Editing and voiding posted transactions

What this does

Posted checking and credit card transactions can be corrected where they sit. The amount, payee or vendor, category lines, memo, check or reference number, and date are all editable from the account register and from the reconciliation workspace, with one condition: you write down why. The ledger entry is rewritten, the audit log keeps what it was and what it became, and anything downstream (a bill this payment paid) is updated to match.

This is deliberate. The old rule was that a posted entry never changes and every fix is a reversal plus a re-entry, which made a mistyped $143.20 into three entries. The rule now is that every change is logged, and the reconciled past stays put.

Before you start

Owner or General Manager only. The transaction must be posted, not already voided, and not cleared in a completed reconciliation. Its date must be after the period lock, or you need a timed override (see Period locking).

Steps

Open the account register from the Banking Overview (or the reconciliation workspace), find the row, and open its menu.

Edit. The dialog shows Date, Payee (or Vendor for a card transaction), Memo, the reference number, and Category lines. Change what's wrong. To split a purchase across accounts, add lines; every line needs an account and an amount, and they have to total the transaction. Type the Reason (required), something a future reader can use: "statement shows $148.20, stub was misread as $143.20." Save. The register refreshes with the corrected row; on the reconciliation page the lines are re-read, since the entry was regenerated.

Void. For a transaction that shouldn't exist at all (entered twice, wrong account entirely). Confirm the dialog. A reversing entry posts, dated to the original transaction's date, so a June charge voided in September still reverses in June and the month nets to zero. The original stays in the register in grey.

Edit changes a transaction; Void removes its effect. To change an amount or a category, edit; don't void and re-enter.

What happens in the books

An edit rewrites the journal entry's lines in place under the same entry number, so the trial balance moves by exactly the difference. If the transaction paid a vendor bill, the bill's paid amount follows. The audit log row holds the before and after values, your reason, and who did it. A void posts a new entry with the debits and credits swapped and marks the transaction Void.

Common problems

"This transaction has been reconciled." It was cleared in a finished reconciliation and can't be edited. Post a correcting journal entry dated today, or void it (allowed) and re-enter, knowing the reversal will appear as an uncleared line on the next reconciliation.

"Period is locked." The date is on or before the lock date. Use a timed override or move the lock; see Period locking.

Save is disabled. The reason is empty, or a category line has no account or the lines don't total the amount.

I want to edit a deposit or an invoice payment. Those aren't checks or card transactions. A posted invoice or customer payment can be re-dated from its own screen; amounts on an issued invoice change through an invoice edit. See Deposits and Customer Payments.