how much money you've made from them, so you can tell which items bring in the most (and least) income.

The Sales by Item Summary report summarizes your item unit and dollar sales, subtotaled by the types of items you sell. Initially, the report shows sales for the current month, but you can change the period of time covered by the report by choosing a different date range from the Dates list. It also shows you what percentage of your total sales each item accounts for.

The Sales by Item Detail report tells you the total sales of each item, listing each transaction that contributed to that total.

Create your own:
In QuickBooks Financial Software: From the Reports menu, choose Sales, and then Sales by Item Summary or Sales by Item Detail.

In QuickBooks Point of Sale: From the Reports menu, choose Sales Summaries, and then Sales Summary by Item for a more in-depth report that gives you more retail-specific information about each of your items, including size, attributes, and margin percent.

Sales by Customer Summary and Detail

These reports tell you the total sales you made by each customer, so you can identify your best customers.

The Sales by Customer Summary report tells you what your total sales amount is per each of your customers. It includes income from parts, services, and other charge items recorded on invoices or sales receipts. It does not include sales tax collected or income from reimbursed expenses.

The Sales by Customer Detail report is like the Sales by Customer Summary report, except that it also lists the individual sales transactions for each customer and job.

Create your own:
In QuickBooks Financial Software: From the Reports menu, choose Sales, and then Sales by Customer Summary or Sales by Customer Detail.

In QuickBooks Point of Sale: From the Reports menu, choose Sales Summaries, and then Sales Summary by Customer for a more robust report that gives you more information about each of your customers, including the quantity of items you've sold to each customer, total profit, and margin percent.

Sales by Rep Summary and Detail

These reports show you the total sales made by each of your sales representatives. They are especially useful if you pay your reps on commission.

The Sales by Rep Summary report summarizes your sales income by sales representative. The report includes income from parts, services, and other charge items recorded on an invoice or sales receipt. It does not include income from sales tax or reimbursed expenses.

Initially, the report shows sales for the current month, but you can change the period of time covered by the report by choosing a different date range from the Dates drop-down list.

The Sales by Rep Detail report tells you which individual sales make up each representative's total. It's a more detailed version of the Sales by Rep Summary report. The report includes income from parts, services, and other charge items recorded on an invoice or sales receipt. It does not include income from sales tax or reimbursed expenses.

This report can be useful if you pay your sales representatives a commission. It sorts each item on each invoice by sales rep. In addition, it lists the original invoice line item amount and the amount paid. If the invoice was partially paid, the sales rep gets credit only for the amount that was paid.

Create your own:
In QuickBooks Financial Software: From the Reports menu, choose Sales, and then Sales by Rep Summary or Sales by Rep Detail.

In QuickBooks Point of Sale: From the Reports menu, choose Sales, and then Sales Associate Performance for a similar report.

Note:  You may want to view this report on a cash basis, even if your organization usually uses the accrual method in the financial software. If you view this report on a cash basis, it won't show what was sold during this time period. Instead, it will show what the customer paid during this time period. Cash flow problems can occur if you pay your sales reps a commission before your customer pays you. To view the information in the way that is most useful for your business, you can change the basis of the report.

For the information in this report to be accurate:

1. Create sales representatives in QuickBooks Financial Software.
   The Sales Rep list is separate from your employee list and doesn't link to your employee information, so you can add in-house reps (employees) and outside sales reps (non-employees) to the list.

2. Assign a sales rep to every invoice in QuickBooks. To do this, enter the name of the sales rep into the Rep field on the invoice.

3. Generate a draft of the report.

4. Before calculating the commission owed to each sales rep, look at the bottom of the report. If you see "No sales rep" listed in place of a sales rep name then some invoices were not assigned a sales rep. Double-click each invoice line to QuickZoom to it, then assign a sales rep to each invoice before calculating commissions. If you don't see "No sales rep" listed, you are ready to calculate your sales commissions.

The amount you owe the sales rep is not calculated on this report, however you can export this report to Excel, enter your sales commission percentage, and let Excel do the calculations.

Sales Summary by Promo Code

This report, only available in the Premier: Retail Edition and QuickBooks Point of Sale, gives you your total sales grouped by promotional code. It helps you identify your most and least successful promotions.

To learn about setting up and using promotional codes, type "promotional codes" into your QuickBooks Help search box, and follow the instructions.

Create your own:
In QuickBooks: Premier Retail Edition: From the Reports menu, choose Retail, and then Sales Summary by Promo Code.

In QuickBooks Point of Sale: From the Reports menu, choose Sales Summaries, and then Sales Summary by Promo Code.

Monthly Sales by Customer

This report, available only in the Premier: Retail Edition, tells you who your best customers are, and what their sales activity has been over the last fiscal year so you can tailor your promotions and customer service levels.

Create your own:
In QuickBooks: Premier Retail Edition: From the Reports menu, choose Retail, and then Monthly Sales by Customer.

Customer Payments by Payment Item

This report tells you what methods your customers are using to pay you. It can help you identify trends and decide what kinds of payment methods to accept. It's only available in Premier: Retail Edition.

Create your own:
In QuickBooks: Premier Retail Edition: From the Reports menu, choose Retail, and then Customer Payments by Payment Item.

Modifying Reports in QuickBooks Financial Software

Once you've found the report you need, you may want to modify the way it looks, or change some of the data it contains.

In general, you can click and drag a column to a different location. You can click the Modify Report button (on the title bar in the upper left corner of the report window), and select how you want to modify.

For specific information about the report that you are currently viewing, go to the How Do I menu (on the title bar in the upper right corner of the report window) and choose "Learn more about this report." You'll find information about the data the report contains, which dates to use, and, if applicable, common ways to customize the report to get the exact data you need.

Memorize a Report
Whenever you change the settings for a report (modify it), you can memorize the report with the new settings and save it in the Memorized Report List. Then, when you want to create a similar report, you go to the Memorized Report List to find it. Here's how.

1. After you have customized a report, click Memorize (on the report button bar above the report

2. If you've changed an existing memorized report, indicate whether you want QuickBooks to replace the earlier report (under the same name) or create a new memorized report (under a new name).

3. In the Memorize Report window, enter a title for the report.

4. If you want to assign the report to a memorized report group, select Save in Memorized Report Group, then choose the group from the drop-down list.

5. You must already have the group set up on your Memorized Report List. You cannot create a new group here.

6. Click OK.

Note: QuickBooks memorizes the report settings, not the data in the report. When you display a memorized report, it applies the settings you memorized, but displays the latest data. For example, if the report date is set for the period Last Month and you memorize the report in September but recall it in December, the recalled report will have data for November, not August.

If you want to save the numbers in a report, you can print it, save it to your hard drive, or export it to Microsoft® Excel.


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