General Ledger Q&A: Removing a GL Account

May 2021    Tags: General Ledger, GL Journal Entries

We created a new account but discovered a few days later that the account was redundant. Unfortunately, journal entries were made to this account before we came to this decision. Can we still delete this account?

The duplicate account can be deleted or marked as inactive in order to keep the account for historical reasons. When an account is marked as inactive, journal entries cannot be manually added to the account.

To mark an account as inactive

1. From the File menu, point to Open and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Double-click the desired account.
3. Select the Inactive check box.
4. Click Save.

If you want to delete the account, there are a few steps that must be completed before deletion is possible.

Before an account can be deleted from the chart of accounts

1. Undo any reconciliations for the account that may have been finalized in Version 18 or later (if applicable).
2. Change or delete any recurring journal entries that exist for that account.
3. Change the Account number in each journal entry to the correct Account number or, if they have already been reentered for the correct account, delete all journal entries for the account. (Note: Deleting journal entries will zero out the amount field; the journal entry itself will remain.)

To delete an account from the chart of accounts

1. From the File menu, point to Open and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Select the desired account.
3. Click the  (Delete) button.