The wrong check marked as cleared ... 6 months ago

Thank you so much. The check was back in March and I reconcile monthly. I had to go back and redo the reconciliation for each month. At least it's done right.

Angie

Hello RSC Lion,

I have the same issue. Did the posted solution work for you or did you end up undoing your previous reconciliations?

The solution posted seems to state instructions which apply only if the mistake related to the last rec completed.

I attempted the off-cycle reconciliation by selecting the month the error occurred (back in February) & entering the ending balance for Feb into the off-cycle rec. However, I did not complete this rec because of concerns over the fact that the opening balance was showing incorrectly. Instead of showing the opening balance of Feb, it was showing the closing balance of my last rec completed (which was Aug). This incorrect opening balance resulted in a "Difference". This concerned me, as you never want a "Difference" showing in a rec. As a result, I left the off-cycle reconciliation without completing it.

If anyone has successfully completed an off-cycle rec for a period which occurred several recs back, I'd greatly appreciate hearing that. I want to avoid undoing several months of recs to correct the issue.

Thanks,  

Hello RSC Lion,

I have the same issue. Did the posted solution work for you or did you end up undoing your previous reconciliations?

The solution posted seems to state instructions which apply only if the mistake related to the last rec completed.

I attempted the off-cycle reconciliation by selecting the month the error occurred (back in February) & entering the ending balance for Feb into the off-cycle rec. However, I did not complete this rec because of concerns over the fact that the opening balance was showing incorrectly. Instead of showing the opening balance of Feb, it was showing the closing balance of my last rec completed (which was Aug). This incorrect opening balance resulted in a "Difference". This concerned me, as you never want to see a "Difference" once you'd complete a rec. As a result, I left the off-cycle reconciliation without completing it.

If anyone has successfully completed an off-cycle rec for a period which occurred several recs back, I'd greatly appreciate hearing that. I want to avoid undoing several months of recs to correct this issue.

Thanks,  

Hello RSC Lion,

I have the same issue. Did the posted solution work for you or did you end up undoing your previous reconciliations?

The solution posted seems to state instructions which apply only if the mistake related to the last rec completed.

I attempted the off-cycle reconciliation by selecting the month the error occurred (back in February) & entering the ending balance for Feb into the off-cycle rec. However, I did not complete this rec because of concerns over the fact that the opening balance was showing incorrectly. Instead of showing the opening balance of Feb, it was showing the closing balance of my last rec completed (which was Aug). This incorrect opening balance resulted in a "Difference". This concerned me, as you never want to see a "Difference" once you'd complete a rec. As a result, I left the off-cycle reconciliation without completing it.

If anyone has successfully completed an off-cycle rec for a period which occurred several recs back, I'd greatly appreciate hearing that. I want to avoid undoing several months of recs to correct this issue.

Thanks,  

How did you ever resolve your issue?  It is now May and I just discovered the same error, which I made back in October.  Wrong check was reconciled, amounts match.  I want to accomplish the same thing - correct this mistake without re-doing months' worth of reconciliations.  

Good day, @cc1515. I'm here to help you.

We can do a special reconciliation, which is also called a "mini reconciliation" that uses off-cycle method of reconciliation.  This way, we can fix the issue. This assumes you know the ending balance from the most recent reconciliation.

Here's how:
 

1. Go to the Banking menu and select Reconcile.
2. Select the bank account with the transactions you need to reconcile.
3. From the Date of Statement field, enter date for an "off-cycle reconciliation." This date can be any date between your last reconciliation and the next scheduled one.
4. Under the Ending Balance field, enter the balance of your last successful reconciliation. Then select Continue.
5. From the Reconcile window, check off the transactions you are fixing and re-reconciling.
6. Ensure that the Difference field shows $0.00.
7. Then, select Reconcile Now.
    

To learn more about the special reconciliation, you can refer to this article: Reconcile previously deleted and re-entered checking or credit card transactions

In case you're hesitant about it, you can also reach out to your accountant for verification.

If you need more  info from a past reconciliation to fix your current reconciliation, you can always run the Previous Reconciliation Report

Feel free to get back to this thread if you have further clarification about the process. I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a prosperous business!

This won't work.  The check cleared in error occurred back in October.  If I do an off-cycle reconciliation as of today 6-14-22, and mark as cleared the check that should have been cleared, it does nothing to fix the check that was cleared by mistake back in October because there is no off-set on the deposit side and the off-cycle reconciliation then has a difference.  I see no other way than to re-do 9 months of reconciliations and that doesn't excite me much.  Is there no other way to fix this??

Undoing prior months of reconciliation can help fix the check that was cleared in error, cc1515.

You can undo a complete reconciliation by using the Undo Last Reconciliation feature in QuickBooks Desktop. But, before proceeding with the steps, I suggest locating discrepancies and printing out previous reconciliation reports to have a copy in case you need them in the future.

Here are the steps:

1. Click on Banking and select Reconcile.
2. Select Undo Last Reconciliation.

Once done, you can now reconcile your transactions again. I've included these resources for your reference:

• Learn the reconciliation workflow in QuickBooks.
• Get reports for previous reconcilations in QuickBooks Desktop.

Know that you can always post again here if you have other concerns. I'll be right here to guide you.

I have already begun re-reconciling 9 months of statements.  Your suggestion to invite an accountant makes no sense.  I am a finance manager and not ignorant of how to un-do previous reconciliations.  Furthermore, your other instructions really make no sense, as you are pointing me to a link for further information that references QB Online, and I am on Enterprise Desktop.  I am doing this the right way, although it is not fun, and at least I know that when I'm done I will have fixed my error.  

You are spot on.  The advice given is not thoroughly thought out for the specific situation presented.  Plus, if an incorrect check was erroneously cleared far in the past, it will not show up as an option to be cleared again (or uncleared, for that matter) on an interim, "mini-reconciliation" and you need another transaction to offset it.

Here is the problem we had:

• We created a payroll liability check to pay our federal payroll tax liability.
• Our new accountant created a second, duplicate check representing the transaction except instead of being a payroll liability check, it was an ordinary check made out to a G/L tax expense account.
• When reconciling (now 4 mos ago) she cleared the erroneous 2nd check even though it never was sent or cashed.
• The correct check, that actually cleared, was still showing up on our reconciliation as uncleared. 
• There was no way to clear it without undoing all the previous reconciliations.

Here is how I solved it:

• I created an offsetting deposit that credited the same G/L tax expense account that the erroneous 2nd check was charged to.  Same bank account selected for the deposit as the erroneous check.
• Both were just "paper" transactions that only existing in QB.  Neither ever say the light of day on a bank statement.
• Now, an offsetting transaction (with no negative consequence - to the contrary, it actually offset the previous financial error beyond just the reconciliation issue) existed for offsetting the correct payroll liability check in the reconciliation module.

• Reconciliation problem resolved!
• Financial problem resolved!
• Re-reconciling 4 months of bank statements avoided!