# A month I already reconciled turns out to be wrong — do I reopen it or fix it in the current period?

Applies to: United States · Updated 2026-09-24

Neither, until you know what broke. Often a reconciled transaction was edited, voided or deleted afterwards; putting that one transaction back is the smallest fix and leaves every reconciliation intact. Unwind and redo the chain only when the reconciliation itself was done against wrong figures and few periods follow it. When unwinding would cost more than it repairs, keep the history and record the difference as a documented, explained exception.

## What do you need to establish before choosing anything?

What an edit does to a reconciled transaction, how far an un-reconcile reaches and how a lock interacts with it differ by product; other platforms are not covered here.

Three facts decide which fixes are even possible: which transaction changed, when it changed, and whether the reconciliation was wrong when it was done or the data was changed after it was done. You cannot choose a path until you know them, because each path only works under particular facts.

Start with the size of the break. In QuickBooks Online the beginning balance of a new reconciliation should equal the ending balance of the last completed one, and if it does not, the software stops you until you account for the difference. Write that amount down; every change you find should add up to it.

Then use the change history the books keep. In QuickBooks Online the Reconcile Discrepancy Report lists what changed, how it affected your balance and what you can do about each item, and its What happened column shows what changed, when and who changed it. Deleted and voided transactions do not appear in that report; you find them by reviewing the audit log for the account and the period since the last completed reconciliation. How to work those tools step by step is a separate question.

If your books keep no usable change history, you are left comparing each old bank statement with the transactions now marked reconciled for that month, which is slower but reaches the same answer.

## Which kind of break are you looking at?

There are three, and they leave different evidence.

**A reconciled transaction was changed afterwards.** A check, deposit or transfer that was marked reconciled was later edited, deleted, voided, moved or unreconciled. Intuit lists this among the most common causes: it changes the ending balance of the last reconciliation and so sets the beginning balance for the next one. The evidence is a dated change in the history, made after the reconciliation was completed. Intuit also lists a categorized bank feed transaction that was undone and sent back to pending; treat it the same way, as a reconciled item changed after the fact.

**The reconciliation was completed against data that was already wrong.** The month balanced at the time, but only because two errors offset each other, a transaction was forced to clear, or an adjustment was posted to make it agree. Nothing changed afterwards. The evidence is on the old reconciliation report itself: a cleared item that does not appear on that month's statement, or an adjustment line.

**The reconciliation was completed against a statement figure that was itself wrong.** The bank might report a check at the wrong amount or in another customer's account. If the statement you reconciled to was later corrected by the bank, or you typed its ending balance wrong, the stored figure is wrong even though no transaction moved. The evidence is a mismatch between the ending balance on the stored reconciliation and the ending balance on the bank statement.

Only the first kind can be fixed by restoring a transaction. Do not assume the old month was wrong just because this month's balance disagrees. If the history shows no change to any reconciled item and the stored ending balance matches the statement, the old month is sound, and the fault is in this month's data.

## What does a completed reconciliation actually consist of?

Two things. Each transaction the reconciliation covered carries a status mark; in QuickBooks Online a reconciled item shows R in the register. And the reconciliation itself is stored with the ending date and ending balance you reconciled to, and a reconciliation report.

Intuit describes the effect of a change to one of those covered transactions directly: a reconciled transaction that was edited, deleted, voided, moved or unreconciled changes the ending balance of your last reconciliation and sets the beginning balance for the next one. That shifted opening figure is the break, and QuickBooks will not let the next reconciliation continue until you account for it.

## Why does the problem show up this month and not in the month that caused it?

Because each reconciliation opens on the balance the last one closed on. After a reconciled item changes, the books' figure for every later reconciliation is off by the same amount. Nothing in the reconciliation history records the change in the month it touches, and unless a lock date is set nothing stops it. It surfaces only when the next new reconciliation starts and its opening figure no longer agrees with the last stored close. So you see a current difference with a historical cause, and every reconciliation between the two carries it.

## What does each fix do?

**Restore the transaction.** Put the altered transaction back exactly as it stood when it was reconciled: same amount, date, account and status. The marked items add up to the stored figures again, every reconciliation record stays as it was, and there is nothing to redo. It is available only if the change was a mistake and you know what the original was. Intuit's instruction is to fix only a change that was made in error, because some changes are intentional.

**Unwind and redo the chain.** Undo the reconciliations back to the affected month and perform each one again against its statement. This rebuilds the history from scratch, and it is the right fix when the reconciliation itself was wrong. It is also the most expensive and the least reversible:

- In QuickBooks Online Accountant, when you undo a reconciliation, the one you choose and every reconciliation after it are undone together. Intuit's Primary Admin instructions for QuickBooks Online do not state what happens to later reconciliations, so confirm the scope in your own product before you start.
- On that Accountant route, undoing does not unmark transactions that were reconciled by hand, and transactions still in the register for the undone dates may have been changed manually. Both need checking before you redo anything.
- In QuickBooks Online, undoing a reconciliation cannot be reversed, and it permanently deletes the associated reports and attachments. Undoing an entire reconciliation there requires signing in as the Primary Admin. Download every report you will need first.

**Keep the history and document the difference.** Leave the reconciliations in place and record what happened as a new, visible event. In QuickBooks Online, a fix that calls for reconciling a single transaction can be done by marking it R in the register or by reconciling again with the same ending date and ending balance as your last reconciliation. Both fix the beginning balance, but only reconciling again records the change on a reconciliation report. Pair that with a written note of what changed and why. In QuickBooks Online the difference must still be accounted for before the next reconciliation can be completed, so documenting it does not remove that step — it records why the figure moved. Intuit's instructions for fixing a beginning balance do not say how to account for a difference that cannot be removed, such as a deletion you cannot rebuild or an intentional change that is right; if your balance still does not match after those steps, they point you to your accountant, who should decide how to account for it. Where the difference also means the books are genuinely misstated, the correcting entry itself is needed, and which period it belongs in is a separate question.

## How do the three fixes look on the same broken chain?

A checking account was reconciled for February through May. In June someone edited February check 1042, already reconciled, from 650.00 to 560.00. June's reconciliation opens 90.00 off.

Before any action:

| Month | Stored closing balance | Balance of reconciled items now | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 10,200.00 | 10,290.00 | 90.00 |
| March | 8,400.00 | 8,490.00 | 90.00 |
| April | 9,150.00 | 9,240.00 | 90.00 |
| May | 7,980.00 | 8,070.00 | 90.00 |
| June opening | 7,980.00 (from May's statement) | 8,070.00 | 90.00 |

The bank paid 650.00, so the June edit was the error.

| Fix | Check 1042 | Reconciliation history | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restore | Back to 650.00, still reconciled | February to May records unchanged; every gap returns to 0.00 | One edit, then check the chain |
| Unwind and redo | Must still be corrected to 650.00, or February will not balance again | February to May reports deleted and rebuilt; on the Accountant route the undo reaches every later reconciliation, so four months are re-reconciled | Four reconciliations, plus re-checking manual marks |
| Document | Stays at 560.00, 90.00 less than the bank paid | February to May records left as they stand, each stored close still 90.00 away from the items it covered | A memo, the correcting entry handled as its own decision, and June unable to complete until the 90.00 is accounted for; Intuit's steps do not say how while the check stays at 560.00, so your accountant decides |

The example shows the trap. Unwinding does not fix an edited transaction: February only balances again once the check is back at 650.00, and by then restoring alone would have done the job without destroying four months of reports.

## How do you choose between them?

Apply these in order:

1. **Can the original transaction be restored exactly?** If the break is a mistaken edit, void or deletion and you know the original details, restore it. Stop there.
2. **Is the period locked?** Any attempt to change a transaction dated on or before the lock date triggers the warning or password prompt that was set, so a restoration there is a deliberate act (next section).
3. **How many reconciliations have been completed since?** On QuickBooks Online Accountant the unwind undoes the chosen reconciliation and every one after it, and each must be re-performed against its statement; weigh that work and the chance of a new error against what the restoration buys you.
4. **Is the difference a real misstatement, or only a broken record?** If the books are right and only the reconciliation history is inconsistent, as when an item was re-marked in a different month, keep the history and record the event. If the books are actually wrong, the correction is needed whichever path you take for the history.

Two situations change the order.

**Many reconciliations since.** Before undoing anything, list every period you will undo with its statement date and stored ending balance, and download each report. Undoing month by month without that record is how accounts end up partly reconciled with nothing to redo them from. On each month you redo, check that the ending balance agrees with that month's statement and that the cleared items are the same as before, apart from the one you meant to change.

**A deleted transaction that cannot be restored.** Rebuild it from what remains. Supporting documents such as paid bills, invoices, receipts, deposit slips and canceled checks hold the information you need to record in your books, and the bank statement for that month shows the amount and date the bank actually processed. If you can establish the original, re-enter it and reconcile it in a catch-up reconciliation. If you cannot, restoration is not available: document the difference and involve your accountant. QuickBooks Online still will not let the next reconciliation continue until that difference is accounted for, and Intuit's instructions for fixing a beginning balance do not say how to do that when the original cannot be rebuilt, so leave that decision to your accountant. Do not delete the transaction and re-enter a fresh one just to make this month balance. That breaks the earlier reconciliation further and separates the entry from its supporting document. For the same reason, do not post an entry that simply offsets the old break so this month completes; the current month then agrees while the history stays broken and unexplained.

## What changes if the month is locked?

There are three situations.

**The period is open.** Every path is available.

**The period is locked.** In QuickBooks Online, locking the books stops changes to past transactions, and Intuit's instruction is to reconcile the accounts up to the lock date before locking. Depending on the setting, a change behind the lock date shows a warning, or a warning plus a password prompt. Intuit's steps have a primary or company admin set the lock. Restoring a transaction dated on or before the lock date triggers that warning or password prompt, so it is a deliberate act; agree it with whoever owns the lock before you start.

**The period cannot be reopened.** If it has been decided that the period will not be reopened, or the owner of the lock will not release it, restoration and the unwind are both off the table. What remains is documenting the difference, with the correction handled as its own decision.

## How do you know the chain is sound again?

Whichever path you took, check all of these:

- The size of the break is gone. In QuickBooks Online the discrepancy report's total difference shows $0.00, and the changes you found add up to the amount you wrote down at the start.
- The new reconciliation opens on the last stored closing balance, and that balance matches the bank statement for the same date.
- Every reconciliation you redid ends on its own statement's ending balance.
- Every item that appears on a reconciled month's statement carries its reconciled mark, items not yet on any statement are left unmarked, and no transaction dated after the last completed reconciliation has been marked by hand.

If the current month agrees but an earlier stored closing balance still differs from its statement, the chain is still broken behind you. Do not stop there.

## How should you record what happened?

Write a short note and keep it with the reconciliation reports: the account, the transaction that changed, its original and changed details, who changed it and when (from the change history), the amount of the break, the path you chose and why, and the periods you undid or redid, each with its statement ending balance. Save the old reports you downloaded alongside the new ones. An accountant or reviewer who later sees a gap in the reconciliation history, or two reports for the same month, can then follow it in minutes.

## What let this happen, and how do you stop it happening again?

The break was possible because the books let someone change a transaction that was already reconciled. Three controls close that exposure:

- **Lock reconciled periods.** Once a month is reconciled, set the lock date to its end and choose the password option, so a change behind it is a deliberate act and not a quick edit.
- **Keep reconciliation access narrow.** In QuickBooks Online, viewing and editing reconciliations needs admin access. Keep that access and the lock password with the people who own the reconciliation, so undoing or re-marking a reconciliation is limited to them; the lock, not the access level, is what stands between an ordinary user and a transaction dated in a reconciled month.
- **Check the history before each new reconciliation.** When the opening balance disagrees, look at the change history before you change anything, not after.

## When should you stop and hand it to your accountant?

Stop when the break touches a locked period, when the number of months an unwind would undo is more than you can re-perform and verify with the statements you hold, when a deleted transaction cannot be reconstructed, or when the difference means the books themselves are wrong. Intuit's own advice is to check with your accountant when a correction affects a reconciled period or the opening balance and you are unsure. Hand over the amount of the break, the change-history entries you found, the downloaded reconciliation reports, the statements for each affected month, and your note of what you have already changed.

## Sources

1. Intuit Inc. — *Fix beginning balance issues when reconciling in QuickBooks Online*, updated September 1, 2026. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/statement-reconciliation/fix-issues-accounts-reconciled-past-quickbooks/L8lx6PQQ5_US_en_US
2. Intuit Inc. — *Undo or remove transactions from reconciliations in QuickBooks Online*, updated 8/24/2026. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/accounting-bookkeeping/undo-remove-transactions-reconciliations-online/L6ERlEXxn_US_en_US
3. Intuit Inc. — *Undo a client's entire reconciliation in QuickBooks Online Accountant*, updated 9/1/2026. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/statement-reconciliation/undo-clients-reconciliation-quickbooks-online/L2rUvgAg6_US_en_US
4. Intuit Inc. — *Lock your books in QuickBooks Online*, updated 9/15/2026. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/close-books/close-books-quickbooks-online/L59LelyPM_US_en_US
5. OpenStax, Rice University — *Principles of Accounting, Volume 1: Financial Accounting, 8.6 Define the Purpose of a Bank Reconciliation, and Prepare a Bank Reconciliation and Its Associated Journal Entries*, April 11, 2019. https://openstax.org/books/principles-financial-accounting/pages/8-6-define-the-purpose-of-a-bank-reconciliation-and-prepare-a-bank-reconciliation-and-its-associated-journal-entries
6. Internal Revenue Service — *What kind of records should I keep*, last reviewed August 3, 2026. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/what-kind-of-records-should-i-keep

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