Navigating QuickBooks Online: Addressing Duplicate Transactions in Your Accounting
As a small business owner with nearly a year of experience, I have a solid foundation in Accounting principles from my years in the corporate sector. Recently, I took on a cleanup project for a client who has been managing their own transactions with reasonable accuracy. However, during my review, I discovered issues with duplicate entries that have become quite problematic.
While examining the client’s paycheck records, I noticed multiple instances of duplicate entries related to IRS contributions, EDD contributions, and 401(k) contributions, as well as several printed checks that were duplicates. After a thorough reconciliation of the entire year, I identified every duplicate entry that was causing inconsistencies.
Here’s where I believe I went astray: I proceeded to delete these duplicate entries, assuming this would resolve the issue. However, I soon realized that they remained in the system and continued to disrupt the balance sheet, resulting in an inaccurately negative bank balance due to these unresolved “zombie transactions”. To complicate matters further, I am concerned that these duplicates might also be adversely affecting the Profit and Loss (P&L) statement.
Following this revelation, I dedicated nearly three hours in a frustrating phone conversation with QuickBooks support, only to find them unable to provide any effective solutions.
Now, I’m reaching out to the community for guidance. What potential steps can I take to address these nearly $57,000 in lingering duplicate transactions? Should I consider re-entering the duplicates only to exclude them properly later? Or would it be wise to create a large journal entry to correct the checking account balance, and if so, how would that align with the P&L?
Your insights and suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I navigate this challenging situation.
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