If you are using QuickBooks online and come across some balance sheet account that you do not want to use anymore, then you may decide to delete it or make it inactive. There is a feature in QuickBooks Online, that will let you delete the balance sheet account in QuickBooks Online and you can even restore it later on if the need arises.

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Though you should understand the fact, that you cannot permanently delete an account, yes you can go for merging one account with another. Also, you are not allowed to delete the income and expense account in QuickBooks Online. There are some things you should know before going for deletion of the account in QuickBooks as listed below:

You should be aware that you cannot permanently delete an account in QuickBooks, which is good news because you can restore the account anytime later if you want to. It is more like archiving where you can restore the archived items.
You should ensure that the balance of the balance sheet account is corrected to zero before deleting it because if it is not zero then QuickBooks will post an automatic entry to make it zero before deleting it and the corresponding entry will be posted in the opening balance equity account. This entry can lead to incorrect tax info filing.
Even if you have deleted the account from QuickBooks, previously posted transactions in this account would remain intact, i.e., they would not be deleted.
So, in case, you want to edit or delete the transactions posted in the deleted account, you will have to restore them first and then edit or delete the individual posted entry.

In the next section, We will look into the process of deleting and restoring the account in QuickBooks Online.

Table of Contents

How to Restore a Deleted Bank Account in QuickBooks Online

Here’s how you can restore a deleted bank account in QuickBooks Online:

Click the Transactions tab on the left.
Choose Chart of Accounts.
In the Chart of Accounts table, Click the Gear icon at the upper right corner.
Put a checkmark in the Include Inactive box.
Find the specific account you like to restore and click the Make active option at the far right.

Process to Delete and Restore an Account in QuickBooks Online

Know the Detailed process to delete and restore an account in QuickBooks Online.

To Delete a Balance Sheet Account in QuickBooks:

The process of deleting or marking the account as inactive involves simple steps as listed below:

At the start, you need to click open the QuickBooks online and go to the settings.
After clicking on settings > go ahead and click on the Chart of Accounts.
Now in this step, you need to search for the account that you wish to delete.
After you have found the account, you need to click on the Action dropdown and click on “Mark Inactive” against the account.

If you want to see the list of inactive accounts, you can follow the below steps:

Click open the QuickBooks on your system go to settings and then Chart of Accounts.
Now you need to click on the Gear icon again, this time at the top of the list. And you need to click on the “Include Inactive” checkbox.
This will let you see all the inactive accounts in the QuickBooks Chart of Accounts.

To Restore a Balance Sheet Account in QuickBooks:

Now as it sometimes happens you would want to restore a previously deleted account, for this purpose, you need to follow the below process steps:

On Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks:

After opening the QuickBooks, click on settings and then Chart of Accounts.
Now you need to select the settings above the action column and check on include inactive.
Now find the deleted account go to the action column and uncheck the Inactive box. And after doing this click on save and close.

On Audit log in QuickBooks:

Click open the QuickBooks, go to the settings, and then click on the Audit log.
Now you need to find the deleted account and select the account hyperlink in the event column.
The above step will take you to the Account screen, and you need to uncheck inactive at the bottom left. After that, you need to click on save and close.

This would make the account active again in QuickBooks, now let us look into some frequently asked questions asked by the users to help you out further.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Process to Delete the Multiple Transactions together in QuickBooks?

You can start by clicking on the banking menu and OK and then you need to select the current account. After this, you need to go to the review tab and select the items or transactions that you want to delete. Now click on the batch action buttons and choose to exclude selected and once you are done with this you need to go to the Excluded tab. Now mark the transactions in the excluded tab as well and click on Delete.

What is the meaning of R and C in QuickBooks Online?

R means that the account is reconciled and C means that the account is cleared. When the account status is cleared, it means that the account has hit the bank or credit card, but it has not yet reconciled as per the QuickBooks reconciliation process.

Can You let me know the steps to deal with the Unclear Transactions in QuickBooks Online?

First, click open the QuickBooks and go to the Expenses. And after that click on Vendors, now choose the vendor’s name, and locate the expense transaction. Now change the correct account under the category and click on save and close.

What is the Process of Running Reconciliation Discrepancy Reports in QuickBooks?

You need to first go to the report menu and hover your cursor over Banking and after that select the reconciliation discrepancy. Now choose the account you are reconciling and click on OK. After that, you need to look for any discrepancies while reviewing the report. And then you can maybe reach out to the person who made the changes in the reconciliation and the reason for the same.