I hope this helps anyone experiencing issues with uncleared balances. This may also resolve discrepancies between the QuickBooks balance and the bank feed balance for your accounts. I discovered this fix in an unconventional way. Please bear with me as I explain the steps to my discovery.
After reconciling all my accounts, I noticed that the QuickBooks balance was significantly different from the bank balance. This was alarming, so I started searching online for answers. Unfortunately, there was no straightforward solution. I pieced together information from various sources and attempted to resolve the discrepancies, but it was a dead end. Finally, I considered the transactions themselves and how the automatic pairing and suggestions functionality worked.
In my case, there was a transfer between two accounts. QuickBooks Online pairs transactions based on similarities, such as date, amount, and type of transaction downloaded from the bank feeds. Like many users, I confirmed the transfer in one account and then confirmed the same transfer in the other account. This is where the trouble begins. Confirming in both accounts creates WHAT APPEARS TO BE duplicate transactions in each register. What actually happens is that the transaction in your registry will show two line items with the same dollar amount. The one with the “C” is the paired transfer, the one right underneath it that does not have a “C” is the expense that was created when you confirmed the transfer in the other account. Check this out. If you click on the transaction before confirming, you'll see a small print that says, "WHEN YOU CONFIRM, WE'LL RECORD THIS TRANSFER GOING IN AND OUT, SO YOU'LL SEE THE IMPACT IN BOTH BANK ACCOUNTS." This can cause issues if you confirm the transfer in both accounts.
Through trial and error, I found the solution:
- If you have transactions downloaded from your bank feed that are transfers between accounts and are paired by QuickBooks, confirm only one of the transfers. QuickBooks will automatically record it for the other account.
- Then, go to the other account and find the paired transfer. You'll see it categorized as an expense. If you click to confirm it, QuickBooks will record it as an expense, creating a duplicate entry. This discrepancy affects your QuickBooks balance.
- To prevent this, click on the transfer and select "Match." A new window will open, hopefully showing the other confirmed transfer. If it is not the right match in terms of date, amount, etc., click "Find another match" and select the correct transfer.
- Then go back to each accounts register that the transfer took place and manually mark the item from "C" to "R" if you have previously reconciled the transaction. I would recommend not doing a bunch of these all at once because some have different dates. It would be best you do process these one at a time.
Refreshing your page helps QuickBooks update so that you can see any changes that took effect.
