Service
QuickBooks Online cleanup and diagnostic
Fix a QuickBooks file that no longer ties: bad reconciliations, a bloated chart of accounts, negative inventory, wrong opening balances and duplicate transactions.
The short answer
- A QuickBooks file needs cleanup when the balance sheet has Opening Balance Equity, uncleared Undeposited Funds or reconciliations that no longer match the statements.
- Cleanup starts with a diagnostic: what is wrong, in what order it must be fixed, and how far back it reaches.
- Merging duplicate accounts and rebuilding bank rules is what keeps the file clean afterwards.
- Cleanup is usually a one-time project, then monthly bookkeeping keeps the file accurate.
The seven things we check first
Most broken files fail on the same short list, and the order of repair matters because fixing later items first just re-breaks them.
- Opening Balance Equity with a balance
- Undeposited Funds that never clears
- Reconciliation discrepancies against statements
- Negative inventory or negative accounts payable
- Duplicate vendors, customers and accounts
- Personal spending inside business expenses
- Loan balances that do not match the lender
Chart of accounts that fits your industry
Files usually collect accounts until reports are unreadable. We merge duplicates, retire what is unused and build a structure that produces the reports your industry actually manages on.
Bank rules and stopping the recurrence
Cleanup without new rules is temporary. We rebuild rules from your real vendor patterns and document how the recurring items should be treated.
Read-only first, changes on approval
LedgerDude connects to QuickBooks read-only by default. Anything that writes back to your file is queued for approval, logged, and traceable to the person who approved it.
A diagnostic on a five-year-old file
- Chart of accounts
- 214 accounts → 78
- Opening Balance Equity
- $46,200 → $0
- Undeposited Funds stuck
- $11,800 cleared
- Duplicate transactions removed
- 163
- Reconciliation months repaired
- 14
What this tells you: Nothing in this file was unusual. Broken QuickBooks files fail in predictable ways, which is why a diagnostic beats guesswork.
What you see inside LedgerDude
What you see when the work is done: one page with your money on it.
How a QuickBooks cleanup runs
- 1
Connect read-only
We connect to QuickBooks Online and import without changing anything.
- 2
Diagnose
You get a written findings list ranked by financial impact.
- 3
Approve
You approve the scope and the fixed project fee.
- 4
Repair
We fix in dependency order: opening balances, then reconciliations, then classifications.
- 5
Prevent
New bank rules and a close checklist keep the file clean.
Real example
Retailer whose balance sheet showed negative inventory
Where they started: Sales receipts had been entered without items, so inventory went negative and gross margin was meaningless.
What we did: We rebuilt item mapping, corrected fourteen months of receipts and reset inventory with a physical count.
How it ended up: Gross margin became reportable for the first time and pricing decisions followed within a month.
14
Months corrected
$38,400
Inventory variance resolved
Reportable
Gross margin
What is included
- Full file diagnostic with a written findings list
- Chart of accounts rebuild and account merges
- Reconciliation repair and undeposited funds cleanup
- Duplicate transaction removal
- Opening balance equity cleared to zero
- Bank rules rebuilt so the mess does not return
One-time project fee based on the diagnostic findings.
Questions people ask
How do I know if my QuickBooks needs cleanup?
Check the balance sheet for Opening Balance Equity, an Undeposited Funds balance that never moves, or loan balances that disagree with your lender. Any of those means the file no longer ties.
Will you change my QuickBooks without asking?
No. The connection is read-only by default and every write-back is queued for your approval and logged.
How far back should a cleanup go?
Usually to the last filed tax year, so the current year is accurate without reopening returns unnecessarily.
Keep reading
Monthly bookkeeping, closed by the 10th
Every transaction categorized, every account reconciled, one short list of questions and a close package you can read in five minutes.
Catch-up bookkeeping for months or years behind
Behind on your books? We rebuild prior months in order, reconcile every account and hand you filing-ready financials with a fixed quote up front.
Financial reporting that answers questions
Dashboards, trends and a written executive summary each month, so you know what changed, why, and what to do about it.
All services
Everything we can take off your plate.
Pricing
Flat monthly plans based on your revenue.
Industries
How we set the books up for your kind of business.
Want your books handled for you?
We read your receipts, match your bank activity, and close your books every month. You get one short list of questions and a dashboard that always tells the truth.