How do I register an accrued expense? Example: I have a software subscription bill. The due date is 04/02/22 and the service period is from 04/01/22 to 04/05/22.

I appreciate you for joining us here in the Community, Priscila.

You're prompted with an error message when creating a journal entry (JE) for accrued expenses because you've entered an incorrect opening balance for the liability account. That said, let's work together to review and edit it so we can record old bills as accrued expenses in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

When creating a new account in QBO, you decide when to start tracking transactions. You'd have to enter your real-life bank account balance for the day you've chosen. It's what we call the opening balance.

Here's how to edit the opening balance:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Chart of accounts.
2. Look for the liability account and click View register.
3. Search the bank register for Opening Balance Equity.
4. Sign in to your bank's website. Set your account so you can see the balance for the new date you want to use for the opening balance in QBO.
5. Return to QBO and select your opening balance entry.
6. Edit the opening balance so the date and amount match your bank records for the day you chose.
7. Click Save.

For more detailed information, please refer to this article: Reconcile transactions that are older than your opening balance in QuickBooks Online. It contains thorough instructions on summarizing older transactions up to a certain point.

Once done, we can continue creating a journal entry to record the accrued expense. I'd suggest following your accountant's advice when entering transactions in JE to ensure a balanced book.

To keep track of how much we're paying each vendor every month, I'd suggest running a monthly expense report by vendor.

Feel free to leave a reply for us if you have additional clarifications about recording accrued expenses in QBO. We'll make sure to attend to your every concern. Take care and have a good one!