I just generated an Expense by Category report in Zoho Books, expecting to get the expenses as reported in the Profit & Loss statement. No so! Specific expense categories that I had added in the chart of accounts were not included in the report, and some Cost of Goods Sold categories that should not have appeared were included.
The Profit & Loss statement appears to be correctly reflecting all expenses, and the Expense by Category report is not. it is all over the place!
From what I can tell, the Expense by Category report is using the "type of transaction" or the entry procedure used as a basis for what to include or not include in the report. As a result, if I purchase materials using a credit card that are intended to be categorized along with Cost of Goods Sold, they get re-classified in the Expense by Category Report as an expense.
Has anyone else run into issues like this?
I think it would be useful for explanations (and guidelines) to be provided along with the reports so that users don't misunderstand their purpose and waste time wondering why the reports don't reconcile with each other! Ideally, some of the reports should be re titled to avoid misunderstanding.