Checking account

Hi there, @lougabriel.

I'm here to guide you on how to resolve your balance, so you can start fresh in QuickBooks Online. 

The best practice that I can think of right now is to close the books. By doing this locks your books to ensures everything stays the way you want it. 

Before doing that, make sure the following: 

• Logged in as Master or Company admin to fulfill this. 
• Record any outstanding invoices, expenses, and payments.
• Reconcile your accounts up to your closing date.
• Examine your inventory quantities.

Once confirmed, please follow the steps below. 

1. Go to the Gear icon, then choose Accounts and Settings. 
2. Select Advanced, then click the Edit icon perpendicular to Accounting. 
3. Pick Close the books checkbox, then enter a closing date. 
4. Select the Allow changes after viewing a warning and entering a password option from the drop-down menu to add a password. 
5. Tap Save and close. 

In case you want to edit or change the password, you may check out this article for the detailed steps: Edit your closed books. 

However, I'd still suggest consulting an accountant to confirmed or ask for other suggestions to handle this. They can also guide you with the whole process to ensure your books are accurate.

You can also visit these articles about the various tasks for closing the books and handling a chart of accounts. 

• QuickBooks Online year-end guide and checklist
• Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks

Let me know if you have follow-up questions about this matter. I'm always here for you. Keep safe!

Once I do this will I ever be able to go back and update last year if I wanted? Also will I be able to set a new start date of Jan 1 2021 and will Quickbooks only pick up bank transactions from this date forward or will it still show older unentered transactions? 

So if I do that will I be able to go back and finish the bookkeeping for last year if I ever wanted to?

Also can I set a new start date for Jan 1 and will Quickbooks only input bank transactions after this date or will it include the older transactions that were not entered?  Thanks,

Hello there, @lougabriel.

Allow me to share some details about what will happen after closing your previous fiscal year. 

The transactions are still in your record. However, if you try to modify or link anything beyond the date you closed the book, you'll get a notification if you wanted to modify it. As mentioned by my colleague, it's best to consult your accountant before doing this so that it will not mess up your books.

Regarding the bank transactions, the old data will not appear on the Banking page as long as you've reconciled them. If not, you may want to exclude and delete those transaction depends on the scenario such especially if it's a duplicate transaction. I'd still recommend asking for advice from your accountant to make everything in order. This is because there are many things you need to do before closing the books to start the new fiscal year error-free. If you don't have an accountant, you can find one by clicking on this link: Find an accountant.

You're always welcome to come back in the comment section if you have other questions. I'd be happy to answer them. Take care.