Bank Reconciliation   

 

1)  Go to Tables, Bank Tables, click on the bank that you wish to reconcile and bring it to the maintain window of the screen.

2)  In the Current Month Opening Balance, take the figure from your bank statement, and put the first day of the month for the following month.  In this example, we have a December 31 bank statement, so we will be using the December 31 bank statement balance, but using January 1 in the date field.

3)  Click the return option and go to Payables General, Reconcile Cashed Cheques.

4)  Click Expand and choose Unreconciled Cheques Only, and then click into the spreadsheet at the bottom of the screen with your mouse.

5)  Click the Select Bank and choose what bank you wish to work on first, and then click into the spreadsheet at the bottom of the screen with your mouse.

6)  Click on the Set Date option.  In this example, we are reconciling January, so the Enter Default date should be January 31.

7)  Comparing your bank statement to the screen, click into the first Cleared box item, verify that it's on your bank statement, and then put the letter C in the Cleared box and hit F5 and then your down arrow on your keyboard.

In a perfect world, you should have everything that's on the bank statement, listed as cleared on your screen. 

8)  You would now choose Return to exit your reconcile screen.

9)  Choose Payables General, Print Bank Reconciliation.  In here, choose the settings you wish to print and choose printer.  More screens will open and ask you for which bank and for what Opening and Closing Balance Date.  Hit Enter on the last date and the Select Printer should open.  Choose your printer and click OK.

10)  The "Current Month Operating Balance" does not automatically change each month.  To advance the "Current Month Operating Balance" date and balance, go to TABLES, Bank Account Table,.  Do not update the bank account table until ALL banks have been reconciled.  Click on 'UPDATE'.  Enter the date for the next "Current Month Opening Balance Date".

In this example we entered December 31 bank statement amount and a Jan 1 date. One month later, you will be getting your January month end statement from your bank. This is assuming we are reconciling Jan so once you have finished doing Jan, your closing bank balance should be entered into the bank account table along with the Feb 1st date

 Reasons why it doesn't work out-

- you've cleared cheques using the wrong date;

- you did not make the deposit to the bank based on the deposit date used in Power Broker (cash receipt batch shows deposit date of March 29th but you did not actually get to bank to deposit until April 2);

- you do not have the correct opening balance in the bank table;

- you have not allowed for bank charges (interest, service charges, etc);

- you have not voided a cheque properly;

- do not assume that your bank reconciliation will match the bank GL as it probably never will. The GL assumes all things done within that fiscal period   have gone through the bank however in the real world this is not true.