It isn't the kind of experience that we want you to come across, LePrimaD.

At this time, I'd recommend reaching out to our Phone Support team so we can have your file to be checked.

Here's how:

1. From the Help menu, select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
2. Click Contact Us.
3. Enter a brief description of your concerns.
4. Click Continue.
5. You can select how you'll want to contact us.

I'll be around if ever you need help. Keep safe!

I have been reading through this thread and I have almost the exact same problem, Closing Entries are not in my Member Equity account. I have a -Six Figure balance in my Member Equity account. All that is in there are the transfers to Member Draw to balance that account to $0 at the end of the year. How the Greek do we fix this problem?

Started Sole Proprietor 2012, changed to S-Corp, Just noticing this in QB Online, thought I would check my lifetime Balance Sheet. Shows negative six figures in total. Shows Positive balance for this year when filtered. WTF?

This isn't the kind of experience we want you to have while managing your closing entries in QuickBooks Online (QBO), @Mike327. That's why I'm here to guide you on the actions you need to take care of the issue.

When a new fiscal year starts, QBO automatically adds the net income from the previous one to your Balance Sheet as Retained Earnings or Member Equity account. When you're seeing the exact opposite, I'd recommend contacting our Customer Care team. They can securely pull up your account, identify the cause, and guide you with its fix.

You'll first have to check out our support hours to assist you on time. In case you want to talk to one of our representatives to relay this matter, you need to request a callback. Here's how:

1. Go to the Help menu.
2. Choose Contact Us. 
3. Enter your specific concern in the What can we help you with? field. 
4. Click Let's talk. 
5. Select Get a callback. 
6. Enter your contact details. 
7. Click Confirm my call. 

I've attached a screenshot below for your reference.

In the meantime, I'm adding these articles to further guide you in managing your financial data (books) and company accounts using QBO:

• Understanding the Equity Accounts on Your Financial Statements

• Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks

Keep me posted if you have other concerns about Equity accounts and monitoring your financial reports in QBO. Take care and stay safe always.

My retained earnings account is missing as well and I am an S corp and this didn't seem to have been created automatically as an equity account by QBs. 

Hello, AlisonYew. 

To help you narrow down the cause of this unexpected behavior, I recommend reaching our customer support team. They'll be able to initiate a screen sharing session to take a closer look to moreover isolate this issue.     

To contact our support, here's how:  

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company. Then click Help (?).  
2. Click Talk to a human.  
3. Choose Talk to a human.  
4. Enter your concern.  
5. Tap Contact us. 

Just a heads up, due to the pandemic we have limited staffing. To make sure you get prioritized on your concern. Please check out our support hours and contact us at a time convenient: ​​Support hours and types.      

You're always welcome to post here if you have questions or other concerns with QuickBooks Online in the future. Have a great day!

i do not have or see a retained earnings account i need to create one. how do i do that?

Hi there, @SimoneatNBBM. I'm here to share some details about Retained Earnings in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

The Retained Earnings account is an Equity account that is also named as the Owner's Equity or Shareholder's Equity in your Balance Sheet. 

Regarding your other concern about creating an Equity account, you can do that by following the steps below:

1. Go to the Lists menu and select Chart of Accounts.
2. From the Account ▼dropdown, select New.
3. Click an account type, then select Continue.
4. Complete the account details.
5. Click Save & Close.

I'd recommend contacting your accounting expert to double-check the account details and the transactions created, such as assigning the share of your shareholders if you're registered as a Corporation. Your accountant will assess and give you the best advice that fits your business needs. If you don't have one, you can check out this link: Find a ProAdvisor.

In addition, you can review this article to know more about managing your business accounts: Learn about the chart of accounts in QBDT. It contains multiple ways how to handle your transactions and the categorization details.

Moreover, I've added an reference to help you track your business' transaction flow in the future: Run reports in QuickBooks Online. 

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. I'm always around to lend a hand. Take care! 

i have question on this subject. this is 1st time for me to do member distributions. i see you were saying you do this thru journal entry. .. but when i write the check wont that double do it? im confused on how i write the check and record it. .. seems like writing the check to member distributions should handle it in 1 transaction

Glad to see you back here, jackpot.

I can see that you've already posted this concern here in the Community forum, and my colleague, ReaM, provided a solution to help you resolve this as soon as possible. I'll be happy to route you to her suggestion so you can begin with the troubleshooting. Please see the link below:

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/employees-and-payroll/re-how-do-you-pay-yourself-a...

If you have more questions about writing checks in QuickBooks Online, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. We'll make sure to address all your concerns. Have a nice day!

Alhilpert, I had the same questions, but it's very difficult to get a clear solution from QBs staff because they cut & paste answers that lead you down a rabbit hole maze, which just leads to more questions!

Thank your for posting your solution in clear language and accurate solutions!

Now, on to adjusting and closing entries!