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Somehow I began using a cash account instead of connected bacnk account for the cash side of payroll. Help suggests I can't merge the Cash and Bank accounts - true?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 13, 2022
2 replies
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So now I have two accounts both of type Bank, one called Cash and one named after my bank, that have transactions. I'd like to just merge them but since the actual Bank one is connected will that mess things up?

QuickBooks Online

Best answer by Wiltshs

For anyone tracking this issue, it's resolved. At least, there's a way to stop it happening and allow the merging of the accounts. It is an acknowledged bug with Quickbooks as to how this was allowed to happen in the first place, but the solution is actually quite simple:

1. Make the problem account (the one that has the Reserved for Default Account error when you try to merge to or from it) inactive - you will get a warning about this, and it will create a balancing transaction to "close the account"; don't worry you can delete this transaction later

2. Make the same account active again, then go into the register and delete the balancing transaction that Quickbooks created in step 1.

3. Now try merging the account with another and it should work just fine.

The issue stems from a bug in Quickbooks related to the payroll set up process. As explained to me, this account in my case, which is my one and only checking account, was marked as default for a payment account (merchant account) at some point, likely during the set up of QB Payroll, even though I do not have a merchant or payment account. It is this flag, which is NOT available as a user-controllable flag at all, that causes the merge error documented here.

If I get notification of a final fix from Quickbooks, I'll update here, but hopefully this helps anyone else who encounters the same problem.

Please note: this is not the same as problems that occur with various default settings in the user-accessible part of Quickbooks, like the Default Payroll Account. This is something "behind the scenes" that took me 12 hours across 4-5 calls to get deep enough into Engineering to identify and fix (and some persistence too, so don't be brushed off by general answers). Also be aware that - as well-meaning as they are - several of the posters on this chain offered simpler solutions that actually made it worse and are not addressable by the user, so while I thank the community for the well-intentioned support, if you do encounter this issue, use the solution above.

C

ChristieAnn 11

Hi there, Wiltshs.

Thank you for visiting the QuickBooks Community. I'll be sharing details on how merging accounts in QuickBooks Online works, Then, ensure you'll be able to accomplish your goal.

When you have two different accounts, you can merge them in QuickBooks Online. Please note that merging accounts is permanent and you can't undo this later on. However, doing this might mess things up if there's a transaction that doesn't need to be included in the bank that you want to keep.

Then, if you're merging accounts that have reconciliation reports, you'll need to save those reports first. The entries remain on the merged account and stay reconciled.

Here's how to merge accounts:

Click the Gear icon ⚙ select the Chart of Accounts.
Find the account you want to keep. Then, select the dropdown arrow in the Action column and click Edit.
If you see the New category window instead of the Account window, you’re creating a subaccount. If you need to create a new parent account, switch to accountant view.
Please note the Account Type, Name, and Detail Type of the account. These must be the same as the accounts you want to merge.
Check if the Is sub-account option is marked. If it is, notes the parent account it's tied to.

Once you have all the info you need for the account you want to keep. You can now handle the other account to ensure that merging is accurate. You can open this article to view additional details and to perform the process: Merge duplicate accounts, customers, and vendors in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, if merging isn't possible in your accounts, I reccomend separating the entries manually. This is to ensure that all transactions are transferred to the account that you want to utilize while using QuickBooks.

I'm adding this article so you'll be able to see how a chart of accounts handles a list of all the accounts that QuickBooks uses to track your financial information: Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Please let me know if you have any questions about merging accounts or concerns by hitting the Reply button below. You can reach out to the Community at any time. Take care!

W

WiltshsAuthor

Hi there. Thanks for this but unfortunately QBO won't let me do this. I am not seeing quite the same thing as your instructions but it does recognize I am trying to merge accounts. I get the error shown in the attachment.

This "cash" account was somehow either created or started being used (and if I had to guess it is someone at QB Payroll that did it) despite having used the Novo Checking account for all of my prior payroll. I reset the Payroll Settings - Accounting - Bank Account back to Novo but I have these 7 stray transactions in this "cash" account so it doesn't get reconciled to the banking transactions. Is there some other way I can merge this Cash account into the Novo Checking account (which is an online account) so as to get all of the transactions in the same register? I can't edit them individually because they're all part of a payroll transaction.

Thanks!

JessT

Thank you for updating us and for the additional details, Wiltshs.

I will continue to help you with merging your cash and checking account, so you can proceed with reconciliation. By the way, I cannot see your screenshot in the thread.

Matching requires both accounts to have the same Type and Detail Type. Otherwise, you will have an error.

What you can do is edit your Cash account again, change the Detail Type to Checking, and name it as Novo Checking just like the setup of your existing Novo Checking account. When you click Save and close, you'll receive a warning saying you're changing the detail type. Just confirm it. Then, you’ll receive another warning that says the Novo Checking name is being used on another account and will be asked if you want to merge them. Just select Yes. That will do.

You can proceed to reconciliation after merging your accounts.

Feel free to share an update about this, so we can help you further if there's a need to. Take good care always!

W

WiltshsAuthorAnswer

For anyone tracking this issue, it's resolved. At least, there's a way to stop it happening and allow the merging of the accounts. It is an acknowledged bug with Quickbooks as to how this was allowed to happen in the first place, but the solution is actually quite simple:

1. Make the problem account (the one that has the Reserved for Default Account error when you try to merge to or from it) inactive - you will get a warning about this, and it will create a balancing transaction to "close the account"; don't worry you can delete this transaction later

2. Make the same account active again, then go into the register and delete the balancing transaction that Quickbooks created in step 1.

3. Now try merging the account with another and it should work just fine.

The issue stems from a bug in Quickbooks related to the payroll set up process. As explained to me, this account in my case, which is my one and only checking account, was marked as default for a payment account (merchant account) at some point, likely during the set up of QB Payroll, even though I do not have a merchant or payment account. It is this flag, which is NOT available as a user-controllable flag at all, that causes the merge error documented here.

If I get notification of a final fix from Quickbooks, I'll update here, but hopefully this helps anyone else who encounters the same problem.

Please note: this is not the same as problems that occur with various default settings in the user-accessible part of Quickbooks, like the Default Payroll Account. This is something "behind the scenes" that took me 12 hours across 4-5 calls to get deep enough into Engineering to identify and fix (and some persistence too, so don't be brushed off by general answers). Also be aware that - as well-meaning as they are - several of the posters on this chain offered simpler solutions that actually made it worse and are not addressable by the user, so while I thank the community for the well-intentioned support, if you do encounter this issue, use the solution above.

A

AileneA

Hello, Wiltshs.

Thank you, and I appreciate your efforts in sharing the update and workaround with other users. This surely helps other users who experience the same problem.

To further guide you in managing the growth of your business and sales transactions using QBO, I'd recommend checking out this article: QuickBooks Help Articles. It includes topics about account management, managing customers and income, and banking, to name a few.

Loop me in anytime here if you need another help or anything related to QuickBooks. Take care!

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