Why Do I Have Two Retained Earnings Accounts?

For the purposes of the conversion we sometimes have to create a second Retained Earnings account in the converted file. After the conversion, you should merge the two together. Here's how to do that:

1. In Desktop, locate the two retained earnings accounts. One should be called Retained Earnings (but may be named differently if you have changed it) and the other - the one that was created for the conversion - will be called *Retained Earnings (note the asterisk).
2. Click on and edit the Retained Earnings account (the one without the asterisk in front). Rename it to *Retained Earnings (include the asterisk).
3. QuickBooks will let you know that there's already an account named *Retained Earnings and will ask if you like to merge to two. Select Yes. 
4. The balance in the *Retained Earnings account in Desktop should now match your Retained Earnings account in QuickBooks Online.
5. You can now rename the account and remove the asterisk if you choose to.