Why do I suddenly have two accounts payable accounts?

Hi @user77524,

I'm here to take care of this concern and help you get back to your business. 

You can find out who created this second Accounts Payable account. Use the Audit log feature of QuickBooks Online (QBO) to do so. 

Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Select Audit log.
3. Click the Filter drop-down menu.
4. Set the User drop-down menu to All.
5. Change Date drop-down menu to All dates.
6. Under the Events section, tick Lists.
7. Hit Apply.

You'll then see a filtered list of events for your QBO company. Search for an event that starts with Added Account, then the name of the second Accounts Payable account in question. You'll also see who created it.

If it's created in error, you have the option to merge them with your original Accounts Payable account. This process will consolidate the transactions of both accounts.

See this article for the steps: Merge duplicate accounts, customers, and vendors in QuickBooks Online. 

Additional details on this topic are in this article: Manage default and special accounts in your chart of accounts. It's a list of accounts in your QBO that you can't delete or merge, and otherwise.

Post a comment below if you have other questions for me. I'll be sure to get back to you. 

That you for such a prompt reply! That came close to solving it but I'm still not there. When I attempt to merge the two accounts, QBO says that there is already an account with that number and I must change the number. (Even though it asked me if I want to merge and I said yes.) So it recognized that they were identical and still would not let me merge them.

Hello, @user77524! Glad to see you back in the Community. :)

Thanks for updating us on those merging accounts. I brought up my own test account to follow along with the article provided above. I did different combinations of numbers and letters in the name, and they all merged successfully. Let's have you double-check the name, detail type, and account type to make sure they're the same (even though the error code seems to recognize this). Once you've verified all the information is identical (case sensitive for the name), if it still doesn't work, let's try some browser troubleshooting. 

1. Make sure your browser is up to date.
2. Clear cache. 
3. Try the same actions in another browser and in incognito mode.

Let me know if any of those suggestions work successfully. If not, can you send a couple of screenshots of the error, along with pictures of both accounts? Looking forward to helping you get those accounts merged. :)

Hi. Thank you for your help! I tried all of the things including an incognito window. Here is a screenshot of the window that comes up after I select "yes" to merge the accounts.

Hello there, user77524. Thanks for getting back to us.

It seems like you've entered the account numbers already to the other Payable Account (A/P). We can remove the account number from the duplicate one to successfully merge the two payable accounts. As long as the account numbers are added to the other payable account, it'll show up after you merged them.

For additional reference, feel free to use this article: Merge duplicate accounts in QuickBooks Online. If you have accounts that you no longer use, you can make them inactive. 

You can run the Transaction Detail by Account report to see the lists of transactions created on a specific account. To learn more about customizing and memorizing QuickBooks Online reports, you can check the links below:
 

• Learn how to get the most out of your financial reports. 
• Memorize reports in QuickBooks Online. 

Let me know if you have other questions. Take care and stay safe always!

That did the trick! Thank you all for the guidance. Have a happy holiday!

I have this happing but it not really account payable, Added Account: 

account type is Account Payable A/P 

Detail type is Account Payable A/P

 Name_de21da4980814e35adc5932e10b568e5 

i have tried Q support and they cant help me 

Hey there, @dawnjici.

Thanks for joining the thread and bringing this to our attention. 

Do you have any other users who has an access to your QuickBooks Online account (QBO)? If so, they might be the ones who added this A/P account in the Chart of Accounts. 

To verify, let's use the Audit log feature in QuickBooks. This way, we can identify the name of the who created the account. Here's how:
 

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Select Audit log.
3. Click the Filter drop-down menu.
4. Set the User drop-down menu to All.
5. Change Date drop-down menu to All dates.
6. Under the Events section, tick Lists.
7. Hit Apply.

You can also copy the name of the account using the shortcut keys CTRL + C. Then, press CTRL + F and paste the name to easily locate find it from the Audit Log window. 

Once verified, you have the option to keep the account or make it inactive. If this is connected to some of your transactions, you can merge it to the original A/P account.

Please also take note that other special accounts are created when certain features are turned on in the settings. You can check out this article to find out which default account can be deleted, edited, or merged in QuickBooks: Manage default and special accounts in your chart of accounts.

Just let me know if you have other questions. Have a great day ahead.