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oldroyddeb
February 18, 2026
Question

Cost of Good Sold on Profit Loss Comparison report

  • February 18, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 36 views

When I run a Profit Loss Comparison report it included "Cost of Good Sold" row even though there has never been data there.  I do not want it on this report because it is a blank row.  When I switch to classic view it removes it but that view is ugly.  It only happens on the comparison Profit Loss in modern view. All other Profit Loss reports do not show this row.  As I mentioned earlier, there is no historical data in this catagory.

3 replies

Tori B
Tori BQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
February 18, 2026

Good evening, @oldroyddeb.

 

How are you doing today? I hope all is well. 

 

To keep things nice and neat when you're looking at your reports, you can hide rows and columns with no activity or a total amount of zero. Please know this ability is only available for some reports.

 

To show only active rows and columns:

 

  1. In the report, select General options.
  2. Click on the Number format dropdown, then hit the Don't show zero amounts checkbox.
  3. Choose which rows or columns to show:
    1. Active: Hide empty rows and columns.
    2. All: Show all rows or columns.
    3. Non-zero: Hide rows and columns with a total of zero.
       

Note: The report refreshes when a different option is selected. You can also select Refresh icon. Refresh report.

 

That should do the trick. For more information about this process, check out Show only active rows and columns on reports in QuickBooks Online. 

 

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. Have a good one! 

O
oldroyddebAuthor
February 18, 2026

Thank you for your quick response.  Unfortunately, I had already tried this and it did not work in modern view. 

K
Kurt_MQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
February 18, 2026

Hello! I appreciate the effort you've put into this. The Modern view often displays your full account structure because it recognizes accounts as Active, even with a zero balance. We can manually remove that specific account so it won't show on your report.

Since the Show non-zero only filter isn't working and you prefer not to use the Classic view, you can use the Customized Report Filter to manually exclude that specific account from your Modern view comparison. Here's how:
 

  1. Click the Customize button and in the Data section Filter located at the top of the report.
  2. In the Select how you want to filter your data section, enter how you want the report to pull up data 
  3. In the list that appears, check every account you want to see, but specifically uncheck the Cost of Goods Sold account.
  4. Refresh the report to load changes. The row should now be hidden because it is explicitly excluded from the data set.

For visual reference, see the screenshot below.



Once done, click Save customization at the top. You can name it so that in the future, you can simply pull this saved version from your Custom reports tab instead of manually filtering the account every time.

Need assistance organizing financial reports? Our QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted service provides the tips and guidance to streamline this process.

Please don't hesitate to click the Reply button if you have other questions about QuickBooks. 

P
parkeast007
February 20, 2026

ou are not doing anything wrong. This is a formatting behavior in Modern View.

In the Modern Profit and Loss Comparison report, QuickBooks sometimes displays default section headers like Cost of Goods Sold even when there has never been activity there. It is tied to the report layout, not your historical data.

That explains why:

  • Regular Profit and Loss does not show it

  • Classic view removes it

  • Modern comparison keeps the section header

A few things to check:

  1. Open the Chart of Accounts and confirm you do not have any Cost of Goods Sold accounts (even inactive). Sometimes inactive accounts still trigger the header.

  2. If inventory tracking is enabled (now or in the past), QuickBooks may keep Cost of Goods Sold as part of the report structure.

  3. In the report customization options, look for any setting related to showing only rows with activity or non-zero rows (if available in your version).

In many cases, Modern View comparison reports do not allow you to fully suppress empty major sections. It is cosmetic only and does not impact your totals.

P
parkeast007
February 20, 2026

You are not doing anything wrong. This is a formatting behavior in Modern View.

In the Modern Profit and Loss Comparison report, QuickBooks sometimes displays default section headers like Cost of Goods Sold even when there has never been activity there. It is tied to the report layout, not your historical data.

That explains why:

  • Regular Profit and Loss does not show it

  • Classic view removes it

  • Modern comparison keeps the section header

A few things to check:

  1. Open the Chart of Accounts and confirm you do not have any Cost of Goods Sold accounts (even inactive). Sometimes inactive accounts still trigger the header.

  2. If inventory tracking is enabled (now or in the past), QuickBooks may keep Cost of Goods Sold as part of the report structure.

  3. In the report customization options, look for any setting related to showing only rows with activity or non-zero rows (if available in your version).

In many cases, Modern View comparison reports do not allow you to fully suppress empty major sections. It is cosmetic only and does not impact your totals.

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