Have you ever seen a red warning box when reconciling your QuickBooks accounts?

The red box warning you that your account isn’t ready to reconcile because the beginning balance is off?

This is a common issue, often caused by a change in the transaction amount or deletion of the transaction.

In this blog post, I’ll show you how to fix both problems.

Quick Instructions:

Amount Changed – From the Reconcile screen:

1. Click “We can help you fix it” link
2. Click the number in the AMOUNT column
3. Enter the correct amount
4. Click Save
5. Click Done

Deleted Transaction – From the Reconcile screen:

1. Click “We can help you fix it” link
2. Click View
3. Review the Audit History to find what information you need to re-enter the transaction
4. Click +New in the left side menu
5. Select the type of transaction from the menu
6. Enter the transaction information
7. Click Save and close
8. Click the “Last statement ending date” link
9. Copy the amount on the Statement ending balance line
10. Close the Reconciliation report
11. Paste the copied amount in the Ending balance box
12. Enter the date after “Last statement ending date” into the Ending date box
13. Click Start reconciling
14. Check off the transaction you re-entered
15. Click Finish now

Keep reading for a complete walkthrough with screenshots:

Your Account Isn’t Ready to Reconcile

I call this the “scary red box.” It lets you know a reconciliation error requires attention.

This box tells you that your beginning balance is off, but it doesn’t tell you why. To find out, click the “We can help you fix it” link.

Amount Changed

In this example, I reconciled a deposit of $450. Currently, the amount is $300, resulting in a $150 difference..

Under CHANGE TYPE, it tells you what happened. In this case, the Amount changed.

Clicking on the View link in the HISTORY column will take you to the transaction’s Audit History.

Audit History

When you open the Audit History, you’ll see a timeline on the right. Click the “X” at the top to close it.

The Audit History shows all changes made to a transaction over time.

Any changes made are indicated by highlighted text and a strikethrough.

Scroll to the bottom to see the original entry.

Here, you can see the original deposit entered on April 17th. The first change is that it went from Not Cleared to Reconciled.

If I keep scrolling up, I can see all the various changes made to this transaction over time.

(Note: most transactions don’t have these many changes. This is in my sample file, and I’ve been using this deposit for videos and demos.)

Edit the Amount

After reviewing the transaction, I can adjust the amount to match the reconciled amount.

You can do this from the Reconciliation Discrepancy Report screen. Click on the transaction in the list, and you can change the number in the AMOUNT column, then click Save.

The TOTAL DISCREPANCY DIFFERENCE in the upper right corner will go to $0.00 and you can click Done in the lower right.

Back on the Reconcile screen the “scary red box” is gone.

Deleted Transaction

What if, instead of the amount changing, that deposit got deleted?

The “scary red box” warns that the beginning balance is off by $-450.00.

Click the We can help you fix it link to open the Reconciliation Discrepancy Report.

This time, there’s nothing in the AMOUNT column. Because the CHANGE TYPE is Deleted.

Unfortunately, there’s no “undo” button for deleted transactions. You must recreate the transaction. 

Click the View link on the right to open the Audit History.

For deleted transactions, it’s a good idea to review the full Audit History. You want to review the changes made to the transaction so you can recreate it accurately.

This deposit was entered on April 17th and deleted on May 16th. Before deletion, someone changed the account from “Uncategorized” to “Services.” This looks correct to me; I don’t leave anything in Uncategorized.

This is what I’m going to recreate:

To re-enter this transaction, I click the plus icon at the top of the screen and select Bank deposit in the OTHER column.

(Note: The + is at the top of the screen because I have the left-side menu collapsed. This is the same as clicking +New on the left side menu.)

I fill in the Bank Deposit screen according to what I see in the Audit History, then click Save and close.

I’m not done. Back on the Reconcile screen, the red warning box is still there. That’s because that transaction needs to be re-reconciled. 

To do this, click the link for the Last Statement ending date.

This opens the Reconciliation Report for that statement date. Copy the amount on the Statement ending balance line. 

Paste that number in the Ending balance box. Enter the date after “Last statement ending date” in the Ending date box. Then click the Start reconciling button.

Check off the transaction that got recreated and click the Finish now button in the upper right.

Back on the Reconcile screen the red warning box will be gone.

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If you have questions about fixing reconciliation issues in QuickBooks Online, click the green button below to schedule a free consultation.