Reconciling Quickbooks Balance

[George Smith]

Good afternoon,

Ive got a quick questions regarding reconciling on quickbooks. I just signed up for QB and all of the info has been imported and categorized for 2018.

When I go to reconcile, It lists a starting balance which was not the starting the balance on 1/1/18. It lists the balance of the checking account on 9/5/18. 

Can i reconcile the whole year at once.. 1/1/18 to 12/31/18/? Why does it not show the starting balance on the day earliest day 1/1/18 of transactions that were imported?

Thanks,

George

[Account Closed]

When you BEGAN USING QUICKBOOKS for the first time, you would take your last Bank Statement PRIOR to the date you BEGAN using QuickBooks and enter in the ENDING BALANCE  from that Bank Statement, (not the balance from YOUR  check book or any other source) but the LAST BANK STATEMENT- PRIOR to the day you BEGAN TO USE QUICKBOOKS. (Ending Balance)

Then you would enter in all the transaction off of that bank statement into QuickBooks which means all deposit, withdrawals and checks.  EVERYTHING, and when done, and only then, will you be able to reconcile your checking account in QuickBooks and have it balance. 

After that  you will balance your checking account in QuickBooks from your Bank Statements each month doing it the same way, but this time you won't have to enter in all the deposits and withdrawals, etc., because from this point forward your entries will be entered as you go through your normal business day. Meaning, all transactions you have done from this day forward will be already entered (Hopefully) into QuickBooks. 

If not, you will have find out why.  You MUST CORRECT any errors before continuing.  You must match the transactions on the Bank Statement with the transaction you entered into QuickBooks to see what was entered or not entered.

Since you have already entered all your data into QuickBooks for 2018  and do not balance, try taking your LAST BANK STATEMENT From December 2017 and enter in the Ending Balance from that Statement and enter in all those transactions that show up on that Bank Statement, using those dates from the bank statement. 

If you still don't balance, then you will have to take all your Bank Statements from December 2017 (If you began using QuickBooks January 1, 2018), to December 2018 and balance them all. 

This is why I never recommend anyone trying to use QuickBooks and try to enter in a years work in hopes that they balance. 

Nancy Neville