Leftover Credit Card Balance From Prior Period

If the balance in QuickBooks is wrong, the first thing to do is to fix that by fixing the transactions in the account so they match what really happened.

Thank you for responding. My concern about fixing the transactions is that they occurred in prior years that are now closed and for which taxes have been filed. 

I have a related question. I took over Quickbooks from a succession of previous admin. assistants. The credit card account had been set up in 2011 but had never been reconciled in Quickbooks. Our Financial Secretary was able to figure out how to create a Journal Entry that allowed me to begin reconciling in Quickbooks, but all the previous transactions still appear in the reconciliation window us uncleared and my balance is, of course, way off. Please advise.

Greetings, @honlyn. 

Congrats on making your first post here in the Community. Also, thanks for joining in on this thread. Allow me to provide you with some insight into reconciling inside your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) account. 

I recommend consulting with your accountant to be sure of the best route for your business. They'll be able to give you the best accounting advice for this situation. However, once you speak with them, you can reach out to our Customer Support Team to ensure of the steps that your accountant gave. Here's how to get in touch with them: 

1. Go to the Help menu. 
2. Pick the QuickBooks Desktop Help option. 
3. Click the Contact Us hyperlink. 
4. Give a brief description of the issue and hit Let's Talk. 
5. Scroll down and choose to Get a callback. 

For future reference, cruise on over to this link: Fix issues when you're reconciling in QuickBooks Desktop. 

Please let me know if you have any other questions. I'm always here to help and provide you additional assistance. Have a wonderful day!