I want to delete the opening balance equity created by QB online to adjust balance for deletion

Hi there, omar-albadran927.

I'm glad you've reached to us. Allow me to help and guide you on how to delete opening balance equity in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

Let me walk you through the steps on how to delete the opening balance. Here's how: 

1. Click the Gear Icon.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Choose the correct account, click View register. 
4. On the filter icon, click the drop-down arrow and type in Opening balance. 
5. Click Apply. 
6. If it shows up, click it.
7. Next, Click Edit. 
8. On the deposit transaction screen, click More at the bottom and choose Delete.
9. Click Yes.

Also, you might want to remove the remaining downloaded transactions from your banking page. You can exclude expenses from downloaded bank transactions.

If you need further assistance with the steps, I recommend calling our QuickBooks Online Support Team. They have additional tools to pull up your account and do a remote session. 

Here's how to contact our phone support: 

1. Go to: Get help with QuickBooks Online.
2. Select the contact us link.
3. On the Search for something else tab, type-in Customer Support.
4. Scroll-down and click the Get Phone Number.

That should do it! Please know that I'm just a post away if you have any other concerns about Opening Balance. Have a good one. 

QB automatically created the opening balance.  If I delete it, wont the account show with a balance on my balance sheet?

Jumping in to answer your question, mb4ngirl.

Yes, deleted opening balance will no longer show in you Balance Sheet. Please follow the steps given in the earlier replies on how to delete it.

Please know that the Community is always here to guide you always. Thanks!

What is a gear icon. I don't believe I have seen this in Quickbooks 2019 Mac? 

Rae

Thanks for looping in, @Rolling1.

The Gear Icon is available in QuickBooks Online version. Let me share some information to remove the Opening Balance Equity.

Opening Balance Equity is a special QuickBooks account in the equity section of the Balance Sheet. The most common reason for a balance in the Opening Balance Equity account is the result of a bank reconciliation that was not balanced to zero prior to completion.  The process of entering the ending balance, marking the items that have cleared the bank, and reconciling the difference to zero is the correct procedure. 

Once the account is reconciled back to zero, it is recommended that the account be marked as inactive.  

You can read through this article to learn more about opening balance equity account: Understanding the Opening Balance Equity Account.

You can always feel free to leave your comments below if you have other questions. I'm always here to help.

Hello,

I pulled the section that said Understanding the opening Balance Equity Account and printed it, however on the second page down at the bottom it says, click on Custom Transaction Detail Report.

The opening balance is still sitting there and the reconciliation was done in May. I just want to go forward and clear the account. I did the reconciliation and cleared the transactions, but the ending balance was not $0  So, cleared balance was $976.01 the new transactions were $1273.00 and total ending balance was 2,249.01. I hope this makes some sense to who is reading this.

Thanks,

Rae

Hello there, @Rolling1, 

It could be the cleared transactions in your register were voided, deleted, or changed since your last reconciliation was done in May. This might be the reason the incorrect opening balance is still incorrect. 

To help fix this, let's run these four reports to trace the account activity. This helps you identify reconciled transactions that were modified, deleted, or voided.

• Reconciliation Discrepancy report
• Previous Reconciliation report
• Bank Account QuickReport
• Audit Trail report

Here's how to run the first report: 

1. Go to Reports from the top menu. 
2. Select Banking. 
3. Choose either Reconciliation Discrepancy Report.
4. Select the appropriate account, then click OK. 
5. Review the report to identify any discrepancies. 

You can run the other three reports by going through this article: Find Reconciliation Discrepancies.

If the reports show that cleared transactions were deleted, verify if they were already reentered. If not, recreate the transactions. Then, calculate the difference in the ending balance on the reports. Once done, you'll use it to perform a special reconciliation. 

You can count me in if there's anything else you need. Have a great day, @Rolling1. 

Take care always, 

Raymond

after I follow all the steps here it tells me "The transaction you are trying to delete is linked to an account that is inactive. Please make the account active and try again." when I try to activate the account it is nowhere in the history......

Hello there, @ckconstruction19.

Let's make that there are no transactions linked to that account to delete the opening balance equity in QuickBooks Online.

Please follow the steps provided by @JanyRoseB on how to delete the opening balance.

Lastly, please have an accountant double check your records to make sure everything is recorded correctly.

For additional information on how to manage your QuickBooks account, feel free to visit this article: Help articles. I’m sure you’ll find it helpful.

Let me know if you need more help with this. Have a good day!

Hi Team,

I down load bank and credit cards statement from 2019 to quickbooks online. After finished, I notice in the chart of account, my opening balance is - $ 70000. Any action that I need to do with opening balance  such as edit beginning balance of credit card before I start to add or transfer in banking. Is the "-$70000" will change after all transaction in banking is added? what should I do with with opening balance account?

I would appreciate your help. Thank you.

Tiffany

I appreciate the complete details about your concern, @Tiff Nguyen.

When you added your bank account with QuickBooks for the first time, you can pick a day to start tracking your business transactions. Then, you enter the balance of your real-life bank account. By doing this, your balance matches from the start. Once set, when you record transactions, it may increase or decrease your account's balance.

Let's compare the balance to your real-life account by getting the bank statement. Then, you can edit it through the View register in QuickBooks Online.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Accounting menu.
2. Select the Chart of Accounts tab.
3. Locate the account.
4. Click the View Register under the Action column.
5. Find and select the opening balance entry.
6. Edit the amount.
7. Hit Save.

Also, make sure to match and categorize all your downloaded transactions before reconciling your account. Uncategorized transactions may affect your accounts balance. However, if you've already reconciled the account and trying to edit an opening balance, you can visit this article for information on how to fix it: Fix beginning balance issues during your first reconciliation in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with managing your downloaded bank transactions.

Hi! I have also question regarding on opening balance equity.We received a deposit frol paypal for the equity investment of the partner of the owner.It was listed as opening balance equity.is it correct or should i put it in owners investment?and 2nd question : what amount should i put on the equity investment?the money was transfered from paypal to checking account. there was a bank charge.Should i put the gross 10k$?or the new which is 9k+$ sumting.please enlighten me thanks

I deleted my opening balance off the check register in QBD & I did a journal entry to correct it but when I go to do a mini Reconciliation it shows zero in the beginning balance window.

What can I do to make Beginning Balance show up when I reconcile? 

Thank you !!! 

Thanks for joining this thread. Let me help you further with this beginning balance correction.

If you recently deleted the beginning balance entry for a correction, you can recreate the opening balance using a journal entry. Follow these steps before you do a mini-reconciliation and see if the beginning balance shows up.

Step 1: Create a journal entry using the correct date and amount you want to see in the Begin Reconciliation window.

1. From the Company menu, select Make General Journal Entries.
2. Update the date to the correct statement date of your beginning balance.
3. On the first line, choose the appropriate account from the Account drop-down.
4. Add the correct opening balance in the Debit column.
5. On the second line, select Opening Balance Equity.
6. Press Save.

Step 2: Perform a mini-reconciliation to correct the Beginning Balance in the Begin Reconciliation window.

1. Tap the Banking menu, then select Reconcile.
2. Pick the appropriate account from the Account drop-down.
3. Add the statement date and ending balance that match your Journal Entry.
4. Press Continue.
5. In the Deposits and Other Credits section, select the corresponding Journal Entry.
   Note: The amount shown for the Difference should now be zero.
6. Select Reconcile Now.

I'll leave some articles to help you further with the process:

• Enter opening balances for accounts in QuickBooks Desktop
• Fix beginning balance issues in QuickBooks Desktop

Let me know the result after you try out the steps. I'll be right here to help you further if you need any help with the reconciliation.