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A
arkvalleyinfo
December 11, 2018
Question

Entered the beginning balance to match the statement for the bank account, but when reconciling for the first time, beginning balance is not what I entered.

  • December 11, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 0 views

I'm trying to reconcile a bank account that has not yet been reconciled. I set up the bank account on 12/14/16 ( the bank annoying splits the months up) with the opening balance to match the statement, but when I go to do the initial reconcile for 1/14/17, the beginning balance is not what I entered. It is a negative amount. I've made sure none of the transactions for the year are accidentally marked as cleared. Any ideas?

2 replies

A
Anonymous
December 11, 2018

Normally that "Beginning Balance" (withing the reconciliation function) will the closing balance from the prior bank statement - not the prior gl account balance.   But if QB has never reconciled an account, then that "Beginning Balance" should be zero. Even if the 'cleared' flag is manually placed by mistake, it should not effect that "beginning balance'.

    A
    arkvalleyinfoAuthor
    December 11, 2018
    Thanks, I started the QB company with the Dec 2016 bank statement, which wasn't zero. I entered the opening balance into the bank account when I set it up. When I went to reconcile the first month of entered transactions the beginning balance in the reconciling window is  negative -$216. How on earth is a negative number showing up?
    V
    Val47
    December 7, 2022

    I am reconciling a bank statement, the beginning balance is showing as the ending balance, the bank statement has 0 for the beginning balance.  What do I do in this case?

    JaeAnnC
    JaeAnnC
    December 7, 2022

    I appreciate you for joining the Community, @Val47.

     

    Let's work together to fix your beginning balance so you can reconcile your account in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

     

    First, let's run either Reconcile Discrepancy, Audit Trail, or Previous Reconciliation report to identify transactions that cause the error. 

     

    Next, let's correct the discrepancy. To do that, we might need to edit or re-enter the transactions. We can either:

     

    • Undo a previous reconciliation and redo it
    1. Let's create a backup of your company file.
    2. Go to the Banking menu and click Reconcile.
    3. Click Undo Last Reconciliation.
    4. When a prompt appears, click Continue and select OK.
    5. Close out of reconcile and reopen.

     

    • Ignore the discrepancy and let QBDT enter an offsetting adjustment
    1. Go to the Accountant menu and select Reconcile.
    2. Choose the Account. Enter an Ending Balance and fill out other necessary information.
    3. Click Continue.
    4. Click Reconcile Now. When prompted with a discrepancy, select Enter Adjustment. QBDT will create a Journal Entry under a special expense account called Reconciliation Discrepancies.

     

    For a more detailed guide on how to correct your beginning balance, you can refer to this article: Fix beginning balance issues in QuickBooks Desktop.

     

    If everything looks good, you can get a head start on payroll. Here's a guide on what you'll need to do to close out the previous year and prepare for the new one in QBDT: Year-end guide for QuickBooks Desktop.

     

    Please keep me updated if you need further assistance with reconciliation by leaving a reply below. I'll be more than willing to provide help. Stay safe!

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