Negative Receivable Balance on Balance Sheet

Hi there, rjlmccann.

Welcome back to the QuickBooks Community. I'll ensure to share troubleshooting details to make sure that your Balance Sheet is up to date or stays accurate.

An issue with the balance is typically caused by one of two things. An accounts payable or accounts receivable transaction has affected the Balance Sheet account, or there's an unapplied payment. That said, negative receivable balances are usually the result of customers' credits or overpayments. I suggest running the A/R Aging Summary report to check the associated transactions and review the possible overpayments.

1. Click the Reports menu at the top.
2. Choose Customers & Receivables.
3. Select the A/R Aging Summary report.
4.  Double-click the negative amount. Then, it opens the A/R Aging QuickZoom report.
5. Open the payment that shows an open balance. Then, you're able to verify the payment amount entered.

Once done, there are three options in handling the credit. You can click this article to see the process: Give your customer a credit or refund in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows.

You may also open this article to see additional information on how you can fix the negative receivable balance on the Balance Sheet: Resolve AR and AP balances on the cash basis Balance Sheet.

I'm also adding this article to view some ways to narrow down the transaction or transactions that are causing your balance sheet to go out of balance: Advanced troubleshooting for balance sheets out of balance.

If you need further help with correcting the A/R balances or need further help with the steps, let me know in the comments below. I'll be more than happy to help. All the best!

I've attached a screenshot of my AR Aging Report (I tried to post it directly in this message but it wouldn't do it)... I've got negative totals for both the 31-60 & 61-90 but then a positive total for >90 with a $0 for the report Total.   So now I'm more confused than ever.

I've attached a copy of my AR Aging Summary Report (I tried to post it here, but it wouldn't do it).   I have negative totals for both 31-60 & 61-90 and then an offsetting positive balance for >90 for a grand total of $0 so now I'm more confused than ever!

Thank you for providing details, rjlmccann.

Let me ease that confusion and help you figure this out.
 

Aging Summary Report gives you an insight of your customers' outstanding balances, how much was due, and how long they've been past due.

Based on the screenshot you've given, negative amount that are showing under 31-60 and 61-90 days period are payment/credits that was not applied to any transactions. Positive amounts that are showing more than 90 days due are invoices.

You'll need to make sure that those payment are applied correctly to each invoices which are the positive amounts. You can also open each transactions by clicking each amounts on the report.

I've added this article for you to check which scenario and steps you should take to correct customer payments.

Let me know if you still have questions or clarifications about reports. I'm always here to help. Enjoy your weekend.

I have done all that i can to figure this out. I still have a negative balance in my A/R. All credits have been applied..however, they still show up on the report. This makes the report very hard to read. Is there a way to run a custom report that shows only unapplied payments or only outstanding invoices? We have an integrated program and I am concerned the mapping is not right. I am trying to narrow this down and find the issue causing the negative balance. please advise. 

Thanks for using QuickBooks in managing your sales transactions, wwampler. It can be rough when you have a negative balance in your AR. I'm here to help you with that.

To find unapplied payments in QuickBooks Desktop, let's review the Customer Balance Detail/Summary report. I'll show you how:

1. Go to the Reports menu and then select Customer & Receivables.
2. Select Customer Balance Detail/Summary.
3. Customize the report.
4. Make sure the correct report period is selected.
5. Once done, review the report to identify any unapplied payments.

We can also run the Open Invoices report to locate the outstanding transactions in the program. Here's how:

1. Go to the Reports menu and then select Customers & Receivables.
2. Choose Open Invoices.
3. Customize the report.
4. Click the invoice with Open balance, then apply the unapplied payments.

I'd also suggest checking out this article to locate the transactions in Accounts Receivable that cause the discrepancy: AR Balance on the Chart of Accounts Does not Match AR Balance on Reports.

Additionally, you always check out these resources to get different perspectives of how your business is doing from time to time. This way, you'll be able to ensure your books are always accurate:

• Customize Company and Financial Reports
• Customize Customer, Job, and Sales Reports

I'm only a few clicks away if you need assistance managing your QuickBooks transaction, wwampler. It's always my pleasure to help you out again.

I just cleared up this issue for a client and I'll tell you what I did.  I clicked Search, then Advanced Search, then Journal Entries, to Account, and filtered by Accounts Receivable.  Our CPA made adjusting entries to AR to match to the tax return and several of them were not reconciled.  Open each item in the list and see that it has a payment referenced in the upper corner.  If it doesn't, it is part of your balance.  Open that customer, click on new transaction, then match the journal entry to the outstanding invoice.  I dated these in the current year to not mess up anything in prior years.  Let me know if that helps.

I am having a similar issue. My AR is showing a negative balance, however, all of the payments have been applied. If I open the payment, uncheck it and reapply it, that amount is removed from the negative balance on the balance sheet. It appears that even though the A/R on the customer is zero and ALL payments have been applied, they are not showing up correctly on the balance sheet. Is there a way to trigger a recalc on the balance sheet because it is obviously not picking up the A/R payments that have been applied.

Hello there, bdolphin. I appreciate you joining this thread.

It's good to know that the amount is already removed from the negative balance on the Balance Sheet report. The report should generate the payments that have been applied correctly.

Can you share a screenshot for additional reference? This helps me determine the reason why it's happening on your end. In the meantime, let's make sure to refresh the report by clicking the Refresh button to get the data accurately. Then, toggle the appropriate reporting basis or method. Doing this helps us populate the A/R payments needed.

To customize the Balance Sheet report and other QuickBooks reports, we can use this article for further guidance: Run and customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop. 

Also, you'll want to check this link for more details about tracking customer transactions within your company file: Different ways you can track customer transactions.

Let me know if you have other concerns. I'll be around to help you in any way that I can.

It only takes them out when I click on the transaction and unapply the payment and reapply it. In the meantime, lots of payments are showing once, sometimes twice and three times but when I click on them, they all go to the same payment and if I unapply and reapply, it removes it from the A/R on the balance sheet. This system won't let me upload a picture. 

We appreciate you sharing the result after following the solution provided by my colleague, bdolphin. Let's get you connected to the right support channel that can help correct the negative balance on your balance sheet report.

We'll need to go over the payments and other transactions to figure out what's causing the issue. The process requires us to gather personal data to pull up an account. 

For security reasons, I recommend contacting our Technical Support Team. They can conduct extensive troubleshooting in a secure environment. When the issue has been identified, they will assist you in implementing the real-time solution. 

To obtain the contact information: 

1. In your company file, go to the Help menu at the top bar and choose Contact Us.
2. Type a brief description of the issue, like, encountering an issue customizing a statement, and select Continue.
3. Sign in to your Intuit account and click Continue and then Continue with my account.
4. If you don't already have an account, make sure to Create a new account.
5. We'll email you a single-use code.
6. Enter it and select Continue.
7. If you have more than one account, select the account you want to use and then Continue.
8. Select to Chat with us or Have us call you.

I've included some resources that will guide you on how to troubleshoot the following issues:

• Fix a Balance Sheet that's out of balance
• Advanced troubleshooting for balance sheets out of balance

For tools to aid you in completing your accounting tasks on time and resources to make your business thrive, feel free to visit the Community page.

If you need further assistance while working in QuickBooks or have additional questions about running the balance sheet. I'd be delighted to respond to them.