I have QB Online Essentials. I want to charge an employees wages to more than one expense account (2 different departments). Is there any way to do that?

I'm happy to assist you in allocating and distributing the employee's wages across multiple expense accounts.

Yes, we can charge the wages to two different expense accounts. We will have to create a new payroll item and assign it to another expense account. You can follow these steps:

Create a Payroll item:

1. Go to Payroll, then select Employees.
2. Click Edit Payroll items.
3. On the right corner, select the New payroll item dropdown.
4. Choose if it's Pay type.
5. Fill up the necessary information.
6. Hit Done.

Creating another expense account:

1. Go to the Gear icon in the right-top corner.
2. Click Charts of Accounts under Your Company.
3. Find the payroll item you created, and click Edit next to the View register dropdown arrow.
4. On the Parent Account, choose which expense account it would be under.
5. Hit Save.

To change the payroll preferences, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Gear icon and then Payroll Settings.
2. Select Edit and then next to Accounting.
3. Click Edit then to update specific sections.
4. Enter the name or scroll down to choose which account the transaction will go to.
5. Hit Save and then Done.

Moreover, let me share this article to learn more about changing your payroll bank: Change your payroll bank account.

If you still have concerns about your payroll wages, I'll be here to assist you. Have a great day.