Adjusting your Account Balance

Adjusting an account balance updates the register by adding an adjustment transaction so your balance matches the amount you enter on a specific date. This is a quick way to correct the balance when you don’t want to complete the full reconciliation process.

When to use this option

Use Adjust Account Balance… when you know the correct balance and want to bring the register back in line without reviewing every transaction.

This option is a good fit when:

Your register balance doesn’t match your bank balance and you can’t quickly find the missing or duplicate transaction.
You want the register balance to match the bank as of a specific date.
You’ve decided it’s not worth spending time tracking down an older discrepancy right now.

When not to use this option

Adjusting the balance can hide the real cause of the difference, so it’s not the best choice when accuracy depends on the full transaction history.

Avoid adjusting the balance if:

You can identify the missing, duplicated, or incorrect transaction and can fix it directly.
You’re setting the opening balance for a new account (use the opening balance workflow instead).
You want the strongest verification of correctness (use reconciliation instead).

Best option vs fastest option

Reconciliation is the best option when you want to confirm your account matches your bank by checking off transactions and resolving differences. Adjusting the balance is the faster option when you simply want the register to match a known correct balance and you don’t want to go through the full reconciliation workflow.

Adjust the account balance

These steps create an adjustment transaction in the register that changes the running balance.

Open the account register you want to fix.
Choose Accounts > Adjust Account Balance…
In Balance should be, enter the correct balance (for example, 20,000).
In On this date, enter the date that balance should be correct.
Choose Live Balance Adjustment (Recommended) or Balance Adjustment.
Click Add Transaction.

After you add the transaction, you’ll see a new entry in the register (for example, Live Balance Adjustment or Balance Adjustment) and the register balance updates.

Understand “Live Balance Adjustment” vs “Balance Adjustment”

Both options add an adjustment transaction, but they behave differently if you later add or change transactions dated earlier than the adjustment date.

Live Balance Adjustment

A live adjustment can change later if earlier-dated transactions are added or edited. It recalculates to keep the account balance correct on the date you specified.

Use Live Balance Adjustment (Recommended) when you might import, add, or correct older transactions later.

Balance Adjustment

A standard balance adjustment is calculated once and does not change. If you later add or edit transactions dated earlier than the adjustment date, the register balance can change again.

Use Balance Adjustment when you don’t plan to add or edit transactions dated earlier than the adjustment date.

If you reconcile later

If you reconcile the account later and no longer need the adjustment, you can remove the adjustment transaction from the register. When you delete a reconciled adjustment transaction, you’re prompted to confirm the deletion.

Delete the adjustment transaction

Deleting the adjustment removes the correction from your register, so your balance may change immediately after you delete it.

In the register, select the adjustment transaction (for example, Balance Adjustment).
Click Delete.
In the confirmation message, click Delete.

What happens to the category

The adjustment uses the built-in behavior for categorizing the transaction. If you want the adjustment reflected differently in reports, you can change the category later.