# Deposit Recorded Twice: Find and Reverse It - Author: PreciseBankFlow (https://precisebankflow.com) - Published: 2026-10-17 - Category: Finding reconciliation errors - Canonical: https://precisebankflow.com/blog/deposit-recorded-twice > How a deposit recorded twice shows on a reconciliation, how to find the duplicate entry, reverse it cleanly and stop the same deposit doubling again. A deposit recorded twice makes the book balance higher than the bank balance by exactly the deposit amount, with one copy left unmatched on the reconciliation. Find it by sorting ledger receipts by amount, confirm only one deposit reached the bank, then delete or reverse the extra entry without undoing the customer's payment. ## How does a deposit recorded twice show on a reconciliation? A deposit recorded twice shows as a book balance that is too high by the amount of one deposit. The bank posted the money once. The ledger holds it twice. When you tick cleared items, one copy matches the statement and the other stays on the list, looking like a deposit in transit that never arrives. That false deposit in transit is the main clue. A real deposit in transit clears in the first days of the next statement. A duplicate never clears, so it rolls forward month after month. Any deposit still uncleared after one full statement cycle deserves a check for a twin. The difference also has a shape. It equals one specific deposit amount, so the gap itself is your search term. Search the ledger for that exact amount and you will usually find two entries. ## Finding the duplicate deposit entry in the ledger Find the duplicate by listing ledger receipts for the period and sorting them by amount. Two entries with the same amount, close dates and the same customer are the obvious pair. Then check how each entry was created, because the source of each copy tells you which one to remove. Here is a worked example with invented figures. A customer pays a 2,750.00 invoice by bank transfer on 14 May. The bank feed in the accounting system brings in a deposit of 2,750.00 and the bookkeeper accepts it as new income. Two days later, the accounts receivable clerk applies the same payment against the invoice by hand. The ledger now shows two receipts of 2,750.00, and the May reconciliation is out by 2,750.00, books higher. Sorting May receipts by amount puts the two entries side by side. The bank feed entry has no invoice attached. The manual entry closed the invoice. The feed entry is the one to fix. The pattern is common wherever the bank feed and a manual receipt process run side by side. It also appears in older systems that import bank files, and [Dynamics GP electronic bank reconciliation](/blog/dynamics-gp-electronic-bank-reconciliation) shows how imported lines are matched there. ## Duplicate deposit or a genuine second deposit? A genuine second deposit has its own source: a second remittance, a second invoice, or a second line on the bank statement. A duplicate entry has only one source behind two ledger lines. Check the statement first; if the bank shows the amount once, you have a duplicate. Repeat payments do happen. A customer can pay the same invoice twice by mistake, and a tenant pays the same rent every month. In those cases the bank shows two credits and the books should show two receipts. The second one may be an overpayment to refund or a credit to hold on the customer's account, but it is not an error in the cash records. Look for one more trap: a deposit split across lines. A deposit of three customer checks may post as one bank credit, while the ledger has three receipts plus one summary deposit. That is a duplicate too, just a partial one. ## Reversing a deposit recorded twice without breaking the receivable Remove the copy that is not tied to the invoice. If you delete the entry that closed the invoice, the customer will look unpaid and may get a dunning letter. Keep the receipt that applied the payment, and delete or reverse the one that booked bare income. In the example, deleting the bank feed entry drops income by 2,750.00 and brings the book balance down to match the bank. The invoice stays paid. In systems that match bank lines, link the remaining receipt to the bank line so the statement shows one deposit, one match. If your system will not let you delete the entry, a reversing journal entry does the same job: debit the income or receivable account and credit cash for 2,750.00, with a note naming both original entries. ## What if the doubled deposit sits in a closed period? When the duplicate deposit sits in a period that is already closed, book the correction in the current open period instead of editing the closed one. Editing a closed month changes reports that have already been filed, sent or reviewed, and it breaks the reconciliation that was signed off. Date the correcting entry in the current month and describe it as a correction of the duplicate from the earlier month. If the amount is large enough to matter to prior reported results, the decision is bigger, and [correcting a prior period reconciliation error](/blog/correct-a-prior-period-reconciliation-error) covers when to adjust in the current period and when to restate. A duplicate dated a day either side of month-end raises a related question about which period the real deposit belongs to. [Fixing a transaction recorded in the wrong period](/blog/transaction-recorded-in-wrong-period) handles that case. ## Stopping the same deposit from doubling again Deposits double when two routes into the ledger are both live. Pick one route for each kind of receipt and write it down. Customer payments against invoices should go through receivables. The bank feed entry for that deposit should be matched to the existing receipt, never added as new. A few habits keep it from recurring: - Train whoever accepts bank feed lines to look for an open invoice before choosing "add". - Review uncleared deposits at every reconciliation; anything older than one cycle gets investigated. - Run a duplicate check on receipts before closing the month. [PreciseBankFlow](/) flags lines with the same payee, the same amount and close dates as possible duplicates, so a doubled receipt reaches a reviewer before the period is signed.