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pearson-m
March 12, 2021
Question

I have reconciled my visa account, and it is complete. But have a few items from years past that require clearing. (Before my time) How can I clear them? TIA

  • March 12, 2021
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1 reply

J
JamesM4
March 12, 2021

Hi pearson-m,

 

Congratulations on reconciling your Visa account! Sometimes it's necessary to make clear other items from the past and I'll be happy to steer you in the right direction. The good news is QuickBooks is designed to make the process as seamless as possible for you and I'd be glad to share more information. 

 

In order to make edits to past reconciled transactions, you'll have to unreconcile it first, make the necessary adjustments, then reconcile it again so your books balance properly. I highly recommend connecting with your accounting professional for expert advice on how to best handle this situation. If you need to unreconcile an entire reconciliation at once I'd highly recommend doing it through a ProAdvisor/accounting professional that has access to QuickBooks Online Accountant. They have the right tools and resources to automatically unreconcile transactions in bulk.

 

If you're not yet connected to an accountant and this is something you'd like to explore, feel free to search for one in your area here: Find a ProAdvisor. However, if you've got access to QBO Accountant, you can check out this article which shows you how to: Undo a client’s reconciliation in QuickBooks Online Accountant.

 

If you don't have access to an accountant, you can undo a reconciliation by manually editing each transaction from the register. Follow the steps below to see how you can do this:

 

   1. Select the Gear icon on the Toolbar.
   2. Under Your Company, select Chart of Accounts.
   3. Locate the appropriate account for the transaction.
   4. From the Action column, select Account History.
   5. Identify the transaction to edit.
   6. In the reconcile status column (indicated by a checkmark), repeatedly select the top line of the transaction to change the status of the transaction.

        Codes indicate the status of the transaction:
             C - Cleared
             R - Reconciled
             Blank - Not cleared or reconciled

   7. Select Save.
 

For additional tips on how to avoid undoing a reconciliation, take a look at this article: Avoid undoing a reconciliation. To see a more in-depth explanation of how to manually undo a reconciliation without an accountant, check out this article: How to unreconcile a transaction or undo a reconciliation.

 

Let me know if this info helps. I'll be here if you need anything else.

P
pearson-mAuthor
March 12, 2021

Thanks JamesM4. 
This is helpful. Unfortunately, the items are many years ago when someone else was doing the bookkeeping. How do I  unreconcile that far back without affecting the current years?

L
LauraAB
March 12, 2021

That's a great follow-up question, and I can clarify the options. Reconciliations are designed to work in chronological order since the opening balance of a current reconciliation depends on the closing balance of the prior one. Because of that, undoing all reconciliations back to where you need to add the transactions you're talking about would be in order.

 

Since they're from so far into the past, it may be more ideal to make some sort of adjustment entry so you don't have to undo all of those reconciliations. I agree with my colleague that this is a good situation to consult an accountant on just to be sure you're making the best decision for the books.

 

Keep in mind as well that if the books have been balancing in reconciliations up to this point, someone may have even made an adjustment in the past for those transactions that aren't reconciled. I've got a couple of articles hear that go over reconciliation adjustments and how to find them. Seeing if one already exists is a good place to start.

Wishing you the best!

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