How to fix beginning balance issues while reconciling
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Hi. This is Katheryn from the QuickBooks team.
When you reconcile an account, you might see an alert saying your account isn’t ready to reconcile yet. This means something changed about your reconciled transactions since you last reconciled.
Let’s go over how to correct your beginning balance. You may need to do this if the dollar amount of a transaction was changed, if a transaction was unreconciled from the register or reconciled from the register without a proper reconciliation, if a transaction was deleted, or if there have simply been too many changes and you’d like to undo a reconciliation.
If you’re having trouble with your beginning balance during your first reconciliation, check out this video instead because you may need to enter or adjust your beginning balance journal entry.
To start, select Settings, then Reconcile.
This is where you’ll see an alert if you have a problem with your beginning balance. Select the link to look at your discrepancy report.
Use the Change Type column to find out why the transaction changed your beginning balance..
You’ll see “Amount Changed” if someone changed the dollar amount after it was reconciled.
To fix this, select the transaction and change the Amount to match the Reconciled Amount. On some transaction types you may need to select Edit to change the dollar amount. Then select Save.
You could also see “Unreconciled in Register.” This happens if the transaction was reconciled and then someone unreconciled it - usually by mistake. To reconcile it again select the transaction then select this box until you see an R. Select Save and the transaction should disappear.
The third change type is “Reconciled in Register.” This happens when someone clears a transaction without reconciling. To fix it, select the transaction. Then select the box until it's blank or you see a C. This unreconciles the transaction so you can include it in future reconciliations. Select Save and the transaction should disappear.
“Deleted” appears when someone deletes a reconciled transaction.
Select View to see this transaction’s history.
If this was deleted by accident, then recreate the transaction exactly as it appears in the history.
Select the “global create” button and then the type of transaction that was deleted. Complete the form with the correct amount and date. Then select Save and Close
When you’re done, select Settings. Then select “Chart of Accounts” and then “View Register” next to the appropriate bank account. Find the transaction and select it. Select the box in the checkmark column until you see an R. This reconciles the transaction.
If you see more changes than you’d like to fix, and you just want to start over from a previous reconciliation, ask your accountant to log in and undo a reconciliation from the History by Account screen.
If you haven’t invited your accountant to your company, check out this video to learn how to add them.
Those are the reasons you might receive a beginning balance alert and now you know what to do if you see one.