Accountant's copy throws error that company file cannot be closed because there is another application (Intuit: AFX) which is using it.

Hello there, knaubco.

Thanks for taking the time to reach out to us. Allow me to help and ensure to close your company file successfully so you can back to your business right away. 

This error occurs when there's another program that QuickBooks Desktop is trying to work with is waiting for a response from you or some of its components did not completely shut down last time you close it. 

To resolve this, let's make sure to close that program or application and end all QuickBooks-related processes on your Task Manager. 

Let me walk you through the steps: 

1. Right-click the Windows taskbar and select Task Manager.
2. Click the Process tab.
3. Find and highlight the application and QuickBooks-related process that starts with QBW32.EXE and qbupdate.exe.
4. Click End Processes. 

Once done, let's try to close the company file. Here's how:

1. At the top menu bar, click File.
2. Select Close Company.
3. Click the File menu again, and select Exit. 

If the issue still persists, you can check this article for another troubleshooting steps: Repair QuickBooks Desktop.

To further assist you with the steps, I encourage you to contact our QuickBooks Desktop Technical Team Support. They have additional tools to pull up your account and do a screen share.

Here's how to contact our support: 

1. Click this link: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact#.
2. Select the version of QuickBooks, click Contact Us.
3. Type-in Technical Support on the search bar.
4. Click Get the Phone number below.

That should do it! Please let me know how it goes. I'll be here if you have any other concerns about company file. Have a good day ahead. 

Thank you. I searched for and found this solution when the error occurred, and when i tried closing the related applications through Task Manager, there were none running for me to close. The Task Manager did not show any QBW32.EXE or qbupdate.exe processes. My colleague and i are experiencing the same issue, and when she reached out to Quickbooks tech support, she was told it was a "bug" that they were working on. I would like the error logged and reported so that they are aware it is still happening. 

Thanks for getting back to us, knaubco.

I appreciate you for following the steps above and taking the time to contact our support. Our engineers recently identified this is an ongoing issue with QuickBooks Desktop. They're already investigating the root cause of this unexpected hitch and are working to implement a solution.

While they do, I encourage you to get in touch back to our QuickBooks Desktop Support Team so they can add you to our notification list of affected users to receive live email updates and progress of the investigation. 

Once you're with our phone specialists, please inform them to add you to the investigation number INV-22164. 

We appreciate your patience as we work through this. If there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know. I'll be around to help you out. 

Has the problem been resolved?  INV-22164

Thank you for joining the thread, @sharonbakos.

I'm here to help share information about the issue/error when closing an accountant's copy file.

I've verified that our engineering team are still currently working for an immediate fix of the issue. At this time, you may end the task on QuickBooks to close it. In some cases, resetting the updates also fixed the issue.

To receive resolution updates and for you to be added to the list of affected users, I suggest getting in touch with our QuickBooks Support Team.

To contact support:

1. Go to: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact.
2. Choose your QuickBooks Product.
3. Select your QuickBooks version.
4. On the Contact Us page, click a topic.
5. Click on the Get Phone Number button to see the support number.

Thank you for your patience. Let me know if you have any other QuickBooks concerns by adding a comment below. I'd be glad to keep helping!

I need to convert an accountants copy to a working copy and I am receiving the same error because it tries to close the file in the processing of converting it.  Has a solution for this been found, or Is there a work around for converting an accountants copy to a working copy?

Good day, mdickason.

I'd be happy to help and share with you some updates regarding the Accountant's copy issues. Let's get things sorted out.

For now, the most recent update that I have about the Intuit: AFX Error When Closing an Accountant's Copy File is that they are still investigating this unexpected behavior. As an initial step, let's end task on QuickBooks to close it and try to access the Accountant's copy again.

Please make sure to create a backup of your company file before converting it into a working file. You can also follow the steps below to make the Accountant's copy into a working file.

1. Go to the File menu, then select Open and Restore Company.
   
   
   
   
2. Choose to Convert an Accountant’s Copy Transfer File.
3. Keep selecting Next until you see the Open Accountant's Copy Transfer File window.
4. Browse the location of the file, then select Open.
5. Choose where you want to save your file, then select Save.

For detailed steps and instruction, check out these articles:

• Convert the accountant's copy to an accountant's working file.
• Convert an accountant's copy or an accountant's working file to a regular company file.
• Export accountant's changes.

For additional help, you can also reach out to our QuickBooks Desktop Support.

1. Within your QuickBooks Desktop, click Help at the top menu bar.
2. Click Contact us.
3. To route you to the correct support expert, we need to know what type of question you have. Give a brief description of your issue and click Continue.
4. We’ll provide you a few options. You choose which one is best for you

Feel free to leave a comment below to keep me posted if this works for you. I'll zip right back to make sure your file is working. Have a good one.

You say this is the initial step.  This sounds like there is more to come?  If yes, what?

This did not work.  But I found the answer searching through the help sections, or at least the answer that worked for me.

Even though the particular file I was working with was a 2015 QBA file, apparently the problem is with 2019 QB.  Or at least that is where they implemented the fix.  Once I updated my 2019 QB software, my 2015 QB quit throwing the error and I was able to convert my file.

The response they gave me above did not work for me.  But I found a solution that did somewhere else in one of the help threads.  At least one that worked for me.

If you have 2019 QB installed on your machine the problem (or at least the solutions ) is with that.  Regardless of what year you are having the issue with.  Update 2019 QB software and try your file again in whatever year is appropriate.  My file was a 2015 QB file and updating 2019  fixed the AFX error in 15.  Weird, but it worked.

Hi all,

@mdickason, 
I'm happy to know that you're able to fix the issue by updating your QuickBooks. The solution you've provided would really help other users experiencing the same issue. 

@sharonbakos,
You can consider the initial step provided by my colleague RoseMarjorieA as a workaround. I'd be pleased to help share information about the Accountant's copy issues.

I've checked and verified that some of the users still experiencing the same issue that comes up for a new investigation. But before considering this as an issue in your QuickBooks, let's perform the following troubleshooting steps first.

• Update QB 2019 to the latest release.
• Run a repair on other versions of QuickBooks if they exist on the computer.
• Reboot the computer.

If the issue persists, I suggest ending task on qbw32.exe and install Updates/Patches for all versions of QuickBooks that are installed on the computer. Once done, you may need to reboot your computer.

Also, I recommend contacting our Customer Care Support if those troubleshooting steps won't work. This way, you'll be added to the list of affected users and get an email notification regarding the updates.

Thank you for your patience as we work for a fix.