General ledger full of duplicate entries

Hi DebGer,

I'm glad you've caught that. Using the Bank Feeds feature properly is key to ensure accuracy across your books. I'll be happy to point you in the right direction with this.

If you have duplicate transactions added through Online Banking which aren't part of any existing reconciliation, you can simply go to the Categorized tab in the Banking menu and Undo those transactions. This will migrate them back to the For review tab where you could easily exclude by checking off the box next to each transaction, then clicking Batch Actions > Exclude Selected. 

If duplicate transactions were reconciled by accident, you might want to consider unreconciling first before doing the steps shared above. To undo reconciliations in QuickBooks Online, you'd need the help of an accountant user. ProAdvisor accountants have the ability to undo your reconciliation with the click of a button. If you're not already connected to an accountant, you can connect with one in your area here: Find an Accountant.

Here are some handy articles for your reference.

• Avoid undoing a reconciliation
• Undo and remove transactions from reconciliations in QuickBooks Online

I hope this helps! Feel free to stop by any time if you have other questions.

So basically, my accountant could undo the reconciliations for the year... yes it's that long of a period.  This would put the transactions back into the area to be catagorized?  Excluded? or matched? And then I could start over?

Hi DebGer,

I'd be happy to clarify what my colleague went over above so that you can be sure you have the right steps. In this case, if the duplicate transactions were reconciled, have your accountant start by undoing the reconciliations for whatever period or periods you need. Your accountant may also want to verify if any adjusting entries were made to account for the unbalance that would have been caused by duplicate amounts as those entries may need to be deleted.

Once the reconciliations have been undone, that's when you can return to the Transactions or Banking menu to go through the Categorized tab to find the transactions that were added when they should have been matched instead. When you come across one of those, click Undo, which will put it back in the For Review section. To do this with more than one transaction at a time, click the checkboxes for the transactions you need, then click the Undo button that appears at the top of the list.

When they've been put back in the For Review section, you can either match them as needed to exclude them if you'd prefer. To exclude, check off the transaction or transactions, then click the Exclude button at the top of the list. It sounds like you're familiar with these options, but here's an article that goes over each of the tasks you can take in the bank feed: Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online

After the transactions have been dealt with the way you need them to be, you can make sure the books are balancing by going through and re-reconciling those months. For your reference, I've pulled up our article about this process: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online

Your accountant can also help you out with any of these tasks when they're a user on your QuickBooks account. If they've not already been added, visit the My Accountant tab and invite them via email. This will give them the access and the tools, such as the undo reconcile tool, they need to help in your books.

If there's anything else I can go over for you on this subject, let me know. I'm here to help!

So I can unreconcile individual transactions but the fastest, easiest way would be for my accountant to follow these steps that I found in one of the links you sent?

How to undo a reconciliation

Before you start, you may want to download any attachments tied to the reconciliation. When you undo it, you'll also delete these attachments.

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online Accountant.
2. Go to your Clients list.
3. Find your customer and open their QuickBooks Online account.

Now that you’re in their company file:

1. Go to the Accounting menu.
2. Select the Reconcile tab.
3. Select History by account.
4. Select the account you want to reconcile and date range from the drop-down menus.
5. Find the reconciliation on the list.
6. If you haven’t already, select View report to open the Reconciliation Report. Review any discrepancies and changes your client wants to make.
7. When you’re ready, select the arrow in the Action column, and then select Undo.
8. Select Yes and then Undo to confirm.

Important: If you don't see Undo, make sure you're signed in to QuickBooks Online Accountant. You can't undo transactions directly from your client's account.

You and your client are now ready to redo the reconciliation.

You've got it! For QuickBooks Online users with one of the regular plans (EasyStart, Essentials, or Plus), manually changing the reconciliation status of a transaction through the chart of accounts is how you would undo a reconciliation. Those are the steps that you'll see in the Undo and remove transactions from reconciliations in QuickBooks Online article.

Accountant users have the option to undo a reconciliation completely with the click of a button, which is what's outlined in the Undo your client’s reconciliations with QuickBooks Online Accountant article I linked you.

Both methods will work, it's more related to the tools you have at your disposal and the amount of work involved. If you're working with an accountant, I always recommend having them take care of undoing the reconciliation just to be sure that things run smoothly.