Episode 21: What to Fix First in Your QuickBooks (If Your Numbers Feel Off)

In this episode of QuickBooks Mastery for Small Business Success, father-daughter team Erica Northrup and Lee Davis break down what small business owners should fix first when their QuickBooks numbers do not look right.

If you have ever looked at your books and thought, “Something feels off, but I do not know where to begin,” this episode gives you a practical starting point. Erica and Lee explain why cleanup should never begin with random changes. Instead, they walk through the right order: start with the chart of accounts, move to the cash side, review categorization, check products and services mapping, and then run reports again to see whether the numbers finally make sense.

This episode is especially helpful for business owners who feel overwhelmed by messy books, duplicate transactions, bank feed confusion, or reports they do not trust. You will come away with a clearer way to approach QuickBooks cleanup so your numbers become more reliable and more useful.

Key Takeaways

• The first sign that something is wrong in QuickBooks is often the best place to start.
• Your chart of accounts is the foundation of accurate financial reporting.
• Bank feeds, duplicate transactions, and reconciliations must be cleaned up before reports can be trusted.
• Inconsistent categorization can quietly distort your Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet.
• Products and services mapping can send income to the wrong place and skew reporting.
• Progress matters more than perfection when cleaning up QuickBooks.

Questions to Reflect On

• What is the first thing in my QuickBooks that made me feel like something was off?
• Does my chart of accounts actually reflect how my business operates?
• Are my reports believable, or do they just exist?

Mentioned in This Episode

Free QuickBooks Clarity Scorecard

Download at: https://lee-davis-and-company.aweb.page/unlock-clarity-free-scorecard

Send Us Your Questions:

[email protected]

Recommended Resources

• QuickBooks Clarity Scorecard
• Profit and Loss report in QuickBooks
• Balance Sheet report in QuickBooks

Timestamps

00:56 – What to Fix First When Your QuickBooks Numbers Feel Off

07:22 – Start With the Chart of Accounts First

16:45 – Clean Up Bank Feeds, Duplicate Transactions, and Reconciliations

23:16 – Review Categorization and Fix Uncategorized Transactions

27:52 – Correct Products and Services Mapping for Accurate Income

36:55 – Run the Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet to Check Your Cleanup

Call to Action

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Have a QuickBooks question? Send it to [email protected] — your question may be featured in a future episode.