I received a support email from one of my client:
“I had a cheque issued in financial year 2008 which was not presented until now. Since I had already closed my accounts for 2008, can I still VOID the cheque in my Quickbooks 2003 software?”
This is an accounting question, got nothing to do with QuickBooks’ feature.
If I were to be the Bookkeeper who did this transaction, I will not use Void Cheque in this case.
What will happen when I voided a cheque which was paid out to a Supplier?
When you voided a cheque the double entry will be debiting Bank account and crediting Accounts Payable account. In layman term, the amount of money that you issued will be returned to the Bank account and Accounts Payable will be increased back to its original amount that you owe to the supplier.
When Cheuqe is voided those reports such as Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, Bank Reconciliation and Accounts Payable reports that you have printed earlier will not be valid.
Besides, the accounts in this case had already been closed so we shall not do a void cheque.
Then, how to remove this unpresented cheque?
You can consider creating a General Journal Entry to “offset” this unpresented cheque. The double entry for this case will be debiting Bank account and crediting Accounts Payable account (Note: the date of this General Journal should not be before your closing date).
During the next Bank Reconciliation, you can knock off this General Journal Entry against the Unpresented Cheque.