Balance sheet - best practices

I'm glad to hear that you're having a positive experience with QuickBooks, @whaywood1. Allow me to share what to do with your liabilities and inventory.

Firstly, for Liabilities that are not Accounts Payable, such as Accruals, the best practice in QuickBooks Online (QBO) is indeed to use manual Journal Entries. We should also make any adjustments to these liabilities through manual journal entries.

In terms of utilizing Journal Entries and making any adjustments, I recommend consulting with an accountant to ensure accuracy and proper tracking.

Second, QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced offer specific features for Inventory tracking that automate many processes, reducing the need for manual entries and minimizing errors.

However, since you're using QuickBooks Online Essentials, we can only track the value of your Inventory Assets manually. For further information and detailed guidance, please refer to this article: Track inventory manually in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, you can check out this article to learn how to set up and add accounts to your Chart of Accounts: Add an account to your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

You can always post here in the Community if you have more concerns about utilizing journal entries to track liabilities and inventory. Keep safe.

Hi @RogelioL 

Yes, sharing screenshots will provide us with great help in resolving this reconciliation issue, whaywood1. I'm here to guide you through the process of updating your opening balance to ensure the accuracy of your financial data.

When you reconcile, you can only state or indicate your account's ending balance. The absence of the Opening balance equity entry means that you're unable to input an Opening balance while setting up the account. With this, you'll have to create a journal entry to add an opening balance. Here's how:

1. Go to the + New button.
2. Select Journal entry.
3. Enter a date that comes before the oldest transaction in the account. This will be the opening balance date.
4. On the first row of the Account column, select the dropdown menu to choose the account you want to enter the opening balance.
5. Add a note in the Description field so you know what the journal entry is for.
6. On the second row of the Account column, click the drop-down and choose Opening Balance Equity.
7. Use your bank statements to enter the balance of your real-life account on the date you picked as the opening balance. You'll need to enter both a debit and a credit to keep things accurate. Enter the debits and credits based on the type of account you entered on the first row.
8. Click Save and close.

After that, mark the journal entry as reconciled. For the step-by-step guide, refer to Step 3 in this article: What to do if you didn't enter an opening balance in QuickBooks Online.

Moreover, QuickBooks automatically generates a report whenever you complete a reconciliation. If you wish to view, print, or export it, check out this article for the complete guide: Reconciliation report in QuickBooks Online.

If you have other reconciliation concerns or need assistance with anything else in QuickBooks, please update me by clicking the Reply button below. I'll be more than happy to help.

Hi @Rea_M 

Thanks a lot for this. I’m attaching a few screenshots to hopefully help, apologies about the clarity, I can only log into this forum on my phone for some reason.

As you see, I have entered an opening journal: Dr cash Cr opening equity on 1 May (before any other transaction). I opened this with €0, as the value in the bank at that point was nil, although I’m guessing this is incorrect?

I‘m also including the reconciling screen which shows a few of the outstanding transactions, which in reality (if all were shown) add up to €2.5k. Any help in solving this would be really appreciated! Thanks!!

I appreciate the screenshot you've shared for better clarification, @whaywood1. I'm happy to assist you in unreconciling the journal entry.

We can manually remove the reconciliation status on the journal entry you've accidentally reconciled. We can also change the amount before we can save the changes. Here's how:

1. Go to your Bank transactions, then click Chart of Accounts.
2. Find the bank and then select View Register.
3. Search and click the opening balance you want to unreconcile.
4. In the Checkmark column, click on the tile until it's cleared. (you can also change the amount in this step)
5. Hit Save.
6. You will receive a pop-up notification about the changes, then click Yes.

Let me share this article if you have duplicate accounts to merge: Merge duplicate accounts, customers, and vendors in QuickBooks Online.

The Community is here 24/7 to assist you if you still have questions about your reconciliation. Have a great day ahead.