Jim Merritt - October 8, 2026

You open QuickBooks® Online, look at your Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet, and something just does not seem right.

Maybe your bank account will not reconcile. Perhaps Accounts Receivable is much higher than you expected. Undeposited Funds has been carrying a balance for months. Your income seems too high, expenses seem too low, or your accountant has told you that something in the file needs attention.

At that point, one of the biggest questions is:

Where do you start?

The answer is not always to immediately begin changing or deleting transactions. In fact, making changes before understanding the problem can sometimes make the situation worse.

At QuickTrainer, we generally recommend a simple approach:

Review → Diagnose → Correct → Learn → Maintain

Here is what that looks like.

Step 1: Start With a Data Review

If you know something does not look right but you do not know exactly what is wrong, the best first step may be a Data Review.

A Data Review is designed to identify potential problems before corrections are made.

QuickTrainer may review areas such as:

• Bank and credit card reconciliations

• Balance Sheet accounts

• Profit and Loss activity

• Accounts Receivable

• Accounts Payable

• Undeposited Funds

• Clearing accounts

• Duplicate transactions

• Bank Transactions activity

• Customer payments and deposits

• Unusual or unexpected account balances

• Transactions created by third-party applications

The purpose is to determine whether the numbers make sense and identify where additional investigation may be needed.

Sometimes we find that only a few transactions need attention. Other times, the review reveals broader accounting problems that may require cleanup.

Before making a large number of changes, it helps to understand what is actually wrong.

Learn more about QuickTrainer’s Data Review Services for QuickBooks® Users.

Step 2: Determine Whether Cleanup Is Needed

Once the problems have been identified, the next question is whether the file needs cleanup.

QuickBooks® cleanup may be appropriate when the file contains known problems such as:

• Duplicate transactions

• Incorrect beginning balances

• Changed or deleted reconciled transactions

• Bank reconciliation discrepancies

• Transactions posted to the wrong accounts

• Old Accounts Receivable balances

• Old Accounts Payable balances

• Incorrect customer payments

• Duplicate deposits

• Unexplained Undeposited Funds balances

• Bank Transactions that were added instead of matched

• Clearing accounts that never return to zero

• Incorrect activity from imported or third-party transactions

The goal of cleanup is not simply to make an error message disappear.

The goal is to correct the accounting records while understanding how the problem occurred.

That distinction is important.

Deleting transactions, forcing reconciliation adjustments, or creating journal entries without understanding the underlying issue can cause additional problems elsewhere in the file.

Learn more about our Cleanup Services for QuickBooks® Users.

Step 3: Understand What Caused the Problem

Correcting the numbers is important.

Understanding why they became incorrect is even more valuable.

Many QuickBooks® problems are caused by workflow issues rather than software problems.

For example:

Customer Payments

An invoice may be created correctly, but the payment could be entered directly into the bank account instead of being received against the invoice.

That can leave Accounts Receivable incorrect and may even cause income to be recorded twice.

Bank Transactions

A downloaded transaction may be added instead of matched to a transaction that already exists in QuickBooks®.

Now there are two transactions representing the same activity.

Undeposited Funds

Customer payments may be received into Undeposited Funds but never grouped into the proper bank deposit.

The bank account may reconcile while Undeposited Funds continues growing.

Credit Cards

A credit card payment may be categorized as an expense instead of being recorded as a transfer between accounts.

The expense may already have been recorded when the individual credit card transactions were entered.

These are accounting workflow problems—and they tend to repeat until the person entering the transactions understands the proper process.

Step 4: Consider One-on-One Training for QuickBooks Users

Once the accounting problems have been corrected, training can help prevent them from coming back.

That is where One-on-One Training for QuickBooks Users can be especially helpful.

Instead of teaching from a generic course outline, QuickTrainer can focus on the workflows your business actually uses.

Training might include:

• Bank Transactions

• Matching versus categorizing transactions

• Bank and credit card reconciliations

• Creating invoices

• Receiving customer payments

• Using Undeposited Funds

• Making bank deposits

• Entering bills

• Paying vendors

• Reviewing Accounts Receivable

• Reviewing Accounts Payable

• Running financial reports

• Understanding your Chart of Accounts

• Creating useful recurring workflows

The objective is not simply to show you which buttons to click.

It is to help you understand why the transaction is being entered a certain way and how that affects your accounting records.

Learn more about One-on-One Training for QuickBooks Users.

Step 5: Decide Who Will Maintain the Books Going Forward

After the file has been reviewed and corrected, someone still has to maintain it.

For some businesses, the owner or an employee wants to handle the day-to-day bookkeeping internally.

With the right training and procedures, that can work very well.

Other businesses would rather spend their time operating the business and have someone else handle the bookkeeping.

QuickTrainer provides bookkeeping assistance that may include:

• Bank and credit card transactions

• Reconciliations

• Accounts Receivable

• Accounts Payable

• Deposits

• Undeposited Funds

• Month-end review

• Financial reports

• Ongoing accounting review

The important thing is consistency.

A clean file can become messy again surprisingly quickly if transactions are not reviewed and reconciled regularly.

Learn more about our Bookkeeping Services for Businesses Using QuickBooks® Software.

What If the File Was Never Set Up Correctly?

Sometimes the problem does not begin with daily bookkeeping.

It begins with the original setup.

The Chart of Accounts may not fit the business. Beginning balances may have been entered incorrectly. Bank accounts may be connected to the wrong accounting accounts. Customer-payment workflows may never have been established correctly.

In situations like these, fixing individual transactions may address the symptoms without correcting the underlying structure.

QuickTrainer can help review and establish areas such as:

• Chart of Accounts

• Bank and credit card accounts

• Beginning balances

• Customers and vendors

• Products and services

• Accounts Receivable

• Accounts Payable

• Invoicing

• Customer payments

• Undeposited Funds

• Deposits

• Sales tax settings

• Payroll-related accounts

• Bank Transactions workflows

A properly structured file makes accurate bookkeeping much easier.

Learn more about our Setup Services for QuickBooks® Users.

Do Not Start by Deleting Transactions

When someone discovers that QuickBooks® is wrong, there can be a temptation to start deleting things.

That is especially dangerous when dealing with previously reconciled transactions.

Deleting or changing a reconciled transaction can alter a prior reconciliation and create a new discrepancy in the current period.

Before changing historical transactions, determine:

• What the transaction represents

• Whether it has been reconciled

• Whether another transaction already replaced it

• What accounts are affected

• Whether the correction affects a prior accounting period

• Whether your accountant or tax professional should be involved

The safest correction is usually the one made after the cause has been identified.

Your Financial Reports Are Trying to Tell You Something

A Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet that looks unusual should not automatically be ignored.

Sometimes the explanation is perfectly legitimate.

Other times, an unusual balance is the first clue that something has been entered incorrectly.

For example:

• A negative asset balance may indicate improper posting.

• A large Undeposited Funds balance may indicate incomplete deposits.

• Old Accounts Receivable may indicate payments were never applied.

• Old Accounts Payable may indicate bills were paid incorrectly.

• A clearing account with a permanent balance may indicate an incomplete workflow.

• Unexpected income may indicate duplicate transactions.

The financial statements often provide the clues.

The next step is investigating the transactions behind those numbers.

Review First. Correct Second.

When QuickBooks® numbers do not look right, resist the urge to immediately start changing transactions.

A better process is:

1. Review the data
Determine what looks unusual.

2. Diagnose the problem
Find out why the balance or transaction is incorrect.

3. Correct the accounting records
Make the appropriate changes while protecting the integrity of the file.

4. Learn the proper workflow
Reduce the likelihood that the same problem will happen again.

5. Maintain the file consistently
Reconcile, review, and monitor the accounting records regularly.

That process can save a great deal of time—and can prevent a small accounting problem from becoming a much larger cleanup project.

Not Sure Where to Start?

If your QuickBooks® numbers do not look right, you do not have to diagnose the problem by yourself.

QuickTrainer can help review your accounting records, identify potential problems, explain what we find, and determine the appropriate next step.

Whether you need a Data Review, Cleanup, Setup, One-on-One Training for QuickBooks Users, or ongoing Bookkeeping, the goal is the same:

Help you get accurate numbers that make sense.

QuickTrainer is located in Wilmington, NC and works remotely with businesses throughout the United States.

📞 Call QuickTrainer at 910-338-0488
📧 Email: [email protected]
🌐 www.qti-wilmington.com

Let QuickTrainer give you back your time.

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