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Hanskies
December 31, 2020
Question

Opening Balance Error

  • December 31, 2020
  • 1 reply
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Hey! I misunderstood what opening balance was, is there a way to change it without messing up reconciliation at the end? I accidentally put what my balance was when I downloaded quickbooks, and not what it was when I opened my account. Dumb mistake that seems to be impossible to fix. 

1 reply

C
CaitlinOG
December 31, 2020

Hello Hanskies,

 

Welcome to the Community! Opening balance transactions are important in ensuring that your books accurately reflect the activities that take place within your business. QuickBooks Desktop makes it easy to correct an opening balance error within your accounting records. I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction. 

 

There's more than one method to go about correcting an incorrect beginning balance depending on the situation. I see in your post that you've already reconciled this account before. One method is to undo your reconciliations in order to adjust the opening balance and redo the reconciliations with the correct amount. Another option would be to do an adjusting journal entry to the opening balance so that it reflects the proper amount. This can be done through the chart of accounts account register. You can find detailed steps for both of these methods in this Community article: Fix beginning balance issues in QuickBooks Desktop. You can also check out our article on how to Enter opening balances for accounts in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

If you choose the adjusting entry route, I recommend consulting with your accountant to ensure that this is done correctly to avoid any further discrepancies in the books. If you're not working with an accountant currently, you can search for a QuickBooks-certified Pro Advisor who can assist you from this link: Find an Accountant.

 

Let me know if there's anything else I can assist with! 

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