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Doyen1975
Level 1

Accounts merged/deleted/created by QB online, NOT by user! (destroyed my work)

I have been using QB online since early August.  I had created about 50 accounts in my chart of accounts, and been catagorizing checks from the bank as they appeared in QB.  I log in and take care of this multiple times a week.

 

Friday when I logged in, I noticed right away that some accounts were missing, and there were other new accounts created.  Brief investigation showed hundreds of transactions had been moved into either the newly created accounts, or into wrong accounts.

 

I called the QB online help line, the gentleman said he had had a few calls about this lately, but could not tell me why or how this had happened.

 

I'm the only person with access to the account, and I did not not destroy my own work.

 

Questions:

 

1)  How did this happen?

2)  How can I avoid having this happen in the future?

 

Thanks.

3 Comments 3
jenop2
QuickBooks Team

Accounts merged/deleted/created by QB online, NOT by user! (destroyed my work)

I understand this is an urgent matter and I'm here to help, Doyen 1975. Let's work together to get to the bottom of what happened with the accounts and make sure it doesn't happen again in the future.

 

To do this, let's run the Audit Log report in QuickBooks. It will give you a comprehensive view of all account activity, allowing you to easily monitor sign-ins, modifications, and updates to customer, vendor, employee, and list elements.

 

The log also shows you 150 records at a time, and events recorded in the audit log are available for two years.

 

To find the Audit Log report in QuickBooks Online (QBO), you can follow these steps: 

 

    1. Go to the Gear icon and select Audit Log.
    2. Use the fields on the Filter panel to trim down the information in the report and focus it more on the changes made to the accounts.
    3. To narrow down the information, set a filter based on the date range. By selecting either this month or the previous week, you will only see the changes made on those specific dates.
    4. Select Lists in the drop-down list for Events.

audit log.PNGaudit log 2.PNG

 

Once you have the report, proceed to the Event column. Then, look for the events that say merged account or added account.

 

To get more information about the changes, click the View link under the History column.  

 

Now, take note that QuickBooks generates specific user profiles that track actions in the audit log. You also mentioned you are the only user in your account. If you see a different name, it probably belongs to one of these predefined profiles:

 

  • Online Banking Administration: This shows a change related to your connected bank accounts made automatically by QuickBooks Online.
  • Support Representative: Shows changes made by a QuickBooks Online support consultant.
  • System Administration: Shows changes made automatically by QuickBooks Online. It happens for several reasons, such as:
    • You change a record, and the change affects another record. For example, if you edit a payment and link it to a different invoice, you may see a System Administration event for a change to the original invoice.
    • You connect a third-party app to QuickBooks. When the third-party app sends data to QuickBooks, or when it makes a change to your existing data, this appears as a System Administration event.
    • You create a recurring transaction, such as a recurring expense. When QuickBooks automatically adds an instance of the transaction to your books, a System Administration event appears in the audit log.
    • You set up other events to happen automatically, even when you’re not signed in. For example, a System Administration event may appear when there's an update to your bank feeds.

 

Let me share this article for more details about using this tool: Use The Audit Log in QuickBooks Online.

 

When it comes to preventing this from happening again, there are a few things that I'd like to recommend. 

 

First, you can close your books to prevent unwanted changes to your accounting data and ensure that your financial reports are accurate. Using this feature, all transactions made before the closing date are locked and cannot be edited or deleted. 

 

Please see this article as a guide: Close Your Books in QuickBooks Online.

 

Second, use a strong password just in case someone logs in to your account. You should use a strong password that is difficult to guess and includes a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.

 

By taking these steps, you can help prevent unauthorized changes in QuickBooks Online and keep your company file secure @Doyen1975. Please do not hesitate to ask more questions if you need more help while reviewing the audit log. We are here to provide assistance and support every step of the process.

Doyen1975
Level 1

Accounts merged/deleted/created by QB online, NOT by user! (destroyed my work)

Jenop2, thank you so much for your help!  This completely resolved the challenge.

 

After reviewing the audit log, I was able to see my accountant had made the changes.  I spoke with them, and the matter is resolved.

 

I now have peace of mind that Quickbooks didn't scramble my data, it was a miscommunication challenge between users.

 

Thanks again!

Candice C
QuickBooks Team

Accounts merged/deleted/created by QB online, NOT by user! (destroyed my work)

Hey there, @Doyen1975

 

Thanks for reaching back out and keeping us updated. 

 

I'm glad that you were able to find who made the changes within the Audit Log

 

If you have any further questions, just let me know. I'm only a post away. Take care! 

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