Enter historical information in QuickBooks Online

You should enter past sales and Accounts Receivable (A/R)  transactions, as well as past vendor transactions, first before entering any past check or bank transactions. QuickBooks Online updates your bank balance as you enter payments received from customers and payments to vendors.

Ways to enter past sales and A/R transactions

There are two ways to enter past sales and A/R transactions. Both methods ensure accurate reporting.

Chronologically: Enter transactions (charges, invoices, credits, payments) in the same order they were created or received. This method creates a record of all the invoices you sent.

In Batches: If you don't have time to record your charges in order, you can record them in batches:

1. Enter all charges and credits that customers already know about, followed by payments received.
2. Print a single invoice for each customer to clear their invoice record of the past activity.
3. Enter remaining charges and credits you haven't informed customers of and then start sending real invoices. This method doesn't leave a record of invoices you sent.

Record historical vendor transactions

Enter your past vendor transactions in the following order so that you can properly apply the credit and the payment to the bill, just as you do in normal recording:

Bills

1. Select + New.
2. Select Bill.
3. Enter each bill received between your start date and today. Be sure to assign amounts to the correct expense accounts.

Credits from Vendors

1. Select + New.
2. Select Vendor Credit.
3. Enter credits received between your start date and today.

Payments

1. Select + New.
2. Select Check or Pay Bills.
3. Record each bill payment made between your start date and today. Be sure to update the Payment date and check number fields.

Record historical bank transactions

• If you're entering historical transactions for more than a one-month timeframe, enter the transactions one month at a time and then reconcile all bank accounts before going to the next month.
• If you're using online banking to download some of these transactions, we can't provide more than 90 days of downloads. Anything before the 90 day period will need to be manually entered.

Now you know how to enter historical information into QuickBooks Online.