What account should a check received from a vendor for consulting be posted to? I have the check added to the components of the invoice that it came from.

make the vendor a customer, change the name slightly (I add a period), and use a sales receipt if you actually got a check in hand

If consulting is an aspect of your business then I would use an income account I create called consulting income.  If it is not an aspect of your business, then it is Other Income.

If the check was a reduction of the vendor bill, use the income account for it, and enter the amount as a negative number on the bill

I am not sure I was clear.  Some of my entries went to the correct account.  I have attached an example of my problem.  In August 2019 there is a deposit of $13035.37 as an unapplied deposit.  It is actually to be applied to the sum of the items above it that are from an invoice to the customer.  The way it is now it looks like I made double the amount I actually did since the components above the deposit are added to the deposit.  How do I apply them?  All the elements are present, just not combined properly.

I appreciate you for providing complete information above to clarify the issue, @eganders.

Let me help ensure you're able to apply your deposits to make sure your books are accurate.

Before we start, I'd like to verify if you add the deposit instead of matching them to the actual payment? If so, this process will create duplicate entries in the register. To resolve the duplicate amount, you can undo the added deposit and match it to the correct invoice payment.

To undo the added bank transaction, here's how:

1. Go to the Banking menu.
2. Select the blue tile for the account you want to review.
3. Click the Reviewed tab.
4. Find the transaction you want to undo.
5. Select Undo from the Action column. 

Once done, the transaction will go back to the For Review tab. From there, let's match it with the transaction you've already entered in QuickBooks so there aren't any duplicates.

1. Select the transaction to expand the view. 
2. Review the Records found.
3. Select the link next to each record to get more details.
4. Review the Deposit to field on the forms. 
5. Click Match when you're done.

In case you want to review your accounts in QuickBooks to make sure they match your bank statements, kindly refer to this article for the detailed steps: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online. It also contains information on how you can edit your completed reconciliations.

Please let me know if you have other concerns. I'm just around to help.

I need to supply some more information because I think I gave the impression I was making manual entries that created the unapplied cash payment income.  What I did is change an entry that was downloaded from my bank from consulting income (entered during review of bank downloads, which appeared to duplicate the total from the invoice entries) to accounts receivable.  It then shows up as unapplied cash payment income.  I was hoping to match the payment to the invoices, but I don't know how.  I am somewhat new to the online Quickbooks and the methods are different I have some screenshots that I hope will help.  I hesitate to make any changes until I know I am on the right track. 

Here is another image showing the change I did to the bank download from consulting income to accounts receivable.  It showed up as unapplied cash payment income.

I appreciate the screenshots and detailed information you've provided, eganders. 

It looks like that we already added the payment from our bank feeds to the bank's register. These payments are now available credits to your customers since we changed the account to Accounts Receivable (A/R). Instead of undoing the process for us to match it to the invoices, we can receive a payment. From there, we can link the invoice and payment. 

I'll show you how:

1. From the + New button click Receive Payment. 
2. Select the Customer and Payment date. 
3. Check all applicable Invoices under the Outstanding Transactions. 
4. Under the Credit section, select the Deposit or Unapplied Payment. 
5. Click Save and close. 

Please do the same process to the other customers. Once done, we can review our Profit and Loss report again if the Unapplied Cash Payment Income is already cleared out. 

Feel free to get back to me if you need anything else. Thanks!

A little more information and a screenshot of the receive payment screen I want to show you so you can help me understand the logic of what is going on before I go any further.

I entered the customer as it appears under account in the check register.  Immediately the screen in the screenshot displays (the date appears to have no effect).  There are 3 transactions checked and 3 credits checked (all from the customer entered).  Invoice 202 which represents the 3rd credit of  $13035.37 does not appear in the outstanding transaction list.

Understand that my customers (only 2)  typically have  one payment per invoice mostly 1 month apart.  There is no revolving account, although once in a while the customer might pay 2 invoices with 1 check.

I don't understand why most everything is checked in the receive payment screen

The 3rd deposit (for $13035.17) under the credits which is for invoice 202 is the one I am concentrating on at the moment.  I would think that there should be only 1 transaction and 1 credit.  Invoice 202 is missing.

I tried to enter invoice 202 in the find by invoice no and the correct customer came up and the EXACT same screen as shown in the screenshot appears, but no invoice 202...  

There are a few possibilities why invoices doesn't show up as outstanding transactions, eganders. 

Let's check first on what happened to the invoice. It can be that it has been paid, deleted, or the invoice number was edited. We can do standard search by clicking the magnifying glass at the upper-right corner. Enter 202 in the search field to be specific and then click View more. 

Click on the invoice if we're able to see a similar search. If there are no results found, we can look for the invoice through the Audit Log report. 

Let me show you how: 

1. Go to the Gear icon and click Audit Log. 
2. Select the Filter drop-down to customize the display. 
3. Select Show only these events and check Transactions box. 
4. Click Apply. 
5. Select View under the History column. 

We can recreate the invoice if there no records found and from there we can receive the payment linking it to the correct deposit. 

In addition, most transactions are checked since we have an opening balance of the Check amounting to 682.31. Thus, QuickBooks will recognize that we might want to use the existing credit which is the third Deposit. We can uncheck it so it won’t apply to a different transaction.

I'm here if you have further questions. I'll be around to help you. 

I looked in sales and looked at Invoice 202 which shows up and was paid.  I don't know what that means.

As an example, I looked at invoice 195 and it was not marked as paid. It is the 10650.85 in February 2019 showing up in Feb of 2019 in the profit and loss report.  I know it was paid on 2/8/2019 and I thought that I would have marked it as paid.  

I have a screenshot attached of the invoices from the sales screen.  The invoice 195 (as an example) does not show up in the sales screenshot.  Why doesn't it?

What should I do?  

Thanks for actively responding, @eganders. I appreciate you for providing us the screenshot, it helps a lot.

I'd recommend following the steps provided by my peer @Catherine_B in checking with your Audit Log report. That would help you track changes made in your QuickBooks account. 

If you're still unable to locate the transaction, I'd suggest you contact our QuickBooks Online Customer Support team. They can help review your information to see why invoice 195 isn't showing and will further advise on what to do next. 

Here's an article to help you more about how to use the audit log in QuickBooks Online. 

Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any other concerns. I'm happy to lend a helping hand.

OK...

I have found all the invoices that I am concerned with.  There are 4.  2 are marked paid (202 & 208) and 2 are not shown as paid (195 & 196).  Since I changed the account of these invoices from consulting to accounts receivable, I am afraid to change anything else until I am sure I will not mess something up.  The checks from the customer relating to these invoices show up in the profit & loss report as "unapplied cash payment income".  If I could "link" them to the invoices so they did not double the total, they  would show the proper total income.

How do I link these?

By the way,

Would it be a better idea for you to link into my account and look around while I am on line with you?

I think I know how to do this, but I want to pass it by you.

Use receive payment and match the invoice under outstanding transactions  to the corresponding deposit under credits.  Should I do each one separately?  I am afraid that checking all the invoices to all the corresponding deposits will mess them up unless I do 1 at a time.

Hey there, @eganders. 

Welcome back to the Community. The only way you can use a screen share is with our Customer Support Team. They have a specific tool built for screen shares to help you through your account. Here's how to get in touch with them: 

1. Open QuickBooks. 
2. Go to the Help icon. 
3. Press Contact Us at the bottom of the pop-up page. 
4. Give a brief description of your issue and then click Let's Talk. 
5. Scroll down and choose to Get a Callback. 

It's that easy. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I want to make sure that you're able to get this resolved. Have a great day!

Hopefully I can finish the problem of matching the invoices to payments myself.  Does the procedure I outlined in my previous post look OK?  Primarily I just want to know if I should match individual payments with individual invoices.

Hi there, @eganders.

Thanks for following up here.

To ensure that your books are accurate, I recommend reaching out to your accountant.

After reviewing the screenshot you provided, yes, you are on the right path to matching payments to your invoices. 

For more info about matching transactions to invoices, you can refer back to these links I've provided:

• How to match bank transaction to already paid invoice
• Record an invoice payments

If you have any more questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to comment below. Happy Monday!