How to Create Financial Reports in FreshBooks
| Quick Summary FreshBooks includes a full suite of financial reports — profit and loss, expense summaries, tax summaries, accounts aging, and more — that business owners can generate in minutes without an accounting background. This guide covers which reports FreshBooks offers, how to generate and customize each one, how to share reports with your accountant, and how to use reporting data to make better business decisions. |
Why Do Financial Reports Matter and How Does FreshBooks Make Them Accessible?
Financial reports answer the questions that every business owner needs to ask: Is the business profitable? Where does the money go? What does the tax authority expect at year-end? Without clear, accurate answers to these questions, business decisions rely on guesswork. FreshBooks solves this by generating professional-grade financial reports automatically from the data already in your account — invoices, expenses, payments, and bank transactions — with no manual number-crunching required.
According to a 2025 McKinsey report on small business financial management, companies that review financial reports at least monthly are 31% more likely to identify cash flow problems before they become critical. FreshBooks makes this level of financial visibility achievable for any business owner, regardless of accounting experience.
Moreover, FreshBooks reporting integrates directly with your invoicing, expense tracking, and bank data, which means every report reflects real-time numbers rather than manually entered figures. This live connection eliminates the lag and errors that come with spreadsheet-based reporting. You can explore which FreshBooks plan includes the reporting features your business needs at this Link and choose the tier that aligns with your reporting requirements.
What Financial Reports Does FreshBooks Offer and Where Do You Find Them?
How Do You Navigate to the Reports Section in FreshBooks?
To access financial reports, log in to FreshBooks and click Reports in the left-hand navigation panel. FreshBooks organizes its reports into three categories: Accounting Reports, Tax Reports, and Other Reports. Each category groups related reports together so you can quickly find the specific output you need without scrolling through an unorganized list.
The Reports dashboard also displays the date range of your most recently generated reports, making it easy to spot whether your data reflects the current period or a previous one. Additionally, FreshBooks remembers your last-used date range settings, which saves time when you return to generate the same report for a new period.
What Is the Full List of Reports Available in FreshBooks?
FreshBooks covers all the core financial reports that small businesses and their accountants need for day-to-day management and year-end tax preparation. The availability of specific reports varies slightly by plan, with more advanced reports reserved for Plus and higher tiers.
| Report Name | Category | Plan Availability | Primary Use |
| Profit & Loss | Accounting | All paid plans | Measure revenue vs. expenses |
| Balance Sheet | Accounting | Plus, Premium, Select | Snapshot of assets and liabilities |
| Accounts Aging | Accounting | All paid plans | Track overdue client invoices |
| Expense Report | Accounting | All paid plans | Review and categorize spending |
| Revenue by Client | Accounting | All paid plans | Identify top revenue sources |
| Sales Tax Summary | Tax | All paid plans | Prepare VAT/GST/sales tax filings |
| Invoice Details | Other | All paid plans | Full invoice history and status |
| Time Entry Details | Other | All paid plans | Billable hours by client or project |
| Payments Collected | Other | All paid plans | Summary of received payments |
How Do You Generate and Customize a Profit and Loss Report in FreshBooks?
What Does the FreshBooks Profit and Loss Report Show?
The Profit and Loss (P&L) report is the most important financial statement for any business. It shows your total revenue, total expenses, and net profit or loss over a specific period. FreshBooks generates this report automatically from your invoiced income and categorized expenses, giving you an accurate picture of business performance without manual data entry.
In FreshBooks, the P&L report breaks down income by client or service type and groups expenses by category — such as office supplies, travel, software, and contractor payments. This level of detail helps you identify which revenue streams contribute most to profitability and which expense categories consume the largest share of your income.
How Do You Customize the Date Range and Filters on a P&L Report?
To generate a P&L report, navigate to Reports > Profit & Loss. FreshBooks defaults to the current calendar year, but you can adjust the date range to any custom period — last quarter, last month, or a specific fiscal year — using the date picker at the top of the report.
Furthermore, FreshBooks lets you filter the P&L by client, project, or expense category, which is particularly useful if you want to assess the profitability of a specific engagement or service line. After applying your filters, click Run Report to regenerate the output with the updated parameters.
| Pro Tip Run your Profit and Loss report on a cash basis rather than an accrual basis if you want to see only income you have actually received and expenses you have actually paid. Switch between cash and accrual accounting methods using the toggle at the top of the P&L report in FreshBooks — this choice significantly affects the numbers you see. |
How Do You Use the Accounts Aging Report to Manage Outstanding Invoices?
What Does the Accounts Aging Report Tell You in FreshBooks?
The Accounts Aging report shows you every outstanding invoice grouped by how long it has been overdue: current (not yet due), 1–30 days overdue, 31–60 days overdue, 61–90 days overdue, and 90+ days overdue. This structure gives you an immediate, prioritized view of which clients owe money and how urgently each balance needs attention.
According to a Forrester Research study on SME cash flow management, businesses that actively monitor accounts aging reduce their average days sales outstanding (DSO) by up to 18%. FreshBooks generates this report in seconds, turning what could be a time-consuming manual process into a routine check that takes less than a minute.
How Do You Take Action Directly from the Accounts Aging Report?
FreshBooks makes the Accounts Aging report actionable, not just informational. From the report, you can click any outstanding invoice to open it directly and send a payment reminder with one click. Additionally, FreshBooks links directly to the client profile from the report, so you can review the full billing history of a client before deciding how to follow up.
For clients with multiple overdue invoices, consider using FreshBooks’ automated payment reminder settings — configured in Settings > Invoice Settings — to send scheduled reminders before and after the due date. Pairing the Accounts Aging report with automated reminders creates a complete accounts receivable management system that operates with minimal manual effort.
How Do You Generate Tax Reports in FreshBooks for Year-End Filing?
How Does the Sales Tax Summary Report Work in FreshBooks?
The Sales Tax Summary report consolidates all tax you collected on invoices and all tax you paid on expenses during a selected period. FreshBooks organizes the data by tax rate — for example, separating a 20% VAT rate from a 5% reduced rate — so you can quickly calculate the net tax amount you owe or can reclaim from your tax authority.
To generate this report, go to Reports > Sales Tax Summary and select your reporting period. FreshBooks supports multiple tax rates simultaneously, which is particularly valuable for businesses that operate across different jurisdictions or apply different rates to different service types.
What Other Tax-Related Data Can You Extract from FreshBooks Reports?
Beyond the Sales Tax Summary, FreshBooks provides several other data points that support tax preparation:
- Expense Report — lists all deductible business expenses by category for your accountant or tax advisor
- Profit & Loss — provides the net income figure your accountant needs for income tax calculations
- Invoice Details — gives a complete transaction record if your tax authority requires documentation
- Payments Collected — confirms actual cash received during the tax year for cash-basis filers
Sharing these reports directly with your accountant through FreshBooks’ accountant access feature eliminates the need to export and email files. Your accountant logs into their own FreshBooks view and pulls the reports they need independently, which saves time on both sides.
How Do You Export and Share Financial Reports from FreshBooks?
How Do You Export a FreshBooks Report to PDF or Excel?
Every report in FreshBooks includes export options at the top of the report page. Click the Export button and choose between PDF format for sharing and printing, or Excel/CSV format for further analysis in a spreadsheet tool. FreshBooks generates the export file immediately and downloads it to your device.
PDF exports preserve the FreshBooks report formatting and include your business name, report title, and date range in the header, making them suitable for sharing with investors, lenders, or tax authorities. Excel exports deliver the raw data in a structured format that your accountant can manipulate or import into their own accounting software.
| Export Format | Best For | Includes Formatting? | Editable After Export? |
| Sharing with lenders, advisors, tax authorities | Yes — fully formatted | No | |
| Excel / CSV | Accountant analysis, custom calculations | Basic only | Yes — fully editable |
| Physical records, in-person meetings | Yes — print-ready layout | No |
How Do You Share Reports Directly with Your Accountant Through FreshBooks?
Rather than exporting and emailing report files, FreshBooks offers a cleaner alternative: grant your accountant direct login access to your account through the Invite Your Accountant feature under Accounting. Once your accountant accepts the invitation, they can log in and generate any report themselves, selecting their own date ranges and filters as needed.
This approach eliminates version control issues that arise when you email static report files. Your accountant always works with live data rather than a snapshot from a previous export. Moreover, accountant access in FreshBooks is free on all plans, so sharing financial data with your advisor carries no additional cost.
What Are the Key Takeaways for Creating Financial Reports in FreshBooks?
FreshBooks puts professional financial reporting within reach of every business owner, regardless of accounting background. The platform automatically generates your Profit and Loss, Accounts Aging, Sales Tax Summary, and a full range of supporting reports from the data already in your account — invoices, expenses, payments, and bank transactions — with no manual data entry required.
The key to getting the most from FreshBooks reporting is consistency: run your P&L monthly, review your Accounts Aging weekly, and generate your Sales Tax Summary each reporting period. Additionally, granting your accountant direct access to FreshBooks eliminates the inefficiency of exporting and emailing report files, and ensures that your advisor always works with current, accurate data.
FreshBooks continues to stand out as one of the most accessible accounting platforms for small businesses precisely because it makes complex financial visibility simple and actionable. To explore which FreshBooks plan includes the reporting features your business requires, visit FreshBooks and compare the available options in full detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
FreshBooks supports both cash-basis and accrual-basis accounting, and you can switch between the two methods directly within the Profit and Loss report using the toggle at the top of the report page. Cash-basis reporting shows income when payment is received and expenses when they are paid, which suits most freelancers and small service businesses. Accrual-basis reporting records income when invoiced and expenses when incurred, which provides a more accurate long-term picture of business performance. Your accountant can advise which method best fits your business size, structure, and local tax requirements.
Yes. Several FreshBooks reports include client and project filters that let you narrow the output to a specific engagement. The Revenue by Client report shows total income per client over any date range you select. The Expense Report lets you filter by client or project to see costs associated with a specific account. The Time Entry Details report filters by client or team member, showing billable hours and their value for any period. These filters make FreshBooks reporting useful not just for overall business health but also for individual project profitability analysis and client billing reviews.
