How to correct the distribution accounts on a paid bill
If you discovered after writing a check to pay a bill that the line items in the distribution have been added for the wrong accounts, depending on your circumstances, there are a couple of possible ways to fix the accounts.
- If you are looking for an article on how to correct the bank account on a paid bill, see, 'How to change the bank account on a printed check.'
- If you are looking for an article on how to correct an unpaid bill, please see, 'How to edit a an unpaid bill.'
You may delete the check and edit the bill (if all of the following conditions are met):
- the bill has been paid or partially paid in either accounting method (cash or accrual)
- you have delete permissions
- the check is in an open period (see this article to learn how to re-open the period as long as the other conditions are in place)
- the check has not been cleared on a closed bank reconciliation (see this article to re-open the bank reconciliation if the other conditions are in place)
- the check has not been cleared on an open bank reconciliation. If it has, pull up that reconciliation and remove the checkmark that cleared it. Submit the reconciliation.
- the check has not been cleared on an open or closed credit card reconciliation, you will need to un-clear the check there, similar to on a bank reconciliation (see this article on how to re-open a closed credit card reconciliation)
- the check has not been voided; if the check has been voided see notes below to learn your next steps.
If the option to delete the check is not available to you, you may fix the accounts by creating a journal entry using these guidelines (if any of the above conditions are not met):
- Date: accrual method: use the invoice date; cash method: use the check date
- Note, if the date you must use is not an option because the period is closed, either use the closest date available or see this article to learn how to re-open your period.
- Credits: In the journal entry, credit the accounts that were erroneously used in the line items of the bill.
- Debits: Then, debit the accounts that were supposed to be in the original bill.
The check has been voided
If the check has been voided there is no other option than to make a new bill correctly and pay it.
Accounts: If you chose the option to make a new bill during the void process then the new, unpaid bill will still have the original incorrect account(s) on it and will need to be edited before you pay it.
Bill dates:
- If possible, date the bill on the date of the original bill.
- If you have closed the month of the original Invoice date (in either method) the new bill will be in the current oldest open accounting month. For example, if your current accounting month is March, the invoice date is February and the date you are doing the voiding is April, the new invoice date will be in March as that is the first open accounting month. NOTE, the system defaults the invoice date to the date you are making the entry and you may need to edit it to have the correct invoice date.
- If you need the new bill and check to be in the original month it was created/paid you will have to have that (those) month(s) reopened. See this article for information on re-opening the month.
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