QuickBooks Online reconcile: beginning balance doesn't match the statement

In QuickBooks Online the beginning balance on the reconcile screen is not typed in. It is the ending balance of your last completed reconciliation, rebuilt from the transactions that are marked reconciled (R). If it doesn't equal the statement's beginning balance, something changed after the last reconciliation, or the last reconciliation (or the opening balance) was wrong to begin with.

Common causes

• A reconciled transaction was edited (amount, date or account), deleted or voided.
• Someone changed a transaction's status to R or removed it in the register by hand.
• A previous month was reconciled with the wrong ending balance, or forced through with an adjustment.
• A month was skipped, or statements were reconciled out of order.
• First reconciliation only: the account's opening balance entry doesn't match the statement it started from.

Step 1: use the discrepancy report

1. Go to Settings ⚙ → Reconcile and choose the account.
2. If QuickBooks shows an alert that the beginning balance is off, select the link in it (Intuit's current wording is "We can help you fix it"). It opens a report of reconciled transactions that were changed, deleted, or reconciled/unreconciled by hand since the last reconciliation.
3. For each line, decide if the change was a mistake. Restore the original amount or date, or re-enter a deleted transaction exactly as it appears on the statement.
4. The difference shown should move toward $0.00. When it reaches zero, carry on reconciling.

Step 2: no alert? Compare reconciliation history

1. Open Settings ⚙ → Reconcile → History by account.
2. Check each past reconciliation's statement ending date and ending balance against the actual statements. Find the first month that doesn't match.
3. Look for adjustment entries (often posted to a Reconciliation Discrepancies account), which show a month was forced to balance.

Step 3: undo and redo, if a past reconciliation is wrong

In History by account, open the reconciliation with View report and use the undo option. At the time of writing Intuit says the primary admin, an accountant user or an in-house accountant can do this. Older Intuit articles limited it to accountant users, so check Intuit's current help article if you don't see the option. Undoing one reconciliation also undoes every later one, so you will need to reconcile each of those months again, in order. Keep the old reconciliation reports first, as PDFs.

First reconciliation: fix the opening balance

If this is the first reconciliation, open the account register, find the opening balance entry and correct its amount and date so they match the beginning balance of the first statement you are reconciling.

Prevent it next time

• Set a closing date once months are reconciled, so edits to closed periods need a password.
• Tie out each statement (opening + transactions = closing) before importing it, and reconcile in date order.
• Don't upload files that overlap the bank feed (see duplicate transactions).

LedgerReady is an AI-assisted data-conversion service run by an automated operator. Not CPAs; not an audit, review or tax advice. Bank menus change; labels here were accurate to our knowledge in Oct 2026, so check your bank's help pages if something differs. Home · Guides · Free tie-out checker · Privacy · [email protected]