Errors on Balance Sheet Due to Credit Memos

I am experiencing the same issue. My balance sheet account on a cash basis for last year is about $17k overstated but when I drill down into the account, cash basis for the same time period, it is the balance it should be. Accrual detail matches the accrual balance, but that doesn't help me when I need the cash basis version of these reports. I am unable to tie the balance sheet report total to any detail.

My difference from your original post is that I don't have any credit memos but I do have journal entries that are adjusting the balance.

Thank you for reaching out to us here on the Community page, @jkannesser and @CG_TTC22.

For now, you can try changing the reporting method to Accrual and then back to Cash. If you're getting the same result, I encourage reaching out to our Support Team to check your Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable reporting. They can also check this further securely and review what's causing this unexpected behavior.

To contact support, tap on Contact us from the Help menu.

I'm also adding this article for your reference about running a balance sheet in QuickBooks Online: FAQ: Basic troubleshooting for balance sheets.

Get back to me if you have any other questions. I'm a few clicks away to help.

I am still on the phone with the Supervisor - they are dealing with the technical department as it appears to be a glitch in the coding. If a credit memo is applied to more than 1 outstanding invoice. Mind you, there were no problems as of 2/24/20. This technical problem appeared after that date. When I run the same report I get two different balances. 

I am starting my contact with support....easing in for a few hours of being put on hold, probably being disconnected, or at least being told it can't be fixed. Should be a good time.

Update: spent 4 hours with support yesterday. They did some screen sharing with me to see the issue. As predicted, it was sent to their engineers to correct with no indication of time to complete. Hopefully others are experiencing the same issue so this will be escalated. 

So far no update on my end even though I was promised I'd be kept in the loop. I sent off an email yesterday and have received no response.

Having a software glitch that doesn't allow you to run reports as they are suppose to be run is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Perhaps if this software is free, but good $$$ is being spend for a software that doesn't work as intended. 

I appreciate you reaching out to our Customer Support team, @jkannesser. This isn't the impression we want to leave with you.

This problem has already been escalated to our product engineers in which they are diligently working for a fix. At this time, we don't have a specific time frame when this issue will be resolved. I would recommend contacting our Customer Support again to be updated. You can use your previous ticket or case ID, so you won't have to start all over again.

To reach them, here's how:

1. Click the Help icon on the top right.
2. Click Contact Us button at the bottom.
3. Enter a short description about your concern.
4. Click on Let's talk.
5. Choose the method on how you'd be connected to support.

In case you need tips in the future, visit our QuickBooks Help Articles site. 

Stay in touch with me if you any other questions by adding a comment below. I'm always here for you. Have a great day!

That is an unacceptable answer.  Corporate returns are due in 10 days. Incorrect reports can potentially lead to business owners loosing their licenses. I don't believe that any of these are in consideration on the Customer Service side on the type of impact this is causing. 

Has this been resolved? I'm reviewing the books from 2019 which is closed and noticed there are entries with the same issues. The credit memo entries on the cash side are randomly missing the debit side. The only advice I've received was to delete and re-enter.

Good Afternoon, @zliB2b. 

Yes, deleting and re-entering the credit memos is the best way to fix this problem. I recommend consulting with your accountant to be sure that this will be best for your business. If you don't have an accountant, check out this link to find one near you. 

Here's how you can edit your closed books: 

1. Log into your QuickBooks account as the Master Admin. 
2. Go to the Gear icon. 
3. Under the "Your Company," pick Account and Settings. 
4. Select the Advanced tab. 
5. In the "Accounting" section, click the Edit (Pencil) icon. 
6. Change the closing date. 
7. Press Save and Done. 

It's that easy. From there, you can delete and re-enter the credit memos. Here are a few articles that can help: 

• Void or delete transactions in QuickBooks Online

• Create and apply credit memos or delayed credits in QuickBooks Online

If you have any other questions, let me know. I want to make sure that you're able to get this resolved as soon as possible. Have a great day!

good morning, can you help me?

I'm happy to help you with any QuickBooks issues you may be having, lleissner.

You can click the Reply button below and enter a brief discussion of your question. I'm always around to help.

Just tag my name, and I'll get back to you. While waiting for your response, feel free to visit this link: QuickBooks video tutorials. 

Thank you and stay safe!

Well it is May of 2021 and the issue continues to be a problem

I haven't received a similar report about the incorrect balance on the Balance Sheet report due to credit memos, Conway1021.

Let me provide some insights that can help correct the balance on the report.

The value of the assets should always equal the combined value of the liabilities and equity (Equity = Assets - Liabilities). If your Balance Sheet isn't balancing correctly, you can troubleshoot the issue:

1. Select each account on the report to see the transactions related to the balance of each account.
2. You can start running the date range down by starting from year to date (YTD), and narrowing it down each month until you have the date range narrowed to the day that the balance sheet goes off.
3. From there, you can start to figure out what transaction is causing the balance sheet to be off and resolve the issue.
   
   

Additionally, please browse this link for some steps to resolve common Balance Sheet issues: Basic troubleshooting for balance sheets.

I'm sharing these articles about running reports in case you might need them in your future tasks:

• Customize Reports In QuickBooks Online 
• Common Custom Reports In QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you have follow-up questions by commenting below. I'll be right here to help manage your reports in QuickBooks.

SAME! Hopefully IF anyone resolves this they will post the solution...

Hello BWG618!

I understand that you need to fix the balance sheet issue you encountered. I'm joining here so I can also help you.

Have you tried the troubleshooting steps shared by my colleagues? If not yet, I suggest you perform them to fix this unusual behavior.

1. Toggle the accounting method from Cash to Accrual and vice versa.
2. Delete and recreate the credit memo.
3. Drill down each account by clicking the amount to see what transaction is causing the issue.

These are the links to help you in reviewing your balance sheet reports:

• Resolve A/R or A/P balances on a cash basis Balance Sheet

• FAQ: Basic troubleshooting for balance sheets

If the same thing happens, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Support Team so they can further investigate it:

1. Click the (?) Help icon and enter Talk to a human (then type it again when prompted).
2. When asked by the bot, enter "Balance Sheet Balance Error".
3. Select I still need a human, then proceed with Contact us or Get help from a human.
4. Choose either Chat or Callback.

Do you have other concerns? Leave a comment again and we'll assist you. Take care!

I understand how to clean it up. I just didn't have the 20 hours to deal with it. It's a glitch in the software conversion. Wouldn't be an issue if I was talking about 1 transaction. Lucky for me, I waited to see if Intuit would correct the problem with the conversion. I just recently tried the conversion again this year. And guess what?! It's 100x worse! It's a sure way to prevent client's from leaving the Cloud and going back to desktop. Not so great and a concern for future clients.

I deleted the credit memo causing the issue and recreated it, as suggested, and it did not fix the problem. Before I recreated the credit memo, the totals balanced again.  When I recreated the credit memo, they were incorrect again.  THE ISSUE IS NOT FIXED.

It isn't the kind of encounter that we want you to come across, alstonref.

Since the recommended troubleshooting laid out above didn't work, I'd recommend reaching out to our Phone Support team. An agent  will be able to do a screen-share with you to verify the root cause of the issue.

You can follow these steps to contact us:

1. Click the (?) Help icon and enter Talk to a human (then type it again when prompted).
2. When asked by the bot, enter "Balance Sheet Balance Error".
3. Select I still need a human, then proceed with Contact us or Get help from a human.
4. Choose either Chat or Callback.

Feel free to pin these articles when reviewing Balance Sheet report:

• Resolve A/R or A/P balances on a cash basis Balance Sheet
• FAQ: Basic troubleshooting for balance sheets

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll be around to help you out!

Have you been able to resolve?

I recently came across this same issue.

I researched to see when the issue started and pinpointed the first transaction that caused the issue by pulling a report monthly, then daily once I saw the first month that had the issue.

In the first report that showed the day with the unbalance, I drilled down into the transactions to see how credits were applied and found that some journal entry transactions applied to the credit memo, while others did not.

The next step I took was to look at the individual transactions related to the credit memo, which of course was the credit memo itself and in my case, Journal Entries that were applied to the credit memo.

I noticed that the journal entries that did not contain the Accounts Receivable at the first line in the JE would not get recognized in the credit memo, the JE that had AR in the first line did get applied correctly.

The step I took to see if the issue lies in how the JE is entered, I moved AR to line 1 as a Debit and the Sales (in this case) in line 2 as a credit. Doing this will remove any related transactions, so you have to go to Fix Unapplied Invoices to reapply the journal amount to the invoices and credit memos. After fixing the unapplied invoice, I checked the Cash basis report for that day and the balance sheet in cash basis balanced. 

CONCLUSION: It seems that the manner in which you enter JE into QB affects whether or not it can properly process the credit memo when you apply JE transaction to the credit memo.

Let me know if this turns out to be the same situation for you and if taking these steps resolves your report issue in Cash Basis.

CeSaw - I cannot express sufficiently how helpful it was that you were able to divine such a solution to this error.  In my case, the glitch has been frustrating one of my client's books since mid 2020.  Clearly the order of entry for the Accounts was the culprit here, just as in your case.  I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and please know that you have saved me countless more hours trying to correct what had become a multiyear discrepancy issue. 

All the best,

Ryan W