"But I since have a balance from bills that were paid by means of joint
checks."
Meaning, you did not even have to pay that, so it is not something you incurred.
"(Our Customer made a joint check we signed and sent it to our
Vendor.) That income was not entered into QB so I can't use it to credit
the bills. What's the best way to clear out that balance?"
Well, overlooking that Gross Income is the place to start, then.
It either is your cost and your income, or None of it is yours. You cannot split that at will.
If you have costs used for tax filing and reporting, and if you have payroll labor and other costs incurred for providing some sort of good or service to that customer, then that Is your income, or revenue from a sale. That means you need to catch up that missing info, then use it to pay the bills.
You can set up a "Clearing bank" to manage that there are no Funds being exchanged; you essentially have a barter situation, that the customer used your payment to pay your Vendor.
Or, as I pointed out, none of this was your cost or your revenue and you were not even involved. But "joint checks" sounds like part of Business Operations, to me.
