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Reconciliation is off or the beginning balance changed

When you start a reconciliation, QuickBooks says the beginning balance is off and will not let you continue. Or you are already in the reconciliation and the difference will not come down to $0.00.

Go to All apps, then Accounting, then Reconcile, and choose the correct account. If you have more than one account at the same bank, check the name carefully. Older menus may still list Reconcile under Accounting or from the gear menu.

Likely causes

• A transaction that was marked reconciled in a prior period was later edited, voided, moved, deleted, or unchecked.
• The opening balance entered when the account was first set up does not match the statement from the day before you started tracking the account.
• A categorized bank-feed transaction was undone and sent back to pending after it had already been reconciled.
• For a difference that appears after you enter the statement ending balance: the ending balance or ending date was typed incorrectly, or items on the statement are still sitting in For review.

Quick fixes

1. Write down the amount QuickBooks says the beginning balance is off by. The changes you find should add up to that figure. Make sure every download from the statement period has been matched, categorized, or excluded first.
2. If you see the alert that the account is not ready to reconcile because the beginning balance is off, select We can help you fix it. That opens the Reconcile Discrepancy Report.
3. Work the report one row at a time. The What happened column shows who changed the transaction, what changed, and when. Open Review in tray (or View History) and restore the original details only when the change was a mistake. Intuit's suggested fix assumes an error; some changes are intentional and should be left alone or handled in the current period instead.
4. When the total discrepancy is $0.00, return to Reconcile. Confirm the ending balance and ending date against the statement (use Edit info if a figure was mistyped).
5. Tick only the items that appear on this statement, including grouped deposits that should match a single bank total. Continue until the difference is $0.00, then finish the reconciliation.

A few more questions

Who can undo an entire reconciliation?

Intuit's current guidance is that undoing a full reconciliation is limited. Plan to work with the primary admin, and be careful: taking a transaction out of a prior reconciliation changes the next beginning balance.

This is the first time we have reconciled the account. Why is the beginning balance wrong?

That is usually the opening balance, not a later edit. Compare it with the bank statement from the day before the account was added to QuickBooks, and adjust that opening entry only if it is truly incorrect.