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erroneous
September 2, 2020
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Reconciliation opening balance differs from account balance

  • September 2, 2020
  • 2 replies
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Hello All,

 

We just upgraded to Quickbooks Desktop Mac 2020. When originally setting up our QB accounts in 2015, we entered opening account balances and have successfully reconciled our bank and credit card accounts each month. When reconciling, we always ensure the opening balance matches our bank statement and complete reconciliation only after the ending balances match.

 

This time, though, the opening balance showing in the reconciliation module is off by almost $30k. The balance sheet for that date, however, shows the correct bank balance. Any GL adjustment I make to fix the reconciliation opening balance offsets the correct account balance by the same amount. Is there a way to fix the opening balance without altering the account balance?

 

More details...

• ALL past Reconciliation Reports for this account reflect this $30k issue, despite that this was not an issue at the time of those reconciliations. Our FIRST reconciliation on 12/31/15 now reflects this discrepancy and there are no older transactions to blame that I can find.

• The Reconciliation Discrepancy report shows no historical discrepancies.

• The audit trail feature was previously disabled so that's not helpful.

• There are no single transactions I could find in that account that equal the discrepancy amount.

• I tried creating a Bank Transfer to move the $30k from the bank account to Shareholder Distributions, then perform a micro-reconciliation to apply this transfer to the account balance. The closing balance of the micro-reconciliation then matched the opening balance of the subsequent statement but then the actual account balance in the Chart of Accounts was off by $30k (I've since reversed this test transaction).

• I've run the QB Repair tool and it came up clean. 

• When looking at the account's register, there is a checkbox column that can be blank, a light checkmark or a bold checkmark. I assume this indicates whether the payment has been cleared but we don't manually manage this. It's possible that some of the checkmarks were clicked on while attempting to double-click on the line item to open transactions. I'm unsure whether these status checkmarks affect past reconciliations (if so, that's crazy dangerous).

 

Any tips? I'm racking up quite a bill with my CPA trying to figure this out and I've read all I can find on the topic. Please help if you can. Thanks.

Best answer by DivinaMercy_N

Hi there, @erroneous.

 

Allow me to share some insights on how to fix your balance in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Opening balance are reconciled transactions in your Bank register. To help fix it, you'll have to manually change the transactions as Reconciled.

 

To do so, please follow these steps:

 

  1. Go to your Banking menu.
  2. Select Chart of Accounts.
  3. Choose your preferred account.
  4. Put a check mark under the Check column in line with the transactions to mark it as reconciled.

 

However, if you have an adjustment made as a Journal Entry, you'll need to mark this as Reconciled in order for the transaction to affect the Reconciliation Opening Balance.

 

Also, possibly that you've reconciled transactions that aren't supposed to be reconciled. Thus, I suggest reviewing them, and then marked as checked and unchecked when in doubt. 

 

To guide you in managing your books using QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, you may read topics in our QuickBooks for Mac user's guide. 

 

If you have other questions, don't hesitate to add a reply below. I'm always here to help. Stay safe. 

2 replies

DivinaMercy_N
DivinaMercy_NAnswer
September 3, 2020

Hi there, @erroneous.

 

Allow me to share some insights on how to fix your balance in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Opening balance are reconciled transactions in your Bank register. To help fix it, you'll have to manually change the transactions as Reconciled.

 

To do so, please follow these steps:

 

  1. Go to your Banking menu.
  2. Select Chart of Accounts.
  3. Choose your preferred account.
  4. Put a check mark under the Check column in line with the transactions to mark it as reconciled.

 

However, if you have an adjustment made as a Journal Entry, you'll need to mark this as Reconciled in order for the transaction to affect the Reconciliation Opening Balance.

 

Also, possibly that you've reconciled transactions that aren't supposed to be reconciled. Thus, I suggest reviewing them, and then marked as checked and unchecked when in doubt. 

 

To guide you in managing your books using QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, you may read topics in our QuickBooks for Mac user's guide. 

 

If you have other questions, don't hesitate to add a reply below. I'm always here to help. Stay safe. 

    E
    erroneousAuthor
    September 4, 2020

    Thank you!

    J
    John1400
    March 7, 2023

    Hi,

     

    I have a similar issue and looking for help.

     

    History;

     

    I am using a PC with Desktop Pro.  The files were loaded from my retired bookkeeper from a Mac sometime in April and she told me everything was reconciled through March, 2022.  Although I am many months behind on reconciliating, there are only about 30 transactions per month and I believe there shouldn't be any errors as I looked them over on paper.

     

    The issue;

     

    When I go to reconcile, the beginning balance is $713,xxx.xx, and it stays the same no matter what date I put in to reconcile.  This is obviously incorrect as the company since 2015 has never exceeded a $40,000 balance, and from what I have read, the issue was probably created by a corruption in the transfer from the Mac to PC.  When I open the register, the balance shown seems to be correct - I didn't reconcile by hand to see if there were outstanding checks but it is close enough to determine that it is right.  

     

    My accountant suggested if I am going to create a Journal Entry, or what ever QuickBooks recommends, he would like me to change the beginning balance of Dec. 31, 2021, and confirm the check marks for the first few months, then reconcile the rest of the year in 2022.

     

    As stated on the instructions QuickBooks had suggested, I have run the Discrepancy Report and Previous Reconciliation Report and they come up clean.  The Previous Reconciliation Report says there have never been any previous reconciliations.  I did get a bit confused trying to use the instructions that Divina posted on this string so I thought to reply to this post to get some guidance.

     

    I have a case number where I've spent over an hour with a tech guy who couldn't help me with this.  I am usually not a complainer but just ask for someone that is experienced to help me as I am just getting back to QuickBooks after 15 years, but learning fast.  The case number is - [Removed]

     

    Feel free to call, email or chat.

     

    Thank you in advance,

     

    John

    J
    jamespaul
    March 7, 2023

    Hello, John. 

     

    I appreciate the details about the reconciliation and beginning balance issues. Since you've already called and left empty-handed, I'll take this opportunity to help you with these problems. 

     

    There are possibilities as to why this happened. I'll list the three common factors on why there's an incorrect beginning balance (with no prior reconciled transactions):

     

    • Possible data corruption (could've happened during the transition to QuickBooks Desktop Pro from Mac).
    • A wrong company file was used when converting (could've been a backup copy). 
    • Your reconciled transactions were all unreconciled (errors during the transition). 

     

    Let's do a simple run by running the Verify and Rebuild utilities to fix the data corruption: 

     

    Run the Verify utility: 

     

    1. Go to File, then hover on Utilities. 
    2. Select Verify Data.
    3. Follow the prompts to proceed with the Verify process. 

     

    Once done, run the Rebuild utility: 

     

    1. Go to File again, then hover on Utilities.
    2. Select Rebuild Data this time. 
    3. Follow the prompts to start the data fixes. 

     

    Check your beginning balances again. We also need to review your bank register for the reconciled transactions. 

     

    If there are no issues, then it's likely that a wrong backup copy or file was used during the transition. Check your recent backups from your Mac, then convert it again with the correct file. 

     

    Alternatively, we can stick with the current company file in QuickBooks Desktop Pro. Then, we'll create a journal entry as what your accountant mentioned. Generally, we would want to correct the beginning balance and ensure the amount is correct.

     

    A guide can be found here: Fix beginning balance issues in QuickBooks Desktop.

     

    Although, if you need help with this, I suggest consulting your accountant again. They'll guide you on what accounts to select for the journal entry. 

     

    If everything is correct, then it's likely that your records were unreconciled when transitioning to QuickBooks Desktop Pro. Happens when there are potential data issues, then the system somehow pushes with the conversion. 

     

    In this case, we'll want to do a special reconciliation. We'll want to look at the bank statement as our reference.

     

    Make sure to enter the correct amount in the Ending Balance field. Set the correct Statement Date for your accounting period as well. 

     

    If you need help with the reconciliation, check out this article: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop. 

     

    After fixing the issues, do you need help following up with your customers' balances, receipts, and invoices? We can email their transactions within QuickBooks. Take a look at this guide if you need help: Email sales forms, invoices, and statements in QuickBooks Desktop.

     

    Feel free to drop by again if you need more help with the reconciliation process. If you'd like to take care of other things like your expenses, taxes, or payroll, let me know and I'll gladly help out again. 

    J
    John1400
    March 7, 2023

    Hi JamesPaul,

     

    Thank you for the quick reply.

     

    As you suggested I just ran the Verify Data Report and it came up with a few duplicate names, and prompted me to click to Rebuild Data.  When I click on Rebuild as prompted, it says "Errors that rebuilding you company files wont fix", Error 213.  There is a link to the article but that web page doesn't open.

     

    Thanks,

     

    John

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