Change Beginning/Ending Balance to a Completed Reconciliation

TKTrident · ‎April 01, 2023

I am using QBO Plus Only (No QBOA)

Our accountant had recorded a cash advance as a petty cash payment, let's say $100. She then reconciled the account with an incorrect ending balance. The cash advance PLUS the expenses purchased with the cash advance. So the ending balance showed $100 short Petty Cash. She reconciled anyway hoping to find the mistake & correct I guess.
That was in June, and now June through December are ALL reconciled, but with a cash amount balance reconciled in QBO that is actually short by <$100>. The ending balance for June should $100 more than it was.

How do I fix?

JessT · ‎April 02, 2023

I'll help you with your reconciliation, TKTrident.

From what I'm getting, the transactions were forced-reconciled. In a forced reconciliation, there's should be an adjusting entry/transaction that will temporarily balance the reconciliation. Do you see an adjustment entry/transaction? If yes, you can delete it and make necessary adjustments to the affected transaction.

The change will change the status of the reconciled transaction to unreconciled. Therefore, you need to manually mark it with R (reconciled) again.

Another solution is to unreconcile the transactions in June, make the necessary changes to the affected transaction, and reconcile them again.

Please don't hesitate to go back to this thread if you have other questions in mind.

TKTrident · ‎April 02, 2023

Thanks for the Quick Reply!

Perhaps I can explain it better.

$100 was given to an employee as a petty cash advance. But the accountant booked it as a voucher payment (expense, not an advance). So Petty Cash shows that $100 advance as being an Expense. But the employee used that $100 advance to incur expenses, which were also recorded by the accountant as an expense. At this point the advance should have been cleared to $0, with only the $100 in expense receipts remaining.

$100 left the actual petty cash, but $200 in expenses were recorded ($100 advance mistake + actual $100 expenses).

All of this was reconciled in Petty Cash account, even though the actual petty cash was incorrect. So she had $1,000 in actual cash but she reconciled in QBO as having $900

So account is already "reconciled" in QBO at this point (even though the balances don't match in actual). Now she deleted the mistaken voucher. So QBO & Actual Petty Cash equal, but QBO reconciliation report is NOT, because the ending balance of June cannot be changed.

Essentially I need to add $100 to June petty cash in QuickBooks & the re-reconcile that month & any subsequent months, I guess. If I clear the reconciliation from Account History, I still cannot redo the reconciliation, which means the end balance will always be wrong. So I'm stuck.

GlinetteC · ‎April 02, 2023

Hi TKTrident. I appreciate the detailed information about your reconciliation issue.

To make changes to the affected June transactions, you will need to undo them individually and then reconcile them again. Doing this process will help fix your reconciliation.

You can also use this guide to help fix a reconciliation problem: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks.

Feel free to add a comment below if you have additional questions about reconciling an account. We're here to help.

TKTrident · ‎April 02, 2023

Thanks! I looked at all the QB online help, including the reconciliation workflows, none of those address this issue.

I also unreconciled all 73 transactions individually, however that didn't do anything because the actual balance in the reconciliation needs to change. Unreconciling the individual transactions in June doesn't allow me to start the June reconciliation over again.

The ending balance for June in QBO needs to increase by $100. The account is reconciled through December of that same year. When I go to reconcile, it gives me the starting balance as the ending balance of my last reconciliation (December). So basically I'm just reconciling & unreconciling transactions without going anywhere.

How do I adjust the amount in the Petty Cash account and Run a NEW Reconciliation Report for June (etc...) with a different ending balance?

DebSheenD · ‎April 02, 2023

I'm here to help fix ending balance discrepancies in QuickBooks Online (QBO), @TKTrident.

I understand the urgency of being able to correct your reconciliation ending balance in QBO. Here are some of the reasons why you’d encounter ending balance discrepancies:

An incorrect ending balance at the start of the reconciliation.
Missing or duplicate transactions in QuickBooks.
Someone entered transactions into QuickBooks that haven't cleared your bank yet.
Duplicate transactions.

Since you wanted to increase the ending balance for June, we can create a journal entry to get this fix.

Here's how:

Go to the +New button.
Under Other, select Journal entry.
Fill out the fields to create your journal entry.
Select Save and close once don

I also suggest reaching out to an accountant on how to record the transaction with the correct account to be linked to it.

I'm sharing these articles for your guidance when reconciling your account in QBO:

You might also want to learn more about managing reconciliation reports in QuickBooks Online by visiting this link: How do I view, print, or export a reconciliation report?

Get back to me if you need help with reconciliation or anything QuickBooks. I'd be happy to assist. Enjoy the rest of the day

TKTrident · ‎April 02, 2023

This is a boiler plate copy & paste answer that in no way addresses my question. I've already see this exact answer, word for word, on at least 4 different questions.

I know perfectly well WHY the account doesn't balance. I need to be able to make changes & then reconcile the account again & run a new reconciliation report with the adjusted balance.