How do you change the type in the chart of accounts. Ie. expense account mistakenly set up as a payable

Hello Nancy,

We can't change the detail type of an account to different one. For example, changing Accounts Payable to an expense account.

We can only make it inactive and create the correct account:

1. Select Accounting on the left menu and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Look for the account you want to make inactive and click the drop-down menu next to View register.
3. Choose Delete and click Yes to confirm the action.
4. Click the New button and choose the correct Account and Detail Types.
5. Enter the account details and click Save and Close.

Let me know if you need more assistance with this.

i need to change from an a/p account to an expense account. once i follow these steps. how do i get all the transactions re-entered into the new account? do I have to manually enter them or will qbo re-import the data from the bank feed?

how do i delete/make inactive an a/p account? qbo will not let me make the old account inactive. 

Thank you for joining this Community thread, @jason-daily Let me share some information about making an account inactive in QuickBooks Online.

Before doing so, please consult your accountant or use our Find-an-Accountant tool to look for one. This way, you can prevent messing up your records. 

You can make it inactive if you've never used the account or if the balance of the account is zero. However, making a previously used account inactive is extremely difficult to reverse. Because accounts rely on one another to stay balanced, deleting data from one has an impact on all of them. 

Also, QuickBooks creates a journal entry when you make an account with a balance inactive. This moves the remaining balance to a different account. Existing transactions won't disappear and will remain on your financial statements. If you decide to use the account again, QuickBooks won't change the balance or the journal entry. 

Once done, you can then proceed to inactivate the accounts payable in question. Here's how:

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Chart of accounts.
2. Find the account you want to delete.
3. Select the Action ▼ dropdown and select Make inactive.

I've added this article so you can get more information and find out how to make an account active again: Make an account inactive on your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

I've got your back if you have more questions about managing your accounts. I'll be here to lend a hand.