When QuickBooks changes after a sync

People edit QuickBooks. An invoice from two months ago gets a new amount, a bill moves to a different account, a payment is deleted and entered again. That's normal bookkeeping, not an error. It does mean the transaction in QuickBooks no longer matches what RoboLedger recorded when it synced.

RoboLedger doesn't quietly overwrite its records when that happens, because the old figures may already sit in a closed month or in a report you've shared. It flags the transaction and asks you to decide.

How a change shows up

After a sync, your AI assistant tells you how many transactions changed at the source. They also show up as a blocker when you ask what's in the way of a close, and on the period close view in Ledger → Closing Book, where each one is listed under Changed transactions. A close won't run over changes nobody has looked at.

For each one, your assistant can show you what RoboLedger posted, what QuickBooks says now, and the difference for each account.

A regular sync re-reads the last 60 days and asks QuickBooks what changed since the previous sync, so an edit to something older is fetched on its own. A transaction deleted in QuickBooks shows up here too, as a change with nothing left on the QuickBooks side. For a deletion, restate isn't offered, since it would recreate what QuickBooks removed; catch up reverses it, and mark as handled records that you already did. Full rebuild on the QuickBooks card still re-reads everything from the start.

Three ways to settle it

Restate. RoboLedger rebuilds the entries to match QuickBooks, in the month the transaction belongs to. That month's figures change. This is the usual answer inside the current year, while the month is still open. If the month is closed, reopen it first.

Catch up. The original month stays as it was, and the difference posts as one entry in an open month. Use this when the earlier months are locked: you've sent those statements to a lender, an investor or the board, and they should stand. The entry stays in RoboLedger and isn't written to QuickBooks, because QuickBooks already has the edit.

Mark it as handled. You already booked the difference yourself. Nothing posts. Your assistant records a note saying why, and which entry covered it.

Settling a change is what makes it stick. Until you do, the flag comes back on every sync.

Settle it in the app

You can settle a change yourself, without your assistant. Open Ledger → Closing Book → Changed transactions and choose Review on a transaction. You see what RoboLedger posted, what QuickBooks says now, and the difference for each account. Pick restate, catch up or mark as handled, then Settle.

A choice that can't apply is unavailable and says why, for example a restate when the month is closed. A catch-up is drafted in the earliest open month and posts when that month closes. Marking a change as handled needs a note.

Which one to choose

If you aren't sure, ask your assistant what each choice would do to the figures before you pick. Looking at a change doesn't post anything.

Try asking

• "Did anything change in QuickBooks after it synced? Show me each one."
• "For the changed invoice, show me what we posted, what QuickBooks says now, and the difference."
• "Restate the first two. Catch up the March one in the current month."
• "Someone edited transactions from last spring. Sync from April 1 and tell me what changed."

Go deeper

• QuickBooks sync and write policy: how a sync detects an edited transaction and what each way of settling it writes.