When Sharper sends invoices, payments, credit memos, and journal entries to QuickBooks Online (QBO), each one is recorded on the Accounting Sync screen. If QuickBooks does not accept an entry, it is marked Failed and the reason appears in the Errors column. This guide explains how to read that screen and how to resolve each error message, so the entry reaches QuickBooks.
Before You Begin
Only accounting staff with access to both Sharper and your QuickBooks Online company should perform these steps.
A failed entry is not lost. It stays on the Accounting Sync screen until you fix the cause and sync it again.
Fix the cause first, then sync. Syncing an entry again without changing anything returns the same error.
Most errors are written by QuickBooks and passed through to Sharper word for word. The fix is usually made in QuickBooks, in Sharper, or both — each section below says which.
The Accounting Sync Screen
Go to Accounting → Accounting Sync. The screen opens filtered to Failed entries.
Column | What it shows |
Entity | The kind of record being sent — for example Invoice, Payment, CreditMemo, Customer, or TaxAgency. |
Action | What Sharper asked QuickBooks to do: add, update, delete, void, pay, or import. |
Ident | The Sharper ID of the record. Click it to open the invoice or payment. |
Status | Pending (waiting to send), In-Progress (sending), Success (accepted by QuickBooks), Failed (not accepted), or Ignored (set aside on purpose). |
Errors | Why the entry failed. The number in parentheses at the end, such as (223) or (280), is a reference used by Sharper's developers — it is not a QuickBooks error code and you can ignore it when troubleshooting. |
Actions on a failed entry
Click the three-dot menu at the end of a Failed row to see the actions available for it. Some actions only appear for the error they fix.
Re-Sync — sends the entry to QuickBooks again. Use it after you have fixed the cause.
Ignore — stops Sharper from sending the entry and moves it to the Ignored filter. Use it only when QuickBooks already has the correct record, or the entry no longer needs to be sent.
Fix Duplicate Doc Number — appears on add entries that failed with a Duplicate Document Number error.
Fix Settlements — appears on Payment entries that failed with an Object Not Found error.
Fix Closed Fee — appears on Invoice update entries that failed because the accounting period has closed.
To act on many entries at once, tick their checkboxes and use Sync or Ignore at the top of the list.
When a record is synced again, any older Failed rows for that same record are moved to Ignored automatically. You only need to act on the newest row for each record.
Work Through Errors in Order
One failure often causes others. A payment cannot reach QuickBooks until the invoice it pays is there, so a single failed invoice can produce several failed payments. Sort by Date and fix the oldest invoice and customer errors first, then sync the payments and credit memos that depend on them.
Where Accounts Are Set in Sharper
Sharper's accounts live on two different screens, and which one you need depends on the kind of account in the error message. Several fixes below send you to one of these:
Screen | Holds |
System Settings → Accounting Integration | Company-wide: income, accounts receivable, tax liability, refund expense, and bounced-check accounts, plus the subtotal, tip, and rounding items. |
Company Settings → Accounting Settings | Per outlet: the bank and clearing accounts that payments post to — Default Bank Account, Cash Bank Account, and Check Bank Account — plus bad debt and deposit refund accounts. See Company Settings - Accounting Settings. |
If the error concerns a bank account, you want the second screen. If it concerns revenue, tax, or receivables, you want the first.
Common Error Messages and Fixes
"Refresh OAuth 2 Access token with Refresh Token failed" / "invalid_grant" / "Incorrect or invalid refresh token"
What it means: The connection between Sharper and your QuickBooks Online company needs to be renewed. QuickBooks issues Sharper a connection token, and QuickBooks no longer accepts it. While the connection is down, every entry fails with this message — often starting with a TaxAgency import row — and all of them are kept on the Accounting Sync screen.
Common causes:
The connection reached its expiry date without being renewed. QuickBooks emails your QuickBooks admin 30 days and 7 days before this happens.
Sharper was disconnected from the QuickBooks side, under Settings → Apps in QuickBooks Online.
The connection was approved for a different QuickBooks company than the one Sharper was using.
How to fix:
Reconnecting to QuickBooks is completed by your Sharper implementation team. They will need a QuickBooks Online company admin for your company to sign in to QuickBooks and approve the connection, so have that person available.
Once reconnected, go to System Settings → Accounting Integration. The banner under the QuickBooks Online fields shows the company you are connected to and the new expiry date.
Go to Accounting → Accounting Sync, select all Failed entries that show this message, and click Sync.
Check the list again after the next sync cycle. Any entries that now show a different error have a separate cause — find that error in this guide.
"Object Not Found : Something you're trying to use has been made inactive"
What it means: QuickBooks could not use a record the entry depends on — an account, customer, item, vendor, or employee — because it has been made inactive (deleted) in QuickBooks.
How to fix:
Open the entry in Sharper by clicking its Ident, and note the customer, items, and accounts it uses.
In QuickBooks Online, find the matching record and make it active again. In each QuickBooks list (Chart of Accounts, Customers, Products and Services), use the filter to include inactive records, then choose Make active.
Return to Accounting Sync and click Re-Sync on the entry.
If the entry is a Payment, use Fix Settlements instead of Re-Sync. It removes empty zero-amount links between the payment and invoices — a common cause of this error on payments — and sends the payment again.
If the record should stay inactive in QuickBooks, point Sharper at an active replacement first — for an account, on the screens listed in Where Accounts Are Set in Sharper above — then Re-Sync.
"Business Validation Error: Enter a transaction amount that is 0 or greater"
What it means: QuickBooks does not accept an invoice whose total is below zero. The invoice in Sharper totals a negative amount — usually because a discount, adjustment, or credit line is larger than the charges on it.
How to fix:
Click the Ident to open the invoice in Sharper and check its lines and total.
Correct the invoice so its total is zero or more. To give the customer money back, issue a credit memo instead of a negative invoice line.
Once the invoice is corrected, Sharper sends the change automatically. Click Re-Sync on the failed row if it remains.
If the invoice has been voided or is no longer needed, click Ignore.
"This transaction has been deposited. If you want to change or delete it, you must edit the deposit it appears on and remove it first"
What it means: A payment changed in Sharper — updated, voided, or refunded — has already been included in a bank deposit in QuickBooks. QuickBooks protects deposited payments, so it will not accept the change until the payment is taken off the deposit.
How to fix:
In QuickBooks Online, find the payment and open the Deposit it appears on.
Untick the payment on the deposit and save. The payment moves back to Undeposited Funds. Note the deposit date and amount so you can put it back.
In Sharper, click Re-Sync on the failed Payment entry and confirm it shows Success.
In QuickBooks, add the updated payment back to the deposit so the deposit total still matches your bank statement.
If the deposit falls in a period your accountant has already reconciled or closed, check with them before editing it.
"Duplicate Document Number Error : You must specify a different number. This number has already been used."
What it means: QuickBooks already has a transaction with the same number as the one Sharper is sending. The message shows the number, for example DocNumber=1003061, and the kind of transaction it belongs to in QuickBooks. Sharper numbers invoices using the outlet's accounting invoice prefix followed by the Sharper invoice number, so this happens when the same number was already used in QuickBooks — for example, an invoice entered directly in QuickBooks or brought in from another system.
How to fix:
On the failed row, open the three-dot menu and click Fix Duplicate Doc Number.
Sharper gives the transaction the next available number and sends it again. Confirm the row now shows Success.
Re-Sync any payments for that invoice that failed with Cannot find acct invoice — see the next section.
Don't delete the existing QuickBooks transaction to free up the number unless you are certain it is an unwanted duplicate. If it is a real transaction, deleting it removes it from your books.
"Cannot find acct invoice" / "Cannot find invoice"
What it means: Sharper is trying to send a payment, credit, or change for an invoice that has not reached QuickBooks yet. The number in the message, such as Cannot find acct invoice 1003061, is the invoice it is looking for. These messages are almost always a knock-on effect of that invoice failing first.
How to fix:
Search Accounting Sync for the invoice number in the message, or set the filter to All and look for the Invoice row for that invoice. If that invoice already shows Success, the payment simply ran before the invoice finished — click Re-Sync on the payment and you are done.
Resolve the invoice's own error first using the matching section of this guide. Duplicate Document Number is the most common one.
Once the invoice shows Success, select the related failed Payment and CreditMemo rows and click Sync.
If the invoice was deleted in Sharper and never needs to reach QuickBooks, click Ignore on the dependent rows.
"Cannot find customer settlement"
What it means: Sharper is applying a credit memo or payment to an invoice in QuickBooks, but the link between them in Sharper has changed since the entry was queued — for example, because the payment was re-applied to a different invoice, or the credit or payment was voided.
How to fix:
Click the Ident to open the credit memo or payment and check which invoices it is currently applied to.
If it is applied correctly, look for a newer row for the same record on Accounting Sync. When that newer row shows Success, click Ignore on the older failed row.
If there is no newer row, click Re-Sync.
"Missing acct account: [Account Name]"
What it means: Sharper is trying to post to an account (e.g., "Late Fees", "Marina Revenue") that does not exist in your QuickBooks chart of accounts, or whose name does not exactly match what Sharper expects.
How to fix:
In QuickBooks Online, navigate to Accounting → Chart of Accounts.
Check whether the account exists. If it does, compare the exact spelling to what Sharper is referencing — a trailing space, different capitalization, or a renamed account will cause this error.
If the account does not exist in QBO, create it with the correct name and account type.
Return to Sharper and open the screen that holds this account — see Where Accounts Are Set in Sharper above. Revenue, receivable, tax, and refund accounts are on System Settings → Accounting Integration; bank and clearing accounts are on Company Settings → Accounting Settings.
Confirm the account selected there is the correct QBO account.
Click Re-Sync on the failed entries.
"Invalid bank account reference"
What it means: The bank account Sharper is posting payments to does not match an active bank account in QuickBooks.
How to fix:
In QuickBooks Online, confirm your bank account is active under Accounting → Chart of Accounts → Bank.
In Sharper, go to Company Settings → Accounting Settings → Accounts and check Default Bank Account, Cash Bank Account, and Check Bank Account. Confirm the outlet selector is showing the outlet the failed payment belongs to — these accounts are set per outlet.
If you recently renamed or added a bank account in QBO, re-select it in those fields so Sharper points at the current account.
Click Re-Sync on the affected payment entries.
Which of those three fields applies depends on the payment's type: Cash-type payments use Cash Bank Account, Check-type payments other than ACH use Check Bank Account, and everything else — card payments, ACH, and custom payment methods — uses Default Bank Account. See Company Settings - Accounting Settings for the full rule.
"Account type mismatch"
What it means: Sharper is posting to an account, but the account type in QBO does not match what Sharper expects (e.g., posting revenue to a bank account).
How to fix:
In QBO, find the account and confirm its type (Income, Expense, Other Current Liability, etc.).
On the Sharper screen that holds the account, confirm each field is pointed at an account of the right type — an income account in Default Income Account, a bank account in the bank account fields, and so on.
Click Re-Sync after correcting it.
"The account period has closed"
What it means: Sharper is changing an invoice dated in a period that is closed in QuickBooks. On invoice updates this is usually a card processing fee being added to an older invoice when it is paid.
How to fix:
On the failed Invoice update row, open the three-dot menu and click Fix Closed Fee.
Sharper moves the processing fee off the closed-period invoice onto a new fee invoice, then sends that invoice and the related payment to QuickBooks.
For other entries in a closed period, check with your accountant before reopening the period in QuickBooks, then click Re-Sync.
How to Sync Failed Entries Again
Navigate to Accounting → Accounting Sync. The list opens on Failed.
Tick the entries whose cause you have fixed.
Click Sync at the top of the list. For a single entry, you can also use Re-Sync in its three-dot menu.
Switch the filter to Pending or Success to follow the entries through.
If an entry fails again with the same message, the cause has not been fully resolved. Return to that error's section and check each step.
Safety Notes When Editing Your Chart of Accounts
Renaming accounts in QBO will break any Sharper setting that references the old name. Immediately afterward, check both screens listed above and re-select the renamed account wherever it was used.
Merging accounts in QBO is irreversible. Do not merge accounts that are actively selected on either Sharper screen without updating those fields first.
If your accounting period is closed in QBO, entries re-synced for that period may be rejected. Coordinate with your accountant before re-syncing entries in a closed period.
Avoid editing or deleting Sharper-created invoices and payments directly in QuickBooks. Make the change in Sharper and let it sync, so both systems stay in agreement.
When to Escalate
Contact Sharper support if:
Entries continue to fail after you have followed the steps for their error message.
You receive an error message not listed in this guide.
Your QuickBooks connection needs to be renewed.
Provide the error message text, the Accounting Sync row number, and the affected date range.