An inactive QuickBooks customer should remain in the accounts receivable source review whenever its transactions appear in the dated report. Inactive is a list-management status, not evidence that an invoice was paid, voided, or otherwise resolved. Include the related rows in reconciliation, determine whether any balance is actually open, and assign collection timing only from current invoice evidence.

Inactive does not erase transaction history

Intuit explains that making a customer inactive removes the profile from active lists and menus while preserving associated transaction history for reporting. Transactions can appear with a deleted or inactive label. Intuit separately describes A/R aging reports as views of customers' outstanding balances and aging.

That creates a simple control rule: forecast scope should follow the validated report population, not the active-customer dropdown. A reviewer who exports only a filtered active list can omit historical rows that still affect reconciliation or explain a customer-level balance.

Use the filtered aging-report scope checklist before accepting the file as complete. Record whether inactive customers were included and preserve the exact report settings.

Review the customer and the transactions separately

For every inactive customer row:

  • confirm the customer identifier and any deleted-name marker;
  • list each invoice, payment, credit, and journal row in the source;
  • recalculate the customer-level net balance;
  • identify whether invoices remain open or merely appear for history;
  • check whether another active profile represents the same customer; and
  • document the owner and reason the profile became inactive when known.

Do not reactivate a profile solely to make the forecast look cleaner. Likewise, do not exclude an open invoice solely because its customer is inactive. If two profiles belong to one commercial customer, the duplicate-customer profile review helps keep balances and payment evidence from being split or counted twice.

Apply a forecast boundary

Only a validated open amount belongs in the collections population. A historical transaction with no open balance may remain useful for the tie-out but contributes zero expected cash. An unresolved open invoice stays visible; however, inactivity may signal that contact, ownership, or account facts need confirmation before a collection week is assigned.

Reconcile the full invoice-level total to the accounting control using the QuickBooks A/R aging and balance-sheet guide. Preserve unexplained differences as exceptions. Never invent a payment date to clear an inactive record.

The useful output is a short decision trail: included for reconciliation, open or closed, linked customer identity, timing evidence, owner, and next action. That keeps list maintenance from becoming a silent forecasting rule.

AR Pulse analyzes an authorized QuickBooks receivables export and turns supported invoice evidence into a ranked action list and four-week collections range. It does not change customer records or promise a payment outcome. View the example report to see the source-to-action boundary.