Force reconciliation

I'll help you in handling that, MeganDKS2022.

Since your un-reconciled statements span multiple years, you'll have to reconcile them one year at a time. This will apply the adjustments, service fees, and interest you enter during the reconciliation to the year in which those transactions happened. 

Also, I'd recommend consulting an accounting professional in performing the reconciliation since the process can sometimes be tricky. When you're ready, here's how to do it:

1. Go to the Banking menu, then choose Reconcile.
2. Select the account you want to reconcile.
3. Enter the statement date and ending balance .
4. Compare the beginning Balance field with the opening balance on the oldest statement you need to reconcile. If the beginning balance does not match, refer to follow the steps in this article: Reconcile window beginning balance is zero or incorrect.
5. After that, enter the total service charge and interest earned.
6. Click Continue, then select Hide transactions after the statement's end date in the upper right corner of the window.
7. Select the checkmark column next to each transaction that appears on the financial statement you selected.
8. Repeat this step for each prior statement in the period you are reconciling. 
9. Review the difference amount. If the amount is 0.00, select Reconcile Now. Otherwise, start again at step 4 to ensure that all amounts and transactions have been recorded correctly or select Reconcile Now and then enter an adjustment to force reconcile them.
10. Repeat the same process for the next years.

For more resources and tips in reconciling your accounts, you can check out some topics from our Reconciliation page.

Keep me posted if you need further assistance in accomplishing your other tasks. The Community is always here for you.

@MeganDKS2022 

It sounds like you want to start Jan. 1, 2021, clean, and go from there, correct?

Based on the advice from the accountant, reconcile through Dec. 2020 and whatever the difference is after checking off all of the transactions (make sure to hide transactions after the statement's end date), create a journal entry for the difference.  If the difference is positive, debit the bank account and credit opening balance equity.  If the difference is negative, debit opening balance equity and credit the bank account.  Make sure to memo the journal entry with an explanation.  Then, finish the reconciliation.  At that point, you can start 2021 clean.    

Thanks Rainflurry.

The acct was last reconciled in April of 2020. I just pulled the archived statements and the beginning balance does not match what's in QB either. Do I take the ending balance of Dec 2020 and populate that figure?

@MeganDKS2022 

Yes, use the ending balance from the Dec. 2020 bank statement and enter that in the 'Ending Balance' field.  The beginning balance is what it is.  It should be the beginning balance from May 2020 but since you are forcing the reconciliation, it really doesn't matter.  The net of all of the discrepancies is going to end up in the opening balance equity account. 

Hi Rainflurry,

Sorry to bug ya again, I'm back in office on this. I have a question for you...

I went to the rec window for the General Acct, and a ton of transactions for this year are checked, like tons of transactions of 2021 popped up as reconciled but grayed out. (I didn't do this, would've had to have been done before my time) I'm confused how so many 2021 transactions can be reconciled before 2020 is even complete. 

My question is, do I uncheck those items? How do I move forward? There's thousands of dollars in transactions so I want to do it right, thank you!