Bookkeeping Tips • November 5, 2026 • by Zachariah Smiley
That check from three months ago that never cleared? It's trying to tell you something. When I open a reconciliation in QuickBooks Online, I sort by date and look first at the oldest uncleared checks and deposits — they are where small mysteries hide: a check the vendor never received, a payment entered twice, or a deposit recorded but never matched to the bank.
Work each one before you touch it. Call the vendor to see if the check arrived, check the bank to see if the deposit actually landed, and look for a duplicate entry doing the same job. If a check is truly lost, void it and reissue it so the trail stays clean — don't just delete it, because deleting erases the history your reconciliation depends on.
I check this list for every Wichita client as part of monthly reconciliation, and it takes only a few minutes once it becomes a habit. Clearing stale items monthly keeps your book balance honest and your cash picture real — and it beats untangling a year of uncleared transactions when year-end arrives.
This is exactly the kind of thing I clean up and keep clean for Wichita small businesses — catch-up projects and monthly bookkeeping, quoted flat after a free look at your books.