QuickBooks 2020 For Dummies

Chapter 14

The Balancing Act

IN THIS CHAPTER

Balancing your bank account

Troubleshooting when your account doesn’t balance

I want to start this chapter with two important points. My first point: Balancing a bank account in QuickBooks is easy and quick.

And no, I’m not just trying to get you pumped up about an otherwise painfully boring topic. I don’t think that balancing a bank account is any more exciting than you do.

My point is simply this: Because bank account balancing can be tedious and boring, use QuickBooks to reduce the drudgery.

And now here’s my second point: You really do want to reconcile your business’s bank account by using the process I describe in this chapter. By reconciling your bank accounts, you massively improve the income and expense data that QuickBooks uses to help you assess your venture’s profitability. Why? Because when you reconcile your bank account, you tend to catch lots of errors that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Balancing a Bank Account

As I said, balancing a bank account is remarkably easy in QuickBooks. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that if you have any problems, they stem from … well, sloppy record keeping that preceded your use of QuickBooks.

Enough of this blather. I get started by describing how you reconcile an account.

Giving QuickBooks ...