Let’s know to take a review of your beginning balance and check the issues related to your accounts which still have not reconciled. In case, this is the first time you are reconciling an account and if the beginning balance is off, you do not worry. An incorrect opening balance is a reason behind the cause of various beginning balance errors. This is the starting point of the account you made while you first created it in QuickBooks.
You should correct the opening balance that will also resolve the issues of beginning balance. We have listed all the needful things, you need to review so it becomes easy for you to start reconciling your account for the first time. In case you have reconciled the account previously, you will not need to follow these steps.
Step 1: Review the opening balance in QuickBooks Online
You should double verify the opening balance for the account you have to reconcile. Most of the time, the opening balance does not contain transactions that were still not cleared while you are created the account.
Get more about opening balances
- In case you currently filled previous transactions dated even before the opening balance, you will need to reconcile them. After that, you can proceed with the below steps.
- Open the Accounting menu, then go to the Chart of Accounts section.
- Search out the account from the list.
- Hit on the option to View register.
- Find out the opening balance entry. That must contain “Opening Balance Equity” from the Account column.
- Make a note regarding the date and balance.
In case you forget to enter an opening balance then not to worry. You will provide an option to enter them later on.
Step 2: Compare the opening balance with your real-life bank account
Till now, you will have the date and amount of your opening balance in QuickBooks. Then you will require to compare it against your bank records:
- Log in to the website of your bank, or search for your bank statement.
- Verify the balance of the account for that day when you have created the opening balance in QuickBooks.
- Make a comparison between these two balances.
When these balances match, you fill out the opening balance exactly. Go to Step 3.
In case the opening balance in QuickBooks online is not matching with your bank records, Here is the process of how you can correct it:
- From the QuickBooks online, go to the opening balance entry to make the visualization big.
- Go to the Deposit section, make some editions in your balance so that it matches properly with the bank records.
- Hit to Save.
Step 3: Check out the account register
If you are reconciling the account for the very first time, you will get a single entry that has been reconciled and that is the opening balance entry. Make sure there are no other transactions that should be reconciled. To verify, follow the following steps:
- Open the Accounting menu, then go to the Chart of Accounts section.
- Search out the account from the list.
- Hit on the option to View register.
- Find out the opening balance entry. That must contain “Opening Balance Equity” from the Account column.
- Check out the column of the checkbox. It must contain an R in the box.
- Just like this, verify all other transactions from the list. It must contain C or a blank box from the checkbox column.
- In case you see an R on another transaction, click on the transaction to view in enlarge page.
- Choose the box from the checkbox column. Try and keep choosing it until the box becomes blank. Then hit on the Save button.
Final steps involved to start reconciling the account
After you are sure that the opening balance is correct, you will be able to start reconciling the account. In case you are getting any notification about the beginning balance is not correct while you start, there is a second option you can review.
Conclusion
If you have followed all the steps in our reconciliation guide but you still facing any glitches, connect with our accountant. They will surely help you to get back on track. We hope you will be blae to resolve the beginning balance issue now. For more help regarding this topic, contact our QuickBooks online support team at +1-877-898-0542.