HOW CAN i MAKE CERTAIN ACCOUNTS IN THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS INACTIVE?

Hi @paulstewart1940,

Thanks for joining the Community. I can guide you through making certain accounts in the Chart of Accounts inactive. 

Users can delete accounts in QuickBooks Online that they're no longer using. When an account has been deleted, it will appear as inactive in the Chart of Accounts. The deletion of an account will not erase the transactions contained in there, so reports won't change. Here's how to delete an account:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Locate the account that you'd like to delete. 
4. Select the drop-down in the Action column and press Delete.
5. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete.

I've included a video to serve as a visual guide:

You can restore a deleted account at any time. Additionally, if the account has a non-zero balance then an adjusting transaction will be made. For additional information about this and deleting accounts, I recommend the following article: How to Delete an Account and Restore It.

With these steps and article, you'll be able to make an account inactive in just a few clicks. 

The Community has your back and is happy to assist anytime. Wishing you well. 
 

Even though the QB balance is listed as $0, when I try to make an account inactive, I get the following error message:  This account cannot be inactivated because there are transactions in it that have a non-zero balance.  

What does this mean, and how do I fix so I can make it inactive?

Thanks for joining this conversation, KFreyGTCC.

Allow me to share some insights on making an account inactive.

QuickBooks won't let us inactivate an account with zero balance but has multiple transactions in it. Delete the transactions first. Here's how:

1. Choose Accounting on the left pane, then select Chart of Accounts at the top.
2. Locate the account you want to inactivate and click View Register.
3. Select a transaction.
4. Click More and choose Delete.
5. Choose Yes to confirm.

Once done, you should be able to make it inactive. Here's how:

1. Choose Accounting on the left pane, then select Chart of Accounts at the top.
2. Locate the account you want to inactivate and choose Make inactive under the Action column.

Here's an article for future reference: How to delete an account or restore a deleted account.

That should get you on the right track. I'd like to make sure that you're able to resolve this concern, so please let me know how that works. Best regards.

That makes no sense./

If I delete a transaction - it will ripple thoughout the entire QBO///

Hi there, @B-MUSIC-school.

When you delete a transaction, it will completely erase it from your books. It won’t show anymore in your reports or your accounts. Once it’s already deleted, you can’t recover the transaction, and you can only recover the details in your Audit Log.

I also suggest consulting your accountant for further accuracy of your books, and any accounting helps.

You can check this link for more insights into deleting transactions in QuickBooks (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/customer-topics/void-or-delete-transactions-in-qui...).

Thanks for posting. If you have any other concerns, feel free to reply to the tread. Have a good one.

I know that.   Hence the answer from  Precious B above- makes no sense.

I can not make a specific account inactive, because even though the register shows 0

if you try to make it inactive  you get the response:
This account cannot be inactivated because there are transactions in it that have a non-zero balance.

so.....   that sucks.    The account in question, in the desktop version, WAS inactive. WHen I did the conversion yesterday, it is now showing up in the CoA...

I know how important it is for you to make some of these accounts inactive, B-Music-school.

The error will only occur if the account has a transaction that is linked to an inactive account. Deleting transactions is not necessary, unless you've already consulted your accountant for an advise about this. You can view this article for more information: Error - This transaction will cause a deleted account named (name of account) (deleted) to have non-....

Before we can delete the account that has the error, we'll want to review the transactions. This is to determine what account has been made inactive that causes the error.

1. Go to the Chart of Accounts page.
2. Look for the account that has the error and click View register.
3. Click a transaction to see the details.
4. Select More at the bottom of the transaction page.
5. Select Transaction journal.
6. Take note of the inactive account.
7. Repeat Steps 2-6 for other transactions under the account you want to delete.

Once you've got the inactive accounts, we'll want to activate them temporarily.

1. Go to the Chart of Accounts page.
2. Click the small gear icon above the ACTION column.
3. Mark (✔) the Include inactive box.
4. Look for the accounts that need to be activated.

After that, make sure the transactions will not be associated to account. You can update or delete it if necessary.

Again, I'd recommend reaching out to your accountant to determine what to do with the associated transactions.

You can continue making the accounts inactive once you've taken cared of the transactions.

Related articles and steps in deleting an account are already on this thread. You can back-read the responses if you need more help with this.

We'll get back to you and provide additional steps depending on the results.

Again, I do not want to delete any transaction....

I want to make an account INACTIVE ( again, since this conversion QBO just put inactive accounts in my CoA) - I have been working with desktop versions for 30 years....

So - I have to "Activate " all the inactive accounts, and then ?

The real question is why did QBO not just use the active CoA during the conversion?

Thoughts?

Sad.

Hey there, @B-MUSIC-school. Thanks for providing an update.

During a conversion from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online, it will bring over all accounts, regardless of status (if there are transactions associated with them).

That being said, if you make a register with transactions inactive, QuickBooks will create an adjustment entry to zero out that register’s balance. This adjustment might not look good on your reports. Be sure to talk to your accountant first. If you need an accountant, we'll help you find one near you.

Some types of accounts can't be made inactive. I've included those below for your reference. Please check that the account you're trying to inactivate isn't one of those listed below;

• Accounts used by a product or service: Make the product or service inactive first. Or change the account it uses.
• Income accounts that have un-invoiced charges: Make sure to invoice your customers for billable expenses, time, or charges first.
• Accounts that QuickBooks needs: Some accounts, like Undeposited Funds, can’t be made inactive because they serve important roles in your accounting. Learn more about these accounts.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do to be of assistance.

I am having the same issue as B-MUSIC-school. I cannot delete any A/R accounts, even though they all have $0 balance. They each have 2-10 transactions in them from almost 20 years ago. However, none of the transactions are linked to inactive accounts. They are also not any of the 3 types of accounts you mention (Accounts used by a product or service, Income accounts that have un-invoiced charges, or Accounts that QuickBooks needs). They are plain and simple A/R accounts. And I get this error message: "This account cannot be inactivated because there are transactions in it that have a non-zero balance."

Is the ONLY solution to go through and delete all of the transactions within the accounts? That seems insane and bad practice. Why are A/R accounts seemingly impossible to delete?

I appreciate you for bumping up this thread, jshand.

The A/R accounts cannot be deleted because of the transactions associated with it. We don't have to do so because it will mess up your balances.

What we can do is to merge the A/R accounts to the default one. I'll guide you on where you can do it. Here's how:

1. Go to the Accounting and select the Chart of Accounts tab.
2. Locate the account that you wish to merge.
3. Under the Action column, click the drop-down arrow next to the View Register. Then, select Edit.
4. Change the name of the account, use the name of the default Account Receivable account in your book.
5. Click Save and Close.

You may need the sample screenshot below:

To know more about managing the default and special accounts, you can go to this link: Manage Account in QuickBooks Online.

Just virtually tap me on the shoulder if you need further assistance. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. 

I have already tried this. I now just have 2 accounts called accounts receivable, one with a balance (my actual active A/R) and one not (the one I just renamed).

Thanks for getting back to us with a screenshot, jshand.

It looks like all applicable troubleshooting steps have been shared as I read through the entire thread. 

In this case, we would need to take a closer look at this to determine why you're unable to delete the other A/R account. Our phone agents will be able to investigate and help you further with this.  

Here's how to reach out to them:

1. Go to the Help menu and click Contact Us.
2. Let them know that you're unable to delete an A/R account. 
3. Click Let's talk.
4. Select the Chat or Get a callback option.

Please reach out to us again if you have other questions why managing your Chart of Accounts. We're here to look for the answers and help you again. 

I have the same issue as above, 25 years of QB desktop. Sent 9 hours on telephone support over 2 days, speaking to 8 different people. They don’t know what to do either and just cut you off when they get stuck.

the last guy deleted a 20 year old account the mysterious came across with a £22,000 balance in it, after deleteing none of my other account balanced. He relalised what he had done and hung up immediately 

next person said we could see what has been done in the audit log but couldn’t recover so purge everything and start again from scratch.

dont know what to do, I have run payrolls and invoiced clients already 

Thank you for posting here in the Community, @Should have bought Sage.

I don't want you to go through all of this problem when converting from QuickBooks Desktop. However, this type of concern requires us to check your account, and it can't be done in this public forum.

Since you already contacted our QuickBooks Support Team, I suggest you continue working with them to get back on track. Here's how:

1. In your company, go the Help icon to choose Contact Us.
2. Type the issue/topic under the What can we help you with section and then hit the Let’s talk button.
3. Scroll down to select the necessary option.

Please also note that you can only move a company file within 60 days after signing up. It's still possible to bring over the company from Desktop together with the old accounts if you did not exceed the specified time frame.

I've also included the necessary articles you can visit in case you need more ideas about the importing process:

• Limitations when you convert from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Desktop.

• What to expect when you switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

• Move your QuickBooks Desktop file to QuickBooks Online.

• Delete your data and start over in QuickBooks Online.

Please know that the Community has your back if you need assistance. Feel free to post a question, get answers, share tips, ideas, and more. Wishing you and your business continued success.

Same issue here. I've spent countless hours over the years, increasing recently with the move to QB Online, trying to get sensible support. It rarely happens. What you will find -- if you've been at this for over two decades you probably already know -- is a consistently polite response from the QB support people here, followed by information that is at best no use, and at worst nothing at all to do with what you need to know. But you can be sure that they are glad you joined the thread, and that they have your back, etc.

As for SAGE: well, to be fair, I *started* with SAGE (Instant Accounting) back in the day, and it sucked *so bad* that QuickBooks was a delight to move to. But that was 20 years ago. Perhaps SAGE has improved since then, but for sure QB has fallen off a cliff. These days, I list QB and QB Online in particular as in my top five Worst Programs Ever. I'm in software test and I used to keep a log of the bugs and annoyances that I stubbed my toe on, sometimes daily. But there were so many, and Intuit seem so uninterested, I gave up maintaining that. I'm now just waiting for the right time to jump to something like Netsuite.

Sorry, I can't offer any help but just wanted to let you know that you're not alone!

Yes- finally!  This worked!

I am also having the same issue.  WE migrated from the Desktop Pro version to the online version and now all of my former inactive accounts are showing on my reports (Balance Sheet, etc)  In the Desktop version I could inactivate these former accounts and they would not be shown on the reports.  I could also have the option to activate the account again if needed.  I viewed the tutorials on the help page for custom reports and I also do not show the drop downs they show on the video.  There is a checkbox for activate and inactivate but it doesn't do anything.  All these account that I want to deactivate have a ZERO Balance and there is no need for them to be shown.  Why can't they just be hidden like the other version was able to do???

Thank you for joining this Community thread, TMR2. Let me share some information about making an account inactive in QuickBooks Online.

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.

Additionally, some accounts in QuickBooks are default accounts and cannot be deleted. Here are some extra steps before you can make an account inactive:

• Change the account that the products or services are linked to if they use the account. Or , you can make any products or services inactive that use the account.
• Invoice your clients for the billable costs, time, or charges if you want to delete an income account that has pending charges. After that, you can make the account inactive.
• You must unlink any recurring transactions that are connected to the account.
• You can't deactivate accounts with subaccounts until you move the subaccounts.

Once you're ready to make an account inactive, just follow this steps:

1. Go to the Gear ⚙ icon.
2. Select Chart of accounts.
3. Find the account you want to make inactive.
4. Click on the Action ▼ dropdown, and then 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.

Visit this link to learn how to customize reports in QuickBooks Online so that inactive accounts are hidden for your balance sheet report. But, this may have an impact on the accuracy of the results.

Let me know if you still need further assistance with your chart of accounts. I'll be glad to help. Take care and have a great day!

In response to your mention of making the product/service inactive that is using the COA account you want to also make inactive; this does not work and I have been fighting with this for day. QBO experts have no resolutions. I'm trying to clean up our COA, inactive all the inventory accounts that were never used, or used properly and have a zero balance, and eliminate some of the COGs and COSs accounts which are either redundant or never used and nothing I try allows me to inactive the accounts.  If anyone has solid advice, please post.

Hello there, @kimf3.

I want to help you. But I need more information to discern your concern better. Moreover, did you receive an error message or prompts while making them inactive? Additional details will help me narrow things down and provide accurate resolutions for you.

Here's an article in case you need tips to customize your accounts in QuickBooks: How to organize your chart of accounts. It allows you to quickly determine your financial health. This way, you can make better arrangements moving forward.

Write me soon once the information is ready. I look forward to working with you in the future. 

Hi Kim, When I print out the balance sheet each month it shows my closed accounts with zero balances from years ago.  I made them inactive thinking that would solve the issue but it didn't do anything.  Why does this report have to show the closed or 0 balance accounts?

Thank you for trying to help.

Thank you for joining this thread, @TMR2. I'm here to help you customize the financial statements reports in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

I know how important for you to exclude zero amounts on your report. Right now, the Balance Sheet report doesn't have the option to exclude inactive accounts. If you inactivate the accounts, the balances in the Balance sheet will still remain. You'll need to delete the transactions on the account manually. 

You can instead export your report to Excel if you wish to run a Transaction report. From there, you can export the report to Excel and make the necessary changes from there. 

Here's how:

1. Go to the Report menu.
2. Select the specific report that you want to run.
3. Click the Export icon, then choose Export to Excel.
4. Save the file somewhere you can easily find it.

Check out this article for more details: Export your reports to Excel from QuickBooks Online.

To know more about how you can change and personalize your reports, please head to our Customize Reports page. 

Also, QBO makes it easy to export, print, and send your reports. Check this article to know more details:  Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you need additional assistance in accessing your reports in QuickBooks. I'm always around to help you achieve your goal. Have a great day ahead.