Inexperienced novice needs to enter an Adjustment to Reconciliation

[ggoodman]

2-13-19

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I run QuickBooks Accountant 2018 desktop although I am not an accountant. (I purchased QB Accountant in the past solely because it offered the Batch Enter Transactions feature, a component I use only occasionally but, when I need it, is indispensable-- at the time I first began using QB Accountant the feature was not available in the ordinary QB Desktop software. Don't know if that's changed.) I do use the services of an accountant, who relies on me to compile reports like Trial Balance and P&L etc. from my software. What I'm trying to say is that I'm a novice, totally unsophisticated in accounting and in the use of more than the simplest aspects of QuickBooks.

I find myself with the need to enter an Adjustment to Reconciliation, something I have not previously done. Unfortunately I have not reconciled the books of my one-man medical practice for two years. The last time I did so I was aware of a discrepancy in the reconciliation for approximately $50.00. I ran a Reconciliation Discrepancy report and discovered that the discrepancy appeared to take place because of an improperly deleted amount all the way back in 2013. It seems to me now wiser to enter an Adjustment for this small amount and begin reconciling onward from there (that would be early 2017) rather than to try to undo the error from six years ago. When I read the HELP article available at that branch of the Intuit.com web site, it says the following (pasted in directly from that article):

Enter an adjusting entry

1. From the left menu, select Accounting, and choose Reconcile.

2. Reconcile your account.

3. Select Finish now from the drop-down menu.

4. Confirm the Adjustment date.

5. Select Add adjustment and finish.

6. Select Done.

1. I'm sorry, but what is the "left menu?" On my version of QB Accounting, one finds the option to Reconcile by using the Banking pull-down menu. That tab isn't on the "left" by any description. However, there is an "Accountant" (not "Accounting" but "Accountant") pull-down tab, still not really on the "left" but further left than Banking, and "Reconcile" is available there also and takes one to exactly the same window as "Reconcile" from the Banking tab. If the article is advising me to do a reconciliation, I'm happy to do so--WILL I THEN HAVE THE OPTION TO FOLLOW THE REST OF THE INSTRUCTIONS AS THEY ARE PRINTED HERE? OR SHOULD I FIND THIS "LEFT MENU" AND PROCEED ONLY FROM THAT RECONCILIATION COMMAND AND NOT THE ONE I TYPICALLY USE FROM THE BANKING PULL-DOWN MENU? So far to me it looks like it should not matter from which tab one begins the Reconciliation process.

2. Any way you advise me to begin the process, it sounds like I need to go back and UNDO the last reconciliation I performed (after first backing up my company file). It sounds as if the opportunity to enter that Adjustment to Reconciliation only occurs immediately after completing a reconciliation process. Apparently I can't enter an adjustment to that two-year old completed last reconciliation now, correct?   

3. Would you advise me, instead of undoing the last reconciliation, simply to proceed to reconcile the next month's (until now unreconciled) transactions, beginning with an opening balance  that disagrees with my bank statement's opening balance for that month, and THEN, at the end of THAT new reconciliation, enter the Adjustment?

My apologies for what to you must look like extremely uneducated questions. This is not my strong suit.

Thanks so much for your help.

[Angelyn_T]

Hi there, @ggoodman.

Welcome and thank you for posting here in the Community. It's my pleasure to fix your reconciliation discrepancies in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

To show your reconciliation accurately and correctly, you have to undo the periods affected/prior to the cause of the discrepancy, however, you can create a reconciliation adjustment if you agree to just create an adjustment.

Once the discrepancy is identified, you may need to make the necessary corrections. If you need assistance on how to make these corrections, you can consult your accountant. If you have a new transaction to add to the reconciliation period or if you have modified previously reconciled transactions, you may need to do a mini-reconciliation.

You can check these articles for additional reference:

• Fix Reconciliation Discrepancies
• Reconcile previously deleted and re-entered checking or credit card transactions

You can also get in touch with our QuickBooks Support Team for additional assistance. For the support's contact information:

1. Go to: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact.
2. Choose your QuickBooks Product.
3. Select your QuickBooks version.
4. On the Contact Us page, click a topic.
5. Click on the Get Phone Number button to see the support number.

That should help you fix the discrepancies. Please know that I'm always here to help you if you have any other reconciliation concerns, just add a post/comment below. Have a great day ahead!

[qbteachmt]

@Angelyn_T

Please Learn from this input. There is no Need to Undo any reconciliations.

@ggoodman

Use Banking menu. This is either Write Check or Make Deposit, depending on the entry you want to make. The "expense" or "from" account is Equity. You stated this is Historic, so the entry should be dated, for instance, Dec 31 of your Prior year that you are working on right now. If you are working on 2018, date this Dec 31, 2017. That $50 from expense or income in a prior year rolled into Equity, already.

Now you can reconcile just fine.