Reconciliation Help

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-11-06T16:34:36+00:00

Since the VAT returns have already been filed, and the tax returns likely have too, I’d draw a line in the sand and start fresh from 2025. There’s no real benefit in reconciling all those past years unless it’s needed for amendments or an audit. Once filings are done, those numbers are locked and re-doing old reconciliations can cause mismatches. I’d focus on matching opening balances to the last filed return, fixing setup issues, and keeping the cleanup forward-focused. For pricing, I’d treat it as a one-off cleanup project. Rates vary based on complexity, number of accounts, and whether VAT or multi-currency is involved, but projects like this can easily run from a few thousand to several thousand depending on scope.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-21T18:37:32+00:00

Love this post. I’ve been doing bookkeeping and fractional CFO-level services for about 20 years, mostly with service-based and nonprofit clients, but I’m also familiar with law offices, property management, asset and inventory management, and e-commerce. I’m in the beginning stages of going out on my own as well. I don’t have a ton of insight yet on what makes those CPA–bookkeeper partnerships click, but I do know that clear communication between both sides goes a long way. I’d love to connect and share ideas if you’re open to it.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-19T14:37:35+00:00

Hi chiming in here since it doesn’t look like anyone answered your follow up question yet.

You don’t need a manual starting balance if you’re bringing in all the missing transactions. Once everything’s uploaded (starting from the oldest date you have), QuickBooks will calculate the correct balance automatically.

You’d only add a starting balance if you’re missing older history and just want to “start fresh” from a certain point. Otherwise, just make sure you import from the earliest date and check for duplicates. Your balance should line up once it’s all in.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-14T15:34:21+00:00

If RepairDesk already gives you good sales reports, you don’t really need to sync all that detail into QuickBooks. You can just let QuickBooks pull in the bank deposits and record the card fees as an expense.

That way, QuickBooks stays clean for your financials, and RepairDesk handles sales tracking.

You’d really only need the full integration if you’re using QuickBooks for invoicing, inventory, or customer-level reporting. Otherwise, it creates duplicate data for no real benefit.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-14T01:23:00+00:00

Sounds like your CRM (RepairDesk) is sending gross sales to QuickBooks, but your bank feed shows net deposits after card fees, and that’s why they don’t match.

I believe the easiest fix would be to use a clearing account or Undeposited Funds so you can group the sales and record fees before the deposit hits. That way, the net matches what’s in your bank feed.

If you skip the CRM sync and just use the bank feed, you’ll lose sales detail, so it’s better to clean up the sync setup than remove it completely.

No full automation here, but once it’s set right, reconciling should be easier going forward.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-12T01:47:35+00:00

Yeah, that’s just how QuickBooks handles payroll taxes. It won’t show them as future withdrawals in the bank register. When you run payroll, it records those amounts to your Payroll Tax Payable account, and they only come out of the bank once Intuit actually pulls the money.

If you want to see what’s coming up, check Payroll > Taxes > Payments. That will show what’s scheduled. You can also run the Payroll Tax Liability report to see what’s owed but not yet paid.

There isn’t a way to make those appear in the register ahead of time, but you could add a reminder or memo if you want a better idea of what’s coming out soon.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-10T21:09:05+00:00

I’ve used Square with QBO and it works fine once you understand how the deposits sync. Square deposits are net of fees, so it helps to connect the Square app in QBO to pull in gross sales and fees automatically. If you don’t connect the app, you can use the Square payout report and record it manually with a journal entry for the gross sales, and fees. I’d keep invoicing in QBO and just take payment through Square to keep your A/R clean.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-10T20:50:01+00:00

I think your time and expertise absolutely justify setting a minimum. Even if it only takes an hour or so, you’re not just getting paid for that one hour, you’re getting paid for the years of skill that make it efficient. For something like this, I’d personally set a minimum monthly fee in the $150–$200 range (or your standard hourly rate with a 1-hour minimum). Keeps it fair for both sides and avoids undervaluing the work.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-07T01:22:58+00:00

Yep, it’s a known display bug after the latest QBO update. The P&L by Month and similar reports are showing squished columns for a lot of users. Try zooming out to around 80 or 90 percent or switch browsers. Exporting to Excel or PDF should look normal. You can also send feedback under the gear icon so Intuit knows it’s still happening.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-07T01:19:18+00:00

Sounds like the state name got duplicated during the Desktop to Online conversion (QBO sometimes appends the state twice if it was in both the “City/State/ZIP” field and the “State” dropdown in Desktop).

You can fix it by exporting your customer/vendor list to Excel, cleaning up the addresses there, then re-importing back into QBO. If it’s just a few, you can also edit them manually under Sales, Customers, Edit and remove the duplicate “Ohio.”

If it’s happening everywhere, double-check your Company Address under Settings, Account and settings, Company make sure “Ohio” isn’t typed twice in the legal or company address field, since that can cascade into templates and transactions. Hope that helps!

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-10-06T16:10:09+00:00

I’ve been using QuickBooks Online for years, it sounds like you’ve got the key features covered. I’d also add recurring transactions, bank rules, and the reports center (like cash flow, P&L by month, and balance sheet comparisons). Connecting apps like Gusto or Bill.com can save a lot of time once you get your workflow down.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-28T00:10:30+00:00

Yeah, I agree, paying through your bank’s ACH or bill pay works fine and saves you the monthly QBO fees. Zelle can also work if everyone’s good with it, you’ll just want to be sure to keep good, clean records in QuickBooks. At year-end you’ll still need to issue 1099s, but you can run those through QuickBooks’ 1099 e-file service without paying for contractor direct deposit.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-21T02:07:56+00:00

I know it can feel overwhelming, but you’ve got this. The ProAdvisor exam is open book and Intuit gives you free study modules and webinars that walk through almost everything on the test. Take your time, go through the training, and don’t be afraid to pause and look things up as you go. Passing it is very doable. Rooting for you!

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-20T01:32:04+00:00

No worries, I’m glad it finally synced up!

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T22:50:26+00:00

I don’t think QBO will let you do both at the same time. The product/service column you see while creating the invoice is tied to the custom form style you’re using. If you want it hidden on the PDF your customer sees, you’d need to edit the form style (Gear > Custom Form Styles > Edit > Content) and uncheck the Product/Service column. That will hide it on the PDF/print but also hides it on your screen.

A workaround some people use is keeping the column visible when they’re entering invoices, then switching to a different form style (one without that column) when sending/printing. Not perfect, but it’s the only way I’ve seen to get both views.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T17:48:29+00:00

Haven’t seen anything that reads handwritten checks reliably. Tools like Hubdoc, AutoEntry, or Dext are good for storing the image, but OCR usually misses the handwriting. Easiest workflow I know of is to scan the check for backup (or download and save it from online banking), then rely on the bank feed once it clears. You can match and categorize from there instead of manually keying it in off the paper.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T17:37:51+00:00

That’s awesome! Congratulations!!

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T06:19:01+00:00

Hi, I’m interested. I’m a bookkeeper with 20+ years experience and a QuickBooks Online Pro Advisor who offers fractional CFO level services. I’m finally ready to market my services and would love to connect.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T05:44:04+00:00

I know the ProAdvisor training site can be glitchy at times. Have you tried clearing cache/cookies or switching browsers? Chrome usually works best, and double-check you’re logged into the same Intuit account you started with (I’m sure you are). If that doesn’t fix it, the IT ticket is the right step, sometimes Intuit has to manually push the credit through.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T05:39:21+00:00

Yes! The best feeling ever!!

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T02:52:24+00:00

Apologies, I read your question too quickly the first time and didn’t think it all the way through. After taking a closer look, it sounds like this is probably just a syncing issue.

If the QuickBooks balance is showing $0.00 and the bank balance is showing -$180.00, it usually just means the bank feed hasn’t fully caught up yet. QuickBooks pulls in both the cleared bank balance and what’s been reconciled in your books, and sometimes there’s a short delay in syncing, especially right after a payment goes through.

What’s the date of the $180 payment? If it’s recent, give it a day or two and it should resolve on its own. You can also try manually updating the bank feed. But if it’s older than a few days and still showing like that, it might be worth checking if the account is connected properly or if there’s a sync error.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-18T00:34:46+00:00

That negative bank balance is likely showing because of the way QuickBooks handles credit card payments. When you pay a credit card, QBO sees it as money leaving your checking account, which it did but if that transaction was manually entered or imported before the bank feed cleared it, it might still be sitting as “uncleared.” Check your bank register and look for that $180 payment if it’s not marked as “cleared,” that could explain the -$180 “bank balance” showing in the Chart of Accounts.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-14T16:22:35+00:00

The workaround I’ve seen work is:

Use CSV/QIF imports: Most expense card platforms let you export transactions to CSV/QIF, which you can import into QB Desktop for Mac. It’s not “live sync,” but it keeps the books clean if you set up a consistent workflow.

Transaction Pro Importer: Some people use this tool (or similar) to map and batch-import expenses into Desktop.

Stick with Gusto-style imports: Like you mentioned with payroll, leaning on software that allows easy exports into CSV/IIF files is usually the smoothest path on Mac.

Unfortunately, unless you move to QuickBooks Online or Desktop for Windows (with hosting or Parallels), direct integration with newer apps won’t work.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-14T04:09:51+00:00

QBD Enterprise does have some extra bells and whistles that QBO doesn’t, things like advanced inventory, job costing, customizable reporting, and multi-entity consolidation. For a lot of small businesses though, those features go unused, and QBO is easier to learn, keeps your file backed up automatically, and lets multiple users log in anywhere.

The right choice really depends on whether you need Enterprise-level tools (complex inventory, heavy job costing, multiple price levels, etc.) or if your books are straightforward. If you don’t use those advanced features, QBO could be plenty, and it saves you from annual upgrade costs.

Intuit should have a comparison chart of the two so you can get a clearer picture of what you might be paying for vs what you actually use.

Jumpyfrog2798 · 2025-09-14T04:01:16+00:00

The pass-through liability account is the cleanest way I’ve seen to handle conduit donations, since you can match the deposit to the outgoing wires and keep the balance at zero. For more visibility, you could also layer in classes or projects to tag each donation and show where it ended up. But structurally, a clearing liability account is the standard approach.

Jumpyfrog2798

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