QuickBooks Online Financial Dashboard

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Use your dashboard to make smarter decisions—not just track your numbers.

Let’s be real: staring at a wall of numbers in QuickBooks Online doesn’t always feel like clarity. Most small business owners open their dashboard, see income and expenses, maybe click around—and close the tab.

But your QuickBooks Online financial dashboard has the potential to become your business’s financial command center. When set up right, it can help you:

• Spot cash flow issues before they snowball
• See which clients or jobs are actually profitable
• Track overdue invoices in real time
• Plan for taxes without surprises

In this guide, we’ll show you how to create a powerful, customized dashboard in QuickBooks Online—one that goes beyond basic balances and gives you real decision-making power.

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What Is a Financial Dashboard?

Think of it like the dashboard in your car. You don’t need every detail about the engine—you just need to know if the tank’s low, the brakes are acting up, or the oil needs attention.

Your QuickBooks Online financial dashboard should work the same way:
It highlights the 3–5 things you need to always know about your business.

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Why Most Dashboards Don’t Work for Small Business Owners

By default, QuickBooks Online shows:
✔ Profit and Loss
✔ Expenses
✔ Bank Accounts
✔ Invoices
✔ Sales

…but this can be misleading or too generic. For example:

• Your “Profit and Loss” might look healthy, but doesn’t reflect overdue invoices.
• Your “Expenses” could spike—but without context, you won’t know why.
• “Bank balances” don’t always match reconciled books.

That’s why customizing your QuickBooks Online financial dashboard is essential to accurate accounting and smarter decisions.

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How to Customize Your Dashboard in QuickBooks Online

Step 1: Choose the Right Reports to Track Regularly

You’ll want to build your QuickBooks Online financial dashboard around reports that help you with:

• Cash flow insights
• Receivables and payables
• Job or client profitability
• Spending patterns
• Tax planning

Here are five must-have reports to start with:

1. Accounts Receivable Aging Summary
   Who owes you, how much, and for how long?
2. Accounts Payable Aging Summary
   What’s due, when, and what’s overdue?
3. Cash Flow Forecast
   A forward-looking view of your expected cash in/out.
4. Profit and Loss by Customer or Project
   Find out which jobs are really worth it.
5. Expenses by Vendor Summary
   Easily spot cost increases and recurring spend.

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Step 2: Memorize (Save) Custom Reports for Easy Access

You can create customized versions of the above reports that focus on the timeframe, customer, or project that matters most to you.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to Reports
2. Choose a report like Profit and Loss by Customer
3. Customize your filters:
   • Set the date range (monthly is best for dashboard use)
   • Add customer, class, or location if needed
4. Click Save customization
5. Name your report: “P&L by Customer – Monthly View”
6. Add it to a group like “Dashboard Reports”

Pro tip: You can also schedule these reports to be emailed to yourself weekly or monthly for a hands-off experience.

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Step 3: Add Visual Widgets with Performance Center (Advanced)

If you’re using QuickBooks Online Advanced, you get access to the Performance Center, which allows you to create true visual dashboards with graphs, trend lines, and key metrics.

1. Go to Business Overview > Performance Center
2. Click + Add chart
3. Choose from options like:
   • Gross Profit Margin
   • Net Income Trend
   • Accounts Receivable Over 30 Days
   • Custom KPI (like cash on hand, or job profit)

You can even combine custom fields and charts for deep insight into project performance, employee cost analysis, or seasonal patterns.

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Step 4: Pin Key Reports to Your Dashboard (Basic Users)

Even if you don’t have Advanced, here’s a workaround:

1. Run your saved/custom reports
2. Bookmark the reports page in your browser
3. Use the “Favorites” section in QuickBooks to keep them on your homepage
4. Or, export them into a Google Sheet and link them to a visual dashboard tool like Google Looker Studio

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Example: How Colorado Contractors May Use This Strategy

Let’s say you’re a Denver-based electrician running jobs across the metro. You’ve been swamped, and while your bank account looks okay, you’re unsure which jobs are profitable.

With help from our QuickBooks consulting services, you can set up a dashboard that includes:

• Profit and Loss by Project
• Accounts Receivable Aging Summary
• Weekly Cash Flow Forecast

Your anticipated results?

• Realizing a recurring client’s job was actually losing money due to materials costs and unpaid invoices
• Switch to milestone billing and improve cash flow by possibly 35%
• Know which jobs to say “yes” to—and which ones to pass on

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Tools You Can Chose to Connect for More Automation

Want to go even deeper? Link QuickBooks Online to tools like:

• Hubdoc or Dext for real-time receipt capture
• Fathom for beautiful KPI dashboards
• Relay or Melio for AP automation

These integrations may help automate the data entry side of things—so your dashboard is always fresh and accurate.

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Mindset Shift: Your Dashboard Is a Decision-Making Tool

Don’t think of your dashboard as a report card. Think of it like a weather app.
It doesn’t just show what happened. It helps you plan ahead.

When you log into QuickBooks, your first glance should answer:

• Can I afford this big purchase?
• Who still owes me?
• Are we trending toward profit—or away from it?

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Final Thoughts: Bookkeeping Should Guide You, Not Just Track You

When your QuickBooks Online financial dashboard is customized with the right data, it becomes your most powerful tool for:

• Accurate accounting
• Smarter decision-making
• Confident business growth

At Perlinger Consulting, we specialize in setting up dashboards and financial systems that don’t just look good—they work.

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Want help customizing your dashboard?

Let’s turn your numbers into insight—and your insight into action.
Call Glenn at 720-290-4389
Visit Perlinger Consulting
Find us on Google

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Helpful Resources

• QuickBooks Online: Performance Center Help
• Fathom App for QuickBooks Online

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Internal Links

• The Future of Bookkeeping is Here
• \QuickBooks Advantage for Small Businesses

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The information provided in this blog post is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as financial, legal, or tax advice. While we strive to keep our content accurate and up to date, features in QuickBooks Online and other apps referenced (such as Fathom, Bill.com, Hubdoc, etc.) may change over time. Always consult with a qualified accounting or tax professional for specific guidance tailored to your business.

Perlinger Consulting, Inc. does not guarantee the accuracy of third-party links or app functionality mentioned in this article. References to specific tools or platforms do not constitute endorsements. For the most current information, please consult official product documentation or support services.