{"id":1080,"date":"2020-07-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qa.simplifimoney.com\/blog\/quicken-reports-best-of-2020\/"},"modified":"2024-11-18T10:21:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:21:45","slug":"quicken-reports-best-of-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/quicken-reports-best-of-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"How to get the most out of Quicken Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our Most Popular Quicken Reports\u2014And How to Get the Most Out of Them<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Reports can help you better understand your financial picture on your own. Quicken Deluxe offers far more of these than any competitor.”\u2014PC Mag<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you want to understand your financial position, there\u2019s no substitute for robust financial reporting. Quicken reports combine the simplicity of built-in options with the power of total control and customization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 5 reasons to use reports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Understand your cash flow.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Use reports to learn more about how your money flows in and out. How does your monthly income compare to your monthly expenses? How much are you spending on groceries every month as a family? How much have you been adding to your savings every year? Reports give you the information you need to take control of your finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Find more places to save.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Spending reports are perfect for figuring out what you\u2019re spending your money on and where you might be able to save. Scan your spending by category to see what stands out. Are you surprised at how much you\u2019re spending on takeout? Or how those monthly subscriptions are adding up? Reports can help you make the right choices for your lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Make informed choices.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re considering a specific financial move, reports can help with that too. Is it time to trade in your old car for a new one? Use reports to find out how much you spent on car maintenance and gas last year. Should you turn over one of your rental properties? Find out which ones are generating positive income and which ones are lagging behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Prepare for tax season.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When tax time rolls around, Quicken has plenty of built-in tax schedule reports. Send them to your accountant, or use them to prepare your own taxes to make that process a lot easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. See how things are changing.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reports can show you how your financial picture is changing to help you keep your plan on track. Find out whether you\u2019re meeting your goals, see how well your investment portfolio has performed over time, track your net worth, and plan for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to access Quicken reports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For common needs like budget and tax reports, use the Reports<\/strong> drop-down menu to choose from a long list of ready-to-go options\u2014from itemizing your monthly spending to generating specific tax schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Windows<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Windows:<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mac<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mac:<\/strong>
\n
\n(On Mac you can also click on <\/em>Reports<\/em><\/strong> tab to see all the predefined and saved reports.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need something more unique, start with any basic report and modify it to show you exactly what you need to know. Then save it so you can refer back to it whenever you want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ability to modify any report however you want to, literally building exactly what you need, is unique to Quicken and one of our customers\u2019 favorite features. You won\u2019t find that kind of power and flexibility in any other app or on any other website. Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No one else … comes close to providing such a wealth of guidance and tracking tools in either a software or web-based application.”\u2014PC Mag<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 9 most popular built-in financial reports of 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Transaction reports<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Transaction reports are just what they sound like. They display your transactions down to the last detail. Track your inflows & outflows by account, by month, or even by tag, making each report completely unique to your own financial situation. Create tags for each of your kids, for each of your rental properties, or to help you keep track of transactions you want to discuss with your accountant. The choices are endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Category reports<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Want to know how each of your categories is performing against your benchmarks? (Or maybe you just need to find the name of that contractor who did that work for you three years ago.) The itemized category report shows you all your inflows and outflows by category. The more you use categories to track your finances, the more Quicken can do for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Spending by category<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The category summary report displays your overall spending by category so you can see the big picture (and your category totals) without getting into the details of each transaction. See how much you\u2019ve spent on groceries this year, or track how your car expenses have changed over time. Many of our customers call this one \u201ceye-opening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Income & expenses by category<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Are you using Quicken to keep up with a small business or rental properties? If so, you can also use category reports to track how well different business segments or properties are performing. Having that kind of information at your fingertips can be critical to making the right investment decisions over the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Payee reports<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Want to know how much you\u2019re spending on your gardener? Or how much you\u2019ve been ordering from Amazon? Payee reports group your transactions by payee so you can see exactly where your money\u2019s going. Find out how that spending has changed over time, across months or even years, or conduct your own experiments. Shop at one grocery store this month and a different one next month to see which one might save you money!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Cash flows<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For a quick summary of all your inflows and outflows, the cash flow report provides the perfect bird\u2019s-eye view. Click on any total to drill into its individual transactions, so you can easily zoom in and out of the details you want to see, without getting bogged down by things you don\u2019t need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Banking summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your banking summary (or accounts summary to Mac users) provides a convenient layout for all your account totals with a summary of your assets, liabilities, and net worth. It\u2019s a great place to start for a high-level picture of all your accounts and balances in one place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Net worth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Want to see how your assets, liabilities, and total net worth have stacked up over time? Run a net worth report. Be sure to connect all your accounts in Quicken to get an accurate picture of all your account balances, your overall net worth, and how they\u2019re performing over the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Tax Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Need to get ready for tax season? Run a tax summary report\u2014also called a tax schedule report for Mac users. Quicken will kick out the schedules your accountant needs, according to the information you\u2019ve entered. Connect all your accounts and use our built-in tax categories to get the schedules you need automatically!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customizing reports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As great as those built-in reports are, everyone\u2019s finances are unique. When you need to change one of our reports to work a little differently, Quicken makes it easy. Build it, tweak it, and save it just the way you want it, so you can use it again any time you need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The reports feature is excellent for seeing ways to improve spending habits. This will undoubtedly be one of the best purchases of the year for me.”\u2014JCD | Quicken Home & Business<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re just getting started customizing reports, here are a few things to try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Change the date range.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Are you operating on a different fiscal year? Or do you want to see how your net worth has changed since the day you started using Quicken? You can change the date range on any report to see your data across a wide range of options: this month, this quarter, this year to date, last month, last 12 months, and more. Or enter your own custom dates to see any time frame you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Change the included categories.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Start with any built-in report and choose only the categories you want to see. Maybe you want to exclude automatic loan adjustments from an income report. Or exclude certain necessities from a spending report. Here are some more popular ways custom reports can show you exactly what you need to know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n