In a bank reconciliation, voided checks and stale-dated checks need different entries. Void a check in the software only when it was written in the month still open. For a check from a reconciled month, post a reversing entry dated today. A stale-dated check nobody will cash moves to a liability until it is reissued or reported.
Voiding a check in the same month it was written
Voiding a check means marking it in the accounting software so its amount becomes zero while the check number stays on record. A plain void is safe when the check was written in a month that has not been reconciled yet. Nothing reported or signed off depends on it, so removing its amount changes no closed figure.
The usual reasons are ordinary: a check printed with the wrong amount, a check spoiled in the printer, a payment the client decided not to send. In each case the check never left the office, or it was returned before anyone could deposit it.
Take Halvorsen Landscaping LLC, a fictional client with operating checking XXXX-4821. The firm has reconciled the account through September 2026. On October 6, 2026 the client writes check #3318 for $640.00 to Example Mulch Supply, then notices the invoice was $604.00. On October 7 the client voids #3318 and writes #3319 for the right amount.
Because October is still open, voiding #3318 is the right fix. The void puts the $640.00 back in the October book balance, and #3318 never appears on the October reconciliation as an outstanding check. The bill it paid becomes unpaid again until #3319 pays it.
Two habits keep a same-month void clean. Keep the physical check, marked VOID, or a note of why it was destroyed. And void rather than delete, so the check number stays in the sequence and a reviewer can see why it is missing from the bank statement.
Why not void a check from an already reconciled month?
A check from an already reconciled month should not be voided on its original date, because the void changes a period that has been closed and signed off. The book balance on that month's reconciliation would no longer match the report in the workpapers. A reversing entry dated in the current month does the same job without rewriting history.
When a check written in a reconciled month is voided on its original date, the software removes it from that month. The beginning balance of the next reconciliation then moves, and the difference shows up somewhere nobody expects. The post on why the QuickBooks Desktop beginning balance changed shows how edits to old items cause exactly that.
The replacement is a current-month entry. Halvorsen Landscaping wrote check #3240 on June 18, 2026 for $1,275.00 to Example Equipment Rental. It has sat on the outstanding list on every reconciliation from June through September. In October the vendor says it never arrived, the client asks the bank to stop payment, and the client issues check #3325 to replace it.
On October 31, 2026 the firm records:
- Debit checking XXXX-4821 $1,275.00, credit accounts payable (Example Equipment Rental) $1,275.00, with a memo naming check #3240 and the stop payment.
- Check #3325 for $1,275.00 then pays the bill again in the normal way.
On the October reconciliation, the original check and the reversing entry are cleared against each other. Together they net to zero, so the outstanding list drops #3240 and the June to September reports stay as they were signed. Check #3325 becomes an ordinary outstanding check until it clears.
The same entry is the basis for closing an account with checks still out. The post on how to reconcile a closed bank account applies it when the replacement comes from a different bank account.
A voided check that clears the bank anyway
A voided check clears anyway when the payee deposits a check the books already show as void. The bank statement then shows a payment the ledger does not, and the reconciliation is out by the check's amount. The fix is to record the payment that really happened, then find out whether the payee has now been paid twice.
Start with the statement. Get the check image from the bank and confirm the check number, payee and amount. Then ask the client what happened when the check was voided. There are usually three possibilities:
- The check was voided by mistake. The client believed it was lost, but it was only late. Record the payment on the date it cleared, against the bill it originally paid. If no replacement was issued, nothing else is needed.
- A replacement was also cashed. The vendor now has both the original and the replacement. Record the cleared original, and record the overpayment as an amount due back from the vendor. The client asks the vendor for a refund or a credit.
- A stop payment failed or expired. The bank paid a check the client tried to stop. Record the payment and talk to the bank about what happened; the firm's role is to record the facts, not to judge the bank's liability.
Do not reverse the void by editing the original check in a reconciled month. The same reasoning as the section above applies: record the clearing in the current month, with a memo pointing back to the voided check.
Old checks can clear long after anyone expects. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, as published on Cornell's UCC 4-404 page, a bank is under no obligation to pay a check, other than a certified check, presented more than six months after its date, but it may charge its customer's account for a payment made after that in good faith. A void in the books is not a void at the bank.
When should a stale-dated check be written back to cash?
A stale-dated check is an outstanding check old enough that it may never be cashed. It should come off the outstanding list once the client confirms the payee will not deposit it. The entry adds the amount back to cash and credits a liability, because the money is still owed to the payee or, eventually, to the state.
Six months is a common marker, and the reasons a check goes stale, along with how unclaimed property rules come into play, are covered in stale outstanding checks and deposits that never clear. The broader topic of timing items sits in the guide to outstanding checks and deposits in transit. This section covers the entry.
Writing the check back to income is the mistake to avoid. The client still owes the money. If the payee turns up, the client pays it. If the payee never does, state unclaimed property rules may require the client to report the amount later, so the liability keeps it visible until one of those happens.
Halvorsen Landscaping wrote check #3061 on February 20, 2026 for $412.50, a refund to a former customer. By the end of October it is more than six months old, the customer has moved, and two letters have come back. On October 31, 2026 the firm records: debit checking XXXX-4821 $412.50, credit "Uncashed checks payable" $412.50. The October reconciliation clears #3061 against that entry. The liability stays on the balance sheet until the client either reissues the refund or reports it.
Three entries side by side
All three entries below are for the fictional Halvorsen Landscaping LLC and use example values. The account was reconciled through September 2026.
| Item (example values) | Same-month void | Reversal for a reconciled month | Stale-dated check to a liability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Check | #3318, Oct 6, 2026 | #3240, Jun 18, 2026 | #3061, Feb 20, 2026 |
| Amount | $640.00 | $1,275.00 | $412.50 |
| Reason | Wrong amount, never sent | Lost, stop payment placed | Payee cannot be found |
| What is recorded | Void on Oct 7; amount becomes zero | Oct 31 entry: debit checking, credit accounts payable | Oct 31 entry: debit checking, credit uncashed checks payable |
| Change to Oct 31 book balance | +$640.00 | +$1,275.00 | +$412.50 |
| Closed months changed | None (October is open) | None | None |
| What happens next | #3319 pays the bill | #3325 reissued from checking | Reissue, or report as unclaimed property |
Compared with the books before these changes, the three items add $2,327.50 to the October 31 book balance: $640.00 plus $1,275.00 plus $412.50. They also take the same $2,327.50 off the list of outstanding checks the October reconciliation would otherwise carry, since none of the three will clear the bank. Both sides move together, so the October reconciliation still balances.
These entries depend on knowing how long each check has been outstanding, which needs every statement since it was written. Schema CPA ties each statement's balances to the month before and calls out a month missing from the run, so a check's history is not broken by a lost statement. The workflow section of the homepage lists those steps. If the outstanding check turns out to be a payment to another account the client owns, the post on transfers between a client's own accounts covers how to prove it.