Are you having trouble deleting the QuickStatement from the Online Banking Center in QuickBooks? This is an issue for some clients that Intuit is not actively resolving. Here are a few tips and suggestions that will hopefully resolve the issue for you.

First, in the QuickStatement make certain that all matchable transactions have been matched. Then, at the main Online Banking Center page, make sure the QuickStatement is highlighted yellow, then click the Delete button in the lower right corner of the screen. If this does not delete the QuickStatement, here are a few options to consider:

1. Press Control--Delete. Instead of simply pressing the Delete button, press Control--Delete. This may do the trick.

2. Newest Release? Make certain you are running the most current release of your software. For 2004 and 2005 versions of QuickBooks, from the File menu, select Update QuickBooks and follow the instructions. For the 2006 version of QuickBooks, from the Help menu, select Update QuickBooks and follow the instructions.

3. Run the Verify Data utility. From the File menu, select Utilities, then select Verify Data. This may find a glitch in the data file causing your QuickStatement to remain undeleted. If one is found, run the Rebuild Data utility. Please refer to QuickBooks' internal help before running the Rebuild Data utility, especially if you are using QuickBooks on a network.

4. Restore a backup. If you made a backup immediately prior to your online banking session, AND the backup did not contain any of the unmatchable transactions, you may restore it. However, any work you did during your online banking session will be lost. You need to weigh whether or not this will be a good approach to solving the problem. And of course, it does not solve the problem if the unmatchable transactions were downloaded before you made the backup.

If none of these methods work, you may either contact Intuit directly, contact your QuickBooks professional who can then contact Intuit on your behalf, or you may try this work-around. Be advised that this work-around somewhat complex. Please read through these instructions carefully and make certain you understand all of them before you begin.

Add, disable, reverse, check, reconcile, re-enable. Using this method, you will add the transactions to the register, disable the account for online access, reverse the entries you added, check your work, reconcile the account, and re-enable the account for online access. Here is how to do it:

• Add each transaction. Click the Add to Register button to enter them into the register. Open the Account field, and scroll up to create an Other Current Liability account called, "QuickStatement Use Only." Enter all unmatchable transactions using this Other Current Liability account. The QuickStatement must be empty before you proceed; however, do not close the QuickStatement when you are finished entering transactions.

• Disable Online Access. Go to the Chart of Accounts and locate the account you were just working in. Highlight it, right click it, and select Edit. In the Edit Account screen, select the tab that says Online Info. Uncheck the box that says Online Account Access. Since the QuickStatement is still open, QuickBooks may or may not allow you to disable the account for online access. If it does not:

  a. Go back and close the QuickStatement. Then try again to disable the account for online access. Hopefully it will let you.

  b. If it does, great! Proceed as follows.

• Reverse the entries you just entered. There are at least three ways to do this. Only one is shown here:

  Go to the Chart of Accounts and locate the Other Current Liability account you just created ("QuickStatement Use Only"). Highlight it, right-click it, then select Use Register. Go through the register, and using todays date, record a new and opposite entry for each entry here. In other words, if an entry appears in the Increase column, record an entry in the Decrease column of the same amount. Or if an entry appears in the Decrease column, record an entry Increase column of the same amount. You are not altering, in any way, the previously entered transactions-you are adding new ones that cancel out the entered transactions. In both instances make sure you use either the bank account or credit card account you used during your online banking session, and that the dollar amount is exactly the same as the entry you are reversing. Go through the register and do this for all entries that appear there.

• Check your work. When you are finished, the balance at the bottom right corner of the "QuickStatement Use Only" register should be zero. Also, go through the bank or credit card register and make sure that the corresponding entries you just made show up there but in the opposite column of the downloaded transaction. If needed, comb through your work and make certain you recorded each entry correctly.

• Reconcile. Next time you reconcile the account for which you could not delete the QuickStatement, in the reconciliation screen you will see all of these entries you just made, both the entries from the QuickStatement, and the reversal entries. Be sure to check these off, as you do not want them to appear in any subsequent reconciliations.

• Re-enable Online Access. Go back to the Online Banking Center and re-enable the account for online banking.

If you are sure you did not make errors, but a balance still remains in the "QuickStatement Use Only" account, contact a QuickBooks professional. At this point, finding the error should be relatively easy for somebody experienced in this sort of work.