How to Avoid Creating Duplicate Accounts in QuickBooks

In earlier versions of QuickBooks, you might have accounts that have an asterisk (*) in front of the name to indicate a duplicate account name. This situation usually only happens when you did not select to use one of the sample charts of accounts. QuickBooks has certain accounts that it creates automatically. For example, if you did not select a sample default chart of accounts and created your own Accounts Receivable account, later when you opened a customer invoice form, QuickBooks created the Accounts Receivable account, but recognized that one existed with the same name. You should merge your created account (the one without the *) into the QuickBooks created account. See “Merging Duplicated Accounts” in Chapter Two of the QuickBooks 2010 Solutions Guide for instructions on how to merge two like accounts.

From Laura Madeira’s QuickBooks 2010 Solutions Guide