How do I undo a past bank reconciliation in QuickBooks Online?

Undoing a past reconciliation in QuickBooks Online is possible, but the steps depend on your account type. If you have QuickBooks Online Accountant access, you can undo an entire period in one step. For standard QuickBooks Online accounts, you'll remove transactions manually, one by one.

Important Check Before You Start

Because unreconciling affects your beginning balance, it's important to start with a quick check. Grab your bank statements and confirm that your opening, beginning, and ending balances are correct. Only undo a transaction—or a full reconciliation—if you're certain it's the source of the problem.

Option 1: For QuickBooks Online Accountant Users

This option requires QuickBooks Online Accountant access. If you have an accountant managing your books, they can do this for you. If you have your own access, follow these steps to undo the full reconciliation in one go.

This method undoes an entire reconciliation period in one step. Keep two important things in mind before you start:

• Undoing one reconciliation will also automatically undo all reconciliations that came after it.
• Any attachments tied to that reconciliation will be permanently deleted. Be sure to download them first.

Undo an entire reconciliation

1. Open your client’s company file in QuickBooks Online. Go to All apps, then Accounting, then Reconcile (Take me there).
2. Select History by account.
3. Select the account you want to unreconcile and the date range.
4. Find the reconciliation you want to undo.
5. From the Action column, select the dropdown ▼, then select Undo.
6. Select Yes.
7. Select Undo.

Note: If you don't see the Undo option, confirm the company file was opened from within QuickBooks Online Accountant — this feature isn't available in standard QuickBooks Online.

For more details, check out this article: Undo a client’s entire reconciliation in QuickBooks Online Accountant

Option 2: For Standard QuickBooks Online Users

Since the bulk undo feature is only available for accountants, you'll need to manually unreconcile each transaction. It can be time-consuming, but here’s how to do it correctly, one transaction at a time:

1. Go to All apps, then Accounting, then Chart of accounts (Take me there).
2. Find the account containing the transaction and select View register.
3. Locate the specific transaction in the list. Note: Reconciled transactions have an "R" in the checkmark column (✔).
4. Select the transaction to expand the view.
5. Select the box with the "R" in the checkmark column repeatedly until the box is blank. This action cycles the status from R (Reconciled) to C (Cleared) to Blank (Uncleared).
6. Select Save.

Repeat these steps for each transaction you need to remove. If you're unreconciling multiple months, be sure to work from the earliest month forward.

For more details, see: Undo or remove transactions from reconciliations in QuickBooks Online

If your beginning balance is off, fix it before re-reconciling

Undoing a reconciliation — especially across multiple months — can shift your beginning balance. If you see an alert that reads "Your beginning balance is off by..." when you go to reconcile, QuickBooks can help you find and fix the cause before you continue.

1. Go to All apps, then Accounting, then Reconcile (Take me there).
2. Choose the account you wish to reconcile from the Which account do you want to Reconcile ▼ dropdown.
3. If the beginning balance doesn't match, select "We can help you fix it" to open the Reconcile Discrepancy Report.
4. Review each transaction in the report. The Change Type column tells you what happened — amount changed, unreconciled in register, reconciled in error, or deleted.
5. Make the appropriate correction for each transaction based on the change type shown.
6. Once the Total Discrepancy Difference shows $0.00, select Resume reconciling.
7. Enter the Ending balance and Ending date from your bank statement, then select Start reconciling.
8. Check off each transaction that matches your bank statement.
9. When the difference shows $0.00, select Finish now.

Common causes of a beginning balance mismatch include edited or deleted reconciled transactions, a manually changed transaction status in the register, or an incorrect opening balance when the account was first set up. If your ending balance still doesn't match after re-reconciling, the articles below cover the most common causes:

• Fix issues with your beginning balance for accounts you've reconciled before
• Fix issues at the end of a reconciliation in QuickBooks Online

That should get your books back on track. If you run into anything along the way, reply below and we'll help you work through it.