I'll share a step-by-step guide on how you could potentially resolve this issue in QuickBooks Desktop while maintaining accurate records.
Ensure you know the last accurate bank reconciliation date for 2022 and 2023. It will help you isolate the transactions that were mistakenly unreconciled.
You redo the bank reconciliations for the periods affected (2022 and 2023) to correct the unreconciled status. To do this, follow these steps:
- Go to Banking > Reconcile.
- Select the appropriate account and reconciliation date.
- Carefully mark the transactions that were previously reconciled and were mistakenly unreconciled by the previous bookkeeper.
- Complete the reconciliation process as you normally would.
It will help restore the reconciled status for the transactions that were previously cleared.
Since the bills were already paid and reconciled with the bank account, you'll need to clear the outstanding bills and ensure that they are marked as paid. Here's how:
- Go to Vendors > Pay Bills.
- Select the outstanding bills that were already paid.
- In the Payment Date field, enter the date when the bills were originally paid.
- In the Payment Method field, choose the bank account used to pay the bills.
- Enter the payment amount as zero (since the bills were already paid outside of QuickBooks).
- Click "Pay Selected Bills" to save the changes.
After correcting the previous reconciliations and marking the bills as paid, you can proceed to reconcile the current period as you normally would. It should ensure that your records are accurate going forward.
I also suggest consulting your accountant to help with your changes and verify that the account balances and reconciliations are accurate for 2022 and 2023. It will help you ensure that your books are back on track.
You can utilize this article for future purposes: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.
Feel free to reply to this post if you need further assistance. Have a great day ahead!
