QB Desktop Weekly: Reclassify Transactions

Editor's Note about QB Desktop Weekly: Mondays will see a change at Insightful Accountant for 2023. Liz now is incorporating video into her "QBO Monday Minute" features to provide additional flavor for our audience. I only wish I had half the talent she has in doing that; but as we all know, “I have a face made for phonographic records, so making videos is out of the question.”

With the extra work Liz is doing, she will be taking every other week off from her Monday Minute feature.

Accordingly, Insightful Accountant will substitute a new "QB Desktop Weekly" feature into the every other Monday schedule. I know, you're wondering how we can call it a weekly when it only runs every other week? You just have to trust me on this. It is the kind of thing you get to do when you're semi-retired and do half the work for half the pay.  

The "QB Desktop Weekly" will mimic the "QBO Monday Minute" in terms of scope of content. It is just a short little feature about a specific aspect of QuickBooks Desktop. It might be a feature gem or problem issue, or it might be something new or improved. It could even be a how to or a how not to do.

So, let's get on with our first "QB Desktop Weekly..."

Reclassify Transactions in QuickBooks Desktop

It's time for your end of the year review and your client's QuickBooks data has multiple transactions posted to the incorrect general ledger accounts. You could go to each transaction and repost them properly one-by-one, or you could make some adjusting journal entries to reclassify the amounts out of the incorrect accounts and into the correct ones.

All that is very time consuming, but fortunately, QuickBooks Desktop Accountant—including QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant, or the Accountant Toolbox accessible from your client's QuickBooks (with your ProAdvisor/Accountant Intuit log-in)—gives you access to Client Data Review (CDR) and the Reclassify Transactions tool.

You can use the Reclassify Transactions tool to easily find transactions assigned to the wrong accounts or classes in your client’s books. You then can use the tool to reclassify those transactions either one-by-one or all at once without ever actually going to the transaction.

Here’s how if you're reviewing your client's data in your QuickBooks Desktop Accountant software.

Open Client Data Review (CDR)

If you haven't already begun a review of the client's data using CDR, you will need to set the fiscal year or date range of transactions you want to check. Now:

1. From the Accountant menu, select Client Data Review
2. Select Client Data Review
3. Select Modify Review, then select OK
4. In the Review Date Range section, select the date range of transactions you want to review
5. In the Review Basis section, choose Accrual or Cash
6. Select Modify Review (you’ll see Start Review the first time you use it, and Modify Review for subsequent uses.)
7. In the Account Balances section, find Reclassify Transactions.  From the Status ▼ drop-down, select In Progress
8. Select Close

Open Reclassify Transactions Tool

You now can begin reviewing your client’s transactions using the Reclassify Transaction tool within CDR.

1. From the Accountant menu, select Client Data Review
2. Select Reclassify Transactions
3. In the Accounts section, select the View ▼ drop-down. Then, select the Account Type
4. Select an Account to view the transactions in the right pane
5. In the Transactions section, select a name from the Name ▼ drop-down
6. From the Show transactions ▼ drop-down, select what transactions you want to review
7. Review the list of transactions to identify erroneously classified transactions

Reclassify Transactions As Needed

When you identify transactions that have been erroneously classified either by account or class (like the one shown in the top red box in the example above), you can reclassify them to their correct account or class using the tool. You can even reclassify them to the correct account and class at the same time (as shown in the bottom red box above).

Unfortunately, you cannot reclassify transactions using accounts payable (vendor bills) or accounts receivable (invoices). You also cannot change the account or class of transactions  linked to other transactions.

To reclassify a transaction or group of transactions:

1. Select a transaction or Select All
2. Select the  Account to checkbox to reclassify by account
3. Select the ▼ drop-down arrow next to Account to. Then, find the account where you want to reassign the transaction(s)
4. Select the Class to checkbox to reclassify by class
5. Select the ▼ drop-down arrow next to Class to. Then, select a new class for the transaction(s)
6. Select Reclassify

You have quickly reclassified one or more transactions, at the transaction level, by account and/or class (as shown above) much more efficiently than hunting them down one by one and doing it the old fashioned way.

Accessing Reclassify Transactions At Your Clients

If you need to access the Reclassify Transactions tool while you are at your client's you can unlock the Accountant's Toolbox.

1. Log into the client’s file as an External Accountant user
2. From the Menu bar, choose Company, then select Accountant Toolbox 
3. Choose Unlock Accountant Toolbox; QuickBooks will display the Unlock Accountant Toolbox Dialog box
4. Enter your Email Address and Password associated with your QuickBooks ProAdvisor Membership or QuickBooks Accountant Desktop Plus Subscription
5. Then, from Accountant Toolbox, select Reclassify Transactions

You have the best of both worlds. You are working at your client's location but you have access to your accountant's tools, is not accounting life wonderful?

Disclosures

Adapted from Intuit QuickBooks Desktop Accountant Help content and related source materials. Source content materials were adapted by Insightful Accountant solely for educational purposes.

As used herein, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Desktop Accountant refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc.; a NASDAQ publicly traded "INTU" corporation, headquartered in Mountain View, California (USA).

Any or all other trade names used herein, including any other vendor (app/software) products discussed within this article, may be registered, trademarked or otherwise held by their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. They have been referenced for informational and educational purposes only.

This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. No vendor within this article has paid Insightful Accountant or the Author any remuneration to be included within this feature. This article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.

Publication of this article does not represent an endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.

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