Balance sheet

I can share some information about why retained earnings appear on the balance sheet, @MI441.

Retained earnings represent the amount of your company's income and spending for all past years. That being said, QuickBooks Online will automatically add the previous fiscal year's net income to your Balance Sheet as Retained Earnings when the new fiscal year begins.

To see what makes up your Retained Earnings, I suggest running your Profit and Loss report from the previous year.

Let me show you how:

1. Go to Reports.
2. Locate and select the Profit and Loss report.
3. From the Report period drop-down list, choose All Dates.
4. Select Run report.

On the other hand, you can learn more insights about retained earnings from this article: How to view Retained Earnings account details.

Additionally, take a look at this guide to print, email, or export reports: Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

Feel free to reply soon if you need more assistance handling retained earnings. I'll be back to help. Have a nice day!