How to reconcile in QuickBooks Desktop step by step
QuickBooks Desktop has its own reconcile window and a few tools the online version does not, such as the discrepancy report and the option to undo the last reconciliation. This guide covers the routine and the fixes.
QuickBooks Desktop export
Custom Transaction Detail
167 rows
- Date Date
- Type Type
- Num Check number
- Memo Description
- Clr Cleared flag
- Amount Signed amount
Get ready
Have the statement for the month and enter every transaction up to the statement date: deposits, checks, bill payments, transfers and anything downloaded from the bank. If last month is not reconciled, do it first.
Step 1. Open the reconcile window
Choose Banking, then Reconcile. Select the account and check that the beginning balance matches the statement.
Step 2. Enter the statement information
Type the statement date and the ending balance. Enter the service charge and interest earned from the statement with their dates and accounts, or record them beforehand as transactions.
Step 3. Mark cleared items
The window has two lists, checks and payments on one side and deposits and other credits on the other. Mark each item that appears on the statement. Use the option to hide transactions after the statement date to keep the lists short.
Step 4. Bring the difference to 0.00
The summary at the bottom shows the cleared balance and the difference. When the books and the statement agree, the difference is 0.00.
Step 5. Reconcile now and print the report
Choose Reconcile Now and save the detail reconciliation report as PDF together with the statement.
When the beginning balance is wrong
If the beginning balance does not match the statement, something already reconciled was changed. Run the discrepancy report from the reconcile menu. It lists reconciled transactions that were changed, deleted or unreconciled after the last reconciliation, with the old and new amounts. Fix those, and the beginning balance falls into place.
Undo the last reconciliation
QuickBooks Desktop can undo the last reconciliation from the reconcile window. It returns all items of that period to uncleared and resets the beginning balance. Undo one month at a time, from the latest backwards, and back up the company file first.
When the difference hides in hundreds of lines
In a busy account the hard part is finding the one missing deposit or doubled payment among hundreds of cleared items. Export Transaction Detail by Account for the account to Excel and reconcile it against the statement in BankReconciler. The missing, doubled and different lines are listed for you, and the reconcile window becomes a formality. See bank reconciliation QuickBooks, or the online version of this guide, how to reconcile in QuickBooks Online.