Fix wrong approved invoices after bank reconciliation: a guide for Xero users

An invoice was approved with the wrong details and the payment has already been matched to a bank statement line. Xero will not void a paid invoice, so the payment has to come off first, and the statement line then needs reconciling again. Which fix you choose depends on whether the invoice, the payment or only the bank match is wrong.

Based on Xero Central pages last read on 12 October and 5 November 2026.

What is actually wrong?

• Only the bank match is wrong (the right payment on the right invoice, matched to the wrong statement line). Unreconcile it. The payment and the statement line both stay (Unreconcile an account transaction).
• The invoice is wrong but was never sent. Xero says to edit it rather than void it (Edit an invoice).
• The invoice is wrong and was sent. Xero's guidance is a credit note, which leaves an audit trail for you and your customer. See void or credit note.
• The invoice should not exist, or has to be re-entered. Take the payment off, void it and create the right one. The steps follow.

Remove the payment, fix the invoice, reconcile again

1. Write the payment down. Note its date, amount, account and reference. A payment deleted with Remove & Redo can't be restored.
2. Check the lock date. Users can't add or edit transactions dated on or before a lock date; only an administrator can remove it, temporarily (Set up or remove lock dates). If the period is filed, agree the fix with your accountant first.
3. Check for a batch payment. A batch is handled from the bank account, and a reconciled batch has to be unreconciled first (Delete a batch payment).
4. Remove the payment. Open the paid invoice, click Less payment, then Options and Remove & Redo. The invoice returns to awaiting payment (Delete an invoice or bill payment). The bank statement line stays in the bank account.
5. Fix the invoice. Edit it if you can. Otherwise change its number, void it and copy it to a new draft, as in the unapprove guide, then correct and approve the draft.
6. Reconcile the statement line again with the corrected invoice.

Where the native way runs out

• Each invoice is its own round of clicks, with its own payment to remove and its own statement line to match again.
• Nothing is undone. A deleted payment and a voided invoice can't be restored.
• The bank side waits for you. Every statement line that was matched comes back for reconciling.
• Nobody records why unless you add a note to the invoice.

What Unapprove does here, and what it does not

Unapprove is a web app that works with Xero. It does not remove a reconciled payment: the plain runs skip any document with a payment applied, and the run that removes payments before a void leaves reconciled and batch payments alone, listing the document with the reason. So the order is the same as by hand: take the payments off in Xero first.

Once the invoices are back to awaiting payment, Unapprove handles the rest for the whole selection. The preview writes nothing; you confirm by typing the count, for example UNAPPROVE 37; for each invoice it creates a draft copy, carries the attachments across and voids the original, so you can correct the drafts and approve them again. A void is permanent.

Price

Free for 14 days, with unlimited previews and three documents processed in total. After that, $29 per month per connected organisation, or a one-off $49 Clean-up Pass for 30 days with unlimited documents. Prices are in US dollars and exclude VAT and sales tax (added at checkout); the pricing page has the details.

Questions

Written by Atesen Software, an independent developer. Unapprove works with Xero through Xero's public API; Xero does not make it and has not endorsed it.

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