Revenue gets the attention, but profit is quietly decided by where the money goes. "What are we actually spending on?" is a question every owner should ask monthly — and QuickBooks Online can answer it two useful ways: by category (what the money was for) and by vendor(who you paid). Here's both, plus the fastest route.
Expenses by category — what you're spending on
- Left menu → Reports.
- Open Expenses by Vendor Summary for who you paid, or a Profit and Loss for the category view (each expense category is a row).
- For a pure category ranking, open Profit and Loss, and read the expense section — those rows (Advertising, Rent, Software…) are your categories, already totaled.
Want just the biggest categories? Sort the P&L expense rows, or export and sort in a spreadsheet.
Expenses by vendor — who you're paying
Open Expenses by Vendor Summary(Reports → search "vendor"). Every supplier gets a line with their total. Sorting by amount instantly shows your most expensive relationships — often a surprise, and often where savings hide.
Two filters worth knowing
- Date range— "this quarter" vs "this year" tells very different stories; set it deliberately.
- One category or vendor— Customize → Filter to zoom into just "Software" or just one supplier when a number looks off.
Where the built-in reports slow you down
- Category view and vendor view live in differentreports — answering "which vendor drove our software costs up?" means cross-referencing.
- "Top 5 expenses over $500 since January" is a customize-filter-export chore.
- Exports freeze the moment you download them; next month you start over.
The plain-English shortcut
With AskLedger connected to QuickBooks Online (read-only, official Intuit connection), you just ask: "total expenses by category this year", "who did we pay the most?", or "what did we spend on fuel since January?"Each answer shows a "Showing:" line explaining how it read the question, and any question can be saved and emailed to you every month — so the spending review happens without you lifting a finger.
FAQ
What's the difference between a category and a vendor?
A category is what the money was for (Rent, Software, Fuel); a vendor is who you paid (your landlord, a SaaS company, a fuel station). Most businesses want both views.
Why don't my expense totals match my bank statement?
Timing (cash vs accrual), transfers counted as expenses, or unreconciled transactions. Reconcile the account first, then compare.
Can I get my top expenses emailed monthly?
Yes — save a customized report with an email schedule in QuickBooks, or save the question in AskLedger and turn on its monthly email.