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IIF

What Should I Do If My Accrual Basis Balance Sheet Is Out Of Balance?

Chief Mechanic · September 5, 2010 ·

A balance sheet in QuickBooks can be produced on either a cash or accrual basis.  A balance sheet that’s in balance is one where total assets are equal to the sum of total liabilities plus total equity.  Sometimes, if your company file (.qbw) has become damaged, this fundamental accounting relationship can be broken because of data damage to individual transactions.

Intuit has several troubleshooting steps to attempt to resolve problems with a balance sheet that’s out of balance.  These steps depend on which reporting basis balance sheet is out of balance.  In this article, we’ll summarize the steps to address an accrual basis balance sheet that’s out of balance.  See our related article on resolving problems with a cash basis balance sheet.  There are also other ways to use reports to assist rebuilding a damaged company file.

The most likely cause of an out-of-balance accrual basis balance sheet is an income or expense account with an account balance but without transactions that add up to that balance.  To fix this problem, Intuit recommends a multi-step process that involves:

  1. calculating the amount by which the balance sheet is out of balance
  2. identifying the problem account
  3. testing your account identification
  4. recording a check for $.01 to that account
  5. running the Rebuild Data utility
  6. deleting the check for $.01 previously recorded and testing the outcome

Step 1 – Calculate the Amount Your Balance Sheet is Out of Balance

Produce a standard balance sheet (Reports->Company & Financial->Balance Sheet Standard) and calculate the amount your balance sheet is out of balance.  Be sure to click the Modify Report… button and set the Dates to All and the Report Basis to Accrual.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 Modify Report Balance Sheet All Dates Accrual Basis

Step 2 – Identify the Problem Account

First, export your chart of accounts.  From the File->Utilities->Export->Lists to IIF Files… menu selection, choose Chart of Accounts in the Export window and click Ok.

QB_Premier 2009 Export Chart of Accounts

This export procedure will produce a delimited IIF file.  Open this file in Microsoft Excel.  Intuit recommends deleting the first 2 lines of this file, but we’ve kept them in the file in the screenshot below so you can see how the file will appear when you first open it in Excel.  Note that Name is in Column B and OBAMOUNT is in Column F.  Find the out-of-balance amount you calculated in the previous step in Column F, OBAMOUNT.  There are 2 ways to do this: a) use Excel’s Find capability or b) sort all rows below the first 3 rows in the original Excel file (below the first 1 row if you choose to delete the first 2) and scroll through the sorted list of numbers to locate the out-of-balance amount you previously calculated.

Write down the account name from Column B that matches the OBAMOUNT you locate.

Excel Chart of Accounts OBAMOUNT

Step 3 – Test To See If the Account You Identified Is the Problem Account

Return to QuickBooks and open your chart of accounts (Company->Chart of Accounts or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + a).  Locate the account you identified in the previous step and double click on it to produce a QuickReport.  Be sure to set the Dates setting to All dates.  If there are no transactions in this account, then the identification process in Step 2 was successful.  You’ve located an account with a balance in the chart of accounts but without transactions that add up to that balance.

Step 4 – Record a Check For $.01 To The Problem Account

Record a check to the problem account for $.01 from the Banking->Write Checks menu selection or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + w.  On the Expenses tab of the Write Checks window, enter the problem account previously identified.

Step 5 – Run the Rebuild Data Utility

From the Files->Utilities->Rebuild Data menu selection, run the Rebuild Data utility.  This utility will attempt to match the transactions in an account with the account’s balance, thereby resolving the out-of-balance problem on the balance sheet.

Step 6 – Delete the Check Previously Recorded and Test the Results

Delete the check you recorded in Step 4.  Open your chart of accounts (Company->Chart of Accounts or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + a) and locate the problem account.

If the account you identified was a balance sheet account (accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank, credit card, equity, fixed asset, loan, long-term liability, other asset, other current asset, or other current liability), double click on the account to QuickZoom into that account’s register.  Locate the check for $.01 and delete it by clicking the Edit->Delete menu selection or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + d.

If the account you identified was an income statement account (income, expense, other income, other expense, or cost of goods sold), double click on the account to produce a QuickReport.  Be sure to change the Dates setting to All.  Locate the check for $.01 and double click on that entry on the QuickReport.  Delete the check by clicking the Edit->Delete menu selection or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + d.

Repeat the steps in Step 1 to produce a standard balance sheet and verify that the balance sheet is in balance.  Be sure to confirm your Dates setting is set to All and your Report Basis is set to Accrual.

Sometimes, if you have several problem accounts, repeating this entire series of steps can restore balance to your balance sheet.  For more serious data problems, send us an email.

To follow Intuit’s discussion of these steps, consult this Intuit knowledge base article.

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Does Intuit Offer Support For IIF Files?

Chief Mechanic · August 23, 2010 ·

Unfortunately, no. Intuit’s policy is stated in this Intuit knowledgebase article.

Intuit Interchange Files are delimited text files that can be used to import and export data when working with a QuickBooks company file (.qbw).

While the ability to use IIF files is still included in QuickBooks, most newer programs have adopted techniques that make use of the Intuit Software Development Kit (SDK). That has caused the use of IIF files to decline over time, something that Intuit has encouraged by its policy of non-support.

The file structure of an IIF can be complex. Intuit has some online resources to help users create or edit an IIF file, including sample IIF files and IIF import tools.

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What Are the Capabilities of IIF Files?

Chief Mechanic · August 23, 2010 ·

Intuit Interchange Format (IIF) files are delimited text files used for import and export operations with Intuit data files, such as a QuickBooks company file (.qbw).

In QuickBooks, IIF files have some important limitations, which are discussed in this Intuit knowledgebase article. These files:

  • can’t be used to import linked transactions, such as a link between a customer invoice and a customer payment paying for that invoice
  • can only be used in single-user mode and logged in as the Admin user
  • can’t be used to import or export payroll data
  • can’t be used to export transactions

Because of these limitations and the fact that Intuit doesn’t support their use, IIF files are increasingly becoming obsolete.

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Can I Import Data to QuickBooks From Microsoft Excel?

Chief Mechanic · August 23, 2010 ·

Yes, subject to certain limitations.

You can only import list data into 1 of 4 lists:

  1. Customers
  2. Vendors
  3. Items
  4. Accounts

You can import either in Microsoft’s supported workbook format (.xls or .xlsx, depending on your version of Excel) or CSV format.

Intuit offers a free Import Excel and CSV Toolkit, which includes a PDF manual, CSV and .XLS example import files, and a reference guide explaining field names. It’s a compressed executable file, which extracts those files when run. Additional information is available in this Intuit knowledgebase article.

You can use another import file type, Intuit Interchange Format (IIF), to import unlinked transactions. See our article on the capabilities of IIF files for more information.

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