The quick answer
The two reports usually cut off transactions differently. When the Report by Period preference is Financials Only, the usual setting, the Balance Sheet picks up transactions by posting period and the A/P Aging Summary picks them up by transaction date. Go to Home > Set Preferences, open the Analytics subtab and set Report by Period to All Reports. Then run the aging as of the same period as the Balance Sheet. If the totals now agree, look for a transaction dated in one month and posted to another. Run the aging for the next period, click the vendor whose balance comes back, and open the transaction to see its Date and Posting Period.
The example is an August 2026 close. The A/P aging as of 08/31/2026 says $8,487.90 is owed to vendors. The August Balance Sheet says Accounts Payable is $5,727.90. That's $2,760.00 apart, and by the end it's one bill and two tied-out accounts. The screenshots use sample data, and the person and operating-company names are fictional.
Before you start
Your role needs access to the A/P aging reports, the Balance Sheet, and the bills behind them. Subsidiary restrictions and permissions can hide some transactions, so a total you can see may include a bill you can't open. If you haven't run either report before, start with running an A/P aging report and running a Balance Sheet.
Compare like with like. Use the same Subsidiary Context on both reports, and don't compare a consolidated Balance Sheet with a single-subsidiary aging. Use the same accounting book if you use Multi-Book Accounting, and include every A/P account, not just the main one. If your Balance Sheet is a customized copy, check that its filters don't leave anything out. Also note the aging's Aging Based On setting under Aging Options (Due Date or Transaction Date). It decides which bucket each open balance lands in, so record it before you compare.
Report by Period is a personal preference. Changing it only changes the reports you run. It doesn't touch any transaction, account, or anyone else's reports. Note its current value before you change it, in case you want it back afterward.
The example company has two payables accounts, 2000 - Accounts Payable and 2020 - Accounts Payable - Freight, and four vendors with open bills. The example uses the Administrator role. Your vendors, accounts and amounts will be different.
01. Run the aging as of month-end
Go to Reports > Vendors/Payables > A/P Aging. In the footer, check Subsidiary Context and set As of to the last day of the month, 08/31/2026 here. Click Refresh.
The report lists Copperline Freight, Mesa Verde Packaging, Northgate Office Supply and Tidewater Electric. The Total is $8,487.90.
02. Run the Balance Sheet for the same month
Go to Reports > Financial > Balance Sheet. Set As of to Aug 2026, keep the same Subsidiary Context, and click Refresh. Expand Accounts Payable far enough to see each A/P account.
Under Liabilities & Equity > Current Liabilities > Accounts Payable, 2000 - Accounts Payable is $2,487.90 and 2020 - Accounts Payable - Freight is $3,240.00. Total Accounts Payable is $5,727.90, which is $2,760.00 less than the aging.
03. Set Report by Period to All Reports
The Balance Sheet runs by posting period. With Report by Period at Financials Only, the aging runs by transaction date. So a bill dated in August but posted to September is in the aging and not on the August Balance Sheet.
Open the Home menu, click Set Preferences, and open the Analytics subtab. In the Reporting section, Report by Period shows Financials Only. The other choices are All Reports, which runs both kinds of report by period, and Never, which runs both by date. Select All Reports and click Save.
04. Rerun the aging for the period
Go back to Reports > Vendors/Payables > A/P Aging. The footer is different now. Date is replaced by End Of, and As of takes a period instead of a date. Select Aug 2026 and click Refresh.
The Total is $5,727.90, the same as Total Accounts Payable on the Balance Sheet. In this example Tidewater Electric drops off the report, because its only open bill is posted to September.
05. Find the bill behind the difference
Select Sep 2026 in As of and click Refresh. The Total is $8,487.90 again, and Tidewater Electric is back with $2,760.00. Click Tidewater Electric's amount in the Total column. If the amount doesn't open anything for you, View Detail at the top of the report opens the A/P Aging Detail.
The A/P Aging Detail opens for Tidewater Electric. It lists one Bill, TE-0826-7713, dated 08/29/2026, with an Open Balance of $2,760.00. Click TE-0826-7713 to open the bill.
On the bill, Date is 08/29/2026 but Posting Period is Sep 2026. It was entered with an August date and posted to September. A date-based August aging includes it. The August Balance Sheet doesn't.
Lining the reports up by period explains the difference. It doesn't change the bill. Whether a late-dated bill belongs in August is a decision for your close. To stop new ones, an administrator can set Allow Transaction Date Outside Posting Period to Disallow under Setup > Accounting > Accounting Preferences, on the General subtab. That's an account-wide setting, so it also applies to imports and integrations that create transactions. It doesn't change bills that already mismatch, and it doesn't prevent the other causes of a difference.
06. Tie each A/P account
The totals agree now, but with two payables accounts you still want each Balance Sheet line to tie. Group the aging by account.
Go to Reports > Vendors/Payables > A/P Aging and click Customize. The Report Builder opens with the Vendor, Current and Open Balance columns in the Report Preview. The preview rows are placeholders, not your data. Under Add Fields, expand Open Payables, then Account, and click Name (GL-style). An Account: Name (GL-style) column is added at the right. The fields you see depend on your account and role, and a real account usually lists many more, so Search Fields helps.
With the new column selected, click Move Left until it's the first column. A Group box appears next to Move Right, already checked, so the report groups rows by A/P account.
Click Preview. In the Custom A/P Aging Summary footer, select Aug 2026 in As of and click Refresh. The report groups the balances into 2000 - Accounts Payable at $2,487.90 and 2020 - Accounts Payable - Freight at $3,240.00, the same as the two Balance Sheet lines. Check each group's total against the detail before you rely on it. Preview doesn't save the report. Return To Customization takes you back to the builder, where Save keeps it for next month. The example doesn't save it.
Check the result (example values)
- The A/P aging as of Aug 2026 totals $5,727.90, the same as Total Accounts Payable on the Aug 2026 Balance Sheet.
- The $2,760.00 difference is bill TE-0826-7713, Date 08/29/2026, Posting Period Sep 2026.
- Grouped by account, 2000 - Accounts Payable is $2,487.90 and 2020 - Accounts Payable - Freight is $3,240.00, matching each Balance Sheet line.
If the totals still don't agree after you switch to periods, look at what the aging and the ledger count differently. A/P postings without a vendor, usually journal entries, show up in a - No Vendor - group. Other things to check are A/P accounts left out of the comparison, payments or credits dated after the cutoff, foreign-currency revaluation, and a different subsidiary or book context. The A/R Aging follows the same Report by Period preference, so the same date-versus-period check works for receivables, with customers in place of vendors.
Common questions
Does changing Report by Period change my transactions or other users' reports?
No. It changes how your reports pick transactions, by date or by posting period. It doesn't edit, redate or repost anything, and other users keep their own setting. If you're comparing reports with a colleague, make sure you both use the same value.
How do I stop transactions dated outside their posting period?
An administrator can set Allow Transaction Date Outside Posting Period to Disallow under Setup > Accounting > Accounting Preferences, on the General subtab. New transactions then can't have a date outside their posting period. Existing ones stay as they are, so the reports can still differ for past periods.
What else can stop the A/P aging from tying to the Balance Sheet?
Start with scope. Both reports need the same subsidiary, accounting book, cutoff and set of A/P accounts. After that, look at journal entries posted to A/P without a vendor, unapplied payments or credits, voided transactions, paid bills that were edited later, and bills posted to an A/P account you left out.
Should I leave Report by Period on All Reports?
That's up to you. All Reports keeps the aging and the financial statements on the same posting-period cutoff, which is what you want at month-end. If you normally read the aging by calendar date, switch back after the reconciliation.
Does the same apply to A/R aging?
Yes. The A/R Aging follows the same Report by Period preference, so an invoice dated in one month and posted to the next causes the same kind of difference. Compare it with the accounts receivable lines on the Balance Sheet using the same period and subsidiary.
How do I reconcile each A/P account separately?
Customize the A/P aging, add Open Payables > Account > Name (GL-style), and move it to the first column so the report groups by account. Each group total should match its line under Accounts Payable on the Balance Sheet. The fields available in the Report Builder depend on your account and role.