Reconciling income that posts the following months

PeteM360 · ‎February 07, 2023

I use a different cloud solution than Quickbooks to handle invoicing (it's part of a healthcare solution that integrates scheduling, charting, payments, etc). I create invoices and accept payments the same day in the solution, and then it trickles into my bank account, and finally is imported into Quickbooks as the bank is linked. I categorize the money that flows in as income. Where I'm struggling is that when I try to reconcile, those transactions in which payment is received at the end of the month in the health care solution do not make their way into Quickbooks until about 2-3 days later, into the next Month. So I generate a report in the health care solution, and it shows $1000 earned income in the month of January, but because monies earned at the end of the month post in February, my reports don't line up...Quickbooks says, for example, $900 in the month of January because a $100 check cleared into the next month. I thought of changing the dates on the transactions in QuickBooks to match, but I have a feeling that's a really bad idea, as Quickbooks then fails to match with my bank. While I'm sure this may not be a big deal in the accounting world, this issue makes it a pain in the neck to make sure everything lines up. Wasn't sure how most people handle this discrepancy. Does anyone do anything with tagging the transactions for a particular month...just not sure the best route to go here. What makes this even more of a hassle is that all of the transactions are the exact same amount, so it's tricky sometimes to understand what monies came from what month.

MirriamM · ‎February 07, 2023

Hi there, @PeteM360. Thanks for reaching out and providing detailed information when reconciling your account.

QuickBooks Online (QBO) is a read-only app. The data we receive in QuickBooks depends on the information sent to us by the financial institution. As a result, once you connect your online banking to QBO, the transactions that appear on your account match those on your bank statement. I advise verifying your bank statement for the transactions recorded on your QBO account.

For guidance on the best practices when reconciling your account, here's an article that you can read: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks.

If, after a reconciliation, QBO doesn't quite match your bank statement, you can refer to this article on what to do: Fix issues at the end of a reconciliation in QuickBooks Online.

If you have any further questions regarding reconciliation, please don't hesitate to contact us. We're ready to assist. Enjoy your day.

PeteM360 · ‎February 07, 2023

Hi Mirriam,

Thank you for your posting. I guess my question here relates how to reconcile against a third party invoicing cloud solution when the sale is made at the end of the month, and the transaction doesn't get downloaded into Quicken until the following month. What is best practice for tracking this? I would imagine that this is fairly common. If I generate monthly reports from the cloud solution, it gives me a dollar amount, and Quickbooks gives me a different dollar amount because of the typical time it takes a transaction to clear...Just looking for ideas on how others who may experience this same issue track this.

Thanks.

JessT · ‎February 07, 2023

Thank you for the additional details, PeteM360.

Yes, some QuickBooks users have a different cloud solution to manage their sales. However, QuickBooks will need the data of those transactions to achieve the same reports. I would recommend checking the QuickBooks App Store to see if your healthcare solution is on the list of apps you can connect to QuickBooks. That way, your can export or sync your sales transactions.

You can consider importing your invoice data to QuickBooks. Then, match your bank transactions to the invoices to mark them paid instead of categorizing the bank transactions as income.

I'm only a comment away if you need more help with your transactions. Take care and have a good one!

PeteM360 · ‎February 11, 2023

Hi @JessT ,

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, my clinic software doesn't integrate, so I'm left to do some of the work manually. The clinic software offers transaction exports (For import into quickbooks), but the transactions won't line up because the merchant fees are removed before the actual transactions hit the bank. I would then have to edit every entry that comes through to account for the transaction. After discussing with my accountant, he advised I could simply allow the transactions to flow into the account with bank imports, and create a journal entry that would account for the missing merchant fees. I've decided instead of a journal entry to use a sales receipt, which accounts for the money in, and then remove the same amount into an expense account (Merchant fees.) This allows me to True-up the account to match my income into Quickbooks and my income from my clinic software. This prevents me from having to double the work I'm doing...once inside the clinic software and one inside Quickbooks.

The only thing I struggle with is the delay in payment that I receive, and when it clears the bank, and typically at month's end. I'd love the ability to run a report in my clinic software that says I earned $1000 in February, and run a report in Quickbooks that says the same thing, but that processing delay causes the mismatch...which I guess is something you just have to account for when reconciling.

I was thinking about just tagging transactions as they come in with the month they belong to...and then running a report on the tags...maybe help me feel better and good for tracking later. However, I'm sure what I'll find out later is that this really just doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things...I just like to know where every penny goes.

It would be nice to just do everything in Quickbooks (invoicing) and then just match the transactions as they come in, but the integrations in the clinic software are hard to pass up, so I'll just live with it. Someday, I'll hire a bookkeeper that is attuned to dealing with these issues...I'm sure it is my unfamiliarity in this space that is causing me the most heartache. Appreciate your response.

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Reconciling income that posts the following months