How do I delete an account with a balance that I no longer use? [FAQ]

Shepherd's Staff prevents the deletion of accounts with transactions in any fiscal year and the deletion of accounts with balances. The reason Shepherd's Staff does this is because deleting an account would mean that all transactions that this account was involved in would become unbalanced, since the account would be missing. Also, deleting an account with a balance violates an accounting rule, because the money just goes missing from the system, without a transaction to show the movement of that money. If there are balances are left over on an account, you should try to find out why these amounts have been left over, and then, move the money appropriately.

It's for these reasons that we do not advise deleting accounts, as a general rule. Historical information in your Finance module can be key to understanding your finances in the current day. If you no longer want an account to appear in reports, we instead suggest zeroing the account out by moving its balance to an income or expense account (which zero out after running the year end utility) and then making the account inactive. You can use a journal entry to transfer the balance of an account into income or expense.

However, if you do want to delete an account, the steps below will guide you through the process:

1. Make a backup of your database before starting. Deleting an account is something that cannot be undone within the software, except by restoring a backup.
2. In the Finance module click on "Utilities" and then, "Clean up"
3. Check the box for "Delete transactions for fiscal years prior to" and then set the date to the beginning of the fiscal year after the last transaction that occurred on this account. This will delete all transactions for every account in your finance system, prior to the date you set. Best accounting practices recommend that you retain at least the last 7 years of financial data.
4. Click Begin to delete the transactions.
5. Open your accounts grid, and find the account that you want to get rid of. Click on it to select it, and then click "Edit"
6. Set the account's status to "Inactive", then click "OK"
7. Go back to "Utilities" and then click "Clean up"
8. This time, check the box for "Delete inactive accounts with no associated transactions in any fiscal Year."
9. Click "Begin" to delete the account in question.