Delete unused accounts

Question

I have a few accounts I wish to delete but the message says "An account with journal entries may not be deleted." The last time I created a journal for any of these accounts is back in early 2018. The file has since been rolled over, so what gives?

Some are old bank accounts, no longer in use and others are expense or income accounts. It's mainly the bank accounts I wish to delete. They are not linked with Bank feeds, and they have been reconciled with zero balances, also since early 2018

emily_b · Accepted Answer

Hello&nbsp;RobNob1&nbsp;and/or&nbsp;RobNob&nbsp;
&nbsp;
I do see where you are coming from and on the surface I don't believe that would be an issue. However, I am hesitant to give specific advice as to what you have suggested without knowing how your accounts are set up, what sort of transactions are linked, any other parameters particular to your business, etc. I do suggest taking a backup of your current file and then testing your method; if it has any detrimental effects you will have the original setup saved. You can also play around in the sample file, Clearwater, and see if you can replicate an account or two and test the change/rename.

gavin12345 · Answer

Hi&nbsp;RobNob&nbsp;&nbsp;Once an account has been used in a transaction, it cannot be deleted.&nbsp; Rolling to a new FY does not change this. You may be able to combine accounts you no longer need.&nbsp;RegardsGavin

robnob · Answer

Thanks Gavin, but had already tried that as well. Can't delete accounts with journals. :(

Looks like I'm stuck with a bunch of zero balance accounts, which, I guess is just an aesthetic nuisance.

Maybe the only solution is to re-use the account numbers for something else, and rename them as required, but not sure if that will bite me at some stage?

emily_b · Answer

Hello&nbsp;RobNob&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Unfortunately as indicated, an account that has been used in a transaction won't be able to be deleted. However, the suggestion to combine accounts may work for you.&nbsp;For example, if you have 2 bank accounts and an inventory account that are no longer required and are inactive, you could merge them into one so that you just have one unused account in your list instead of three.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
On top of that, your thinking was correct in that you could rename the defunct account(s) and sort the list accordingly so that they appear at the bottom. Go to the blue arrow in the Account Reconciliation Review window and rename the account number ending to something not in use, like -999. Once you've changed the name and closed out of the company auditor it should appear when you go back in. You should then be able to sort the list so the accounts you want to hide are at the bottom of the list so you don't have to search through them every time.&nbsp;

robnob1 · Answer

Thanks Emily, but I was hoping to be more radical with renumbering the offending account. My thought is to change the number to an income or expense account - ie so to remove it from the balance sheet, because the balance sheet seems to insist in showing ZERO accounts, whereas P&L accounts do NOT. And then, at some time in the future, I could label that account as an expense or income account.

But I'm still a bit worried that such a move might impact something I haven't considered.

robnob · Answer

Good advice.&nbsp; Thanks Emily!

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Delete unused accounts

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