Bank Reconciliation
Purpose
Every month when the statement comes from your bank, you should compare it with Integral Accounting records to make sure that they match and that you have entered all transactions into your accounting system. You do this using the Bank Reconciliation form.
Usage
1. Select a bank
In the field labeled Bank Account, select the account you want to reconcile.
2. If you wish to reconcile a particular GL Period, check the Reconcile by Period button at the top of the form.
Select the period you wish to reconcile using the scroll buttons on the box that appears, and click inside the box to load the period dates.
3. Check bank statement date
The statement sent to you by the bank will have a date on it, telling the last date for which the statement is valid. Put that date in the field Stmt End Date.
4. Check the statement Starting Date (first date of activity for this bank statement) and enter it in the field Stmt Start Date. NOTE: Starting Balance is calculated based on this Starting Date, therefore it is possible to reconcile your bank with a statement that does not begin on a period start date. Integral Accounting does not store GL Account period start and end balances, only period activity.
5. Enter statement balance
On the printed statement sent to you by your bank there should be a statement ending balance, the balance in your account after all the deposits, checks, and other transactions have been recognized. Put that value in the field labeled Statement Balance.
4. Enter Interest Earned information
At the bottom of the form there is a field labeled Interest Earned. In the field with a magnifying glass you should select the account to which Interest payments should be posted. In the field to the right of that, enter the actual amount of the payment as printed on the statement from your bank.
5. Enter Bank Charges information
At the bottom of the form there is a field labeled Bank Charges. In the field with the magnifying glass select the account from which you will pay any bank charges. Then in the field to the right of that, enter the actual amount of any bank charges as printed on the statement from your bank. These are things like finance charges, checking fees, ATM fees, etc.
6. Select Items to Reconcile [ Credits / Debits ]
7. Choose which credits / debits have cleared
Document Number - This is the number by which you can reference the document.
Clear - If Integral Accounting records match the bank's records for this particular item, click in the Clear column
to put an 'X' there. This tells Apt For Access that the transaction is reconciled.
Date - This is the date on which the transaction took place.
Description - The data in this column comes from the description or reference field on the original transaction.
Type - This column tells you what kind of transaction is represented in this row.
Type can be Deposit, Miscellaneous Deposit, Miscellaneous Withdrawal, Funds Transfer,
Check, or Invoice Payment.
Amount - This tells how much money was involved in the transaction.
7. Verify other bank related numbers
On the bottom of the form there are a number of fields you should verify:
Statement Balance - This is the balance that is printed on the statement from your bank. It is identical to the data you entered at the top of the form; it is reproduced here, below the grid, for easy reference.
Credits Cleared - This field is calculated by adding up all the deposits selected in the reconciliation grid. It represents the amount of money that you have verified as being deposited correctly during the current month.
Debits Cleared- This field is calculating by adding up the amounts on all checks that are shown in the grid that you have selected to be cleared.
Book Balance - This field is calculated by taking the Starting Balance and adding all credits and Interest earned and subtracting all debits and bank charges.
Debits Outstanding - This is the Total Debits less the Cleared Debits (eg. checks outstanding)
Credits Outstanding - This is the Total Credits less the Cleared Credits (eg. deposits in transit)
Bank Balance - This is calculated from the Book Balance + Debits Outstanding - Credits Outstanding and should equal your Statement Balance when completely reconciled
Statement Balance - This information comes from the information you entered in the Statement Balance field at the top of the form.
Unreconciled - This field is calculated as the difference between the Bank Balance and the Statement Balance. If the resulting value is zero, then everything is good and matches with the bank's statement. If the Difference is not zero, however, then there is some error; you should go over the bank's statement carefully to find where the mismatch is located, and then inform your bank of the error or correct it in Integral Accounting.