Topics:

  • Deleting Expense Codes
  • Making Expense Codes Inactive in QuickBooks

    We decided that we don't need a lot of the expense categories anymore. Is there a way to delete them? What if they have been used? Is there any way to delete them? Is there a way to change the categories of the ones that we want to delete?

    You can delete them by pulling them up on the Expense Category screen and pressing the red X in the toolbar. You will only be able to delete ones that have not been used.

    We currently do not have a way to delete them if they have been used. They need to stay in the software for historical records. If it was deleted then that expense would not be able to show up on a past report when it was used.
    Yes, you can just pull it up on the Expense Category screen and change the name of it then save. Maybe add a Z to the beginning of each one. That way you can still see what the original name was but when they sort all of the old ones will be at the end and not in your way.

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    We've revised our expense categories and chart of accounts by creating new ones and will no longer use the old ones. It appears there is no way to make expense categories "Inactive" say, as you could a QuickBooks account. What's the best way to approach this, delete the unused categories? Or tie all the old categories to one catch-all QuickBooks account? Or just click through the error report when logging in that says these old categories are no longer tied to valid QuickBooks accounts?

    You won't be able to delete any expense categories that have been used previously. However, you can delete any that have not ever been used, and you no longer wish to use. You can delete the expense category by bringing it to the screen and clicking the red X on the toolbar.

    Any expense categories that you no longer wish to use, but have used in the past and therefore cannot be deleted, may be associated with the Catch-All account in order to clear them from the QB Account Problem report. You may also associate them with the blank "account" at the top of the account list. You'll need to do this for each expense category that fits that scenario. Once finished, you can run the Validate Account Links from the Utilities menu to see if they've been cleared from the list of QuickBooks Account Problems.

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