I have been doing my own books for our business and I cannot get them to balance has any one got any software that would help me. Or could someone have a look please?
I am using Excel, I think that the major problem is I am reading the same figures over and over again and I can't see the errors .
Sounds like you might have some formula errors, maybe have a look and your totals and just check that all the correct cells are included where they should be.
If not, maybe leave it for this evening and come back fresh to it in the morning.
Could you be more specific? What doesn't balance - account, acounts, TB, BS? Have you made lots of adjustments for accruals, etc if so did you use an extended trial balance? How do you organise your records? Have you any error-checking formulae built in? Could there be errors/omissions in formulae linking worksheets or separate Excel files? Is there data corruption?
Excel is great but depending on how complex your models are, can be tough finding errors due to formulae being overwritten etc. Might be just simple omission of entry, posting dr as cr, etc, can't do better than old-fashioned "tick back" to find those.
I am an expert in using Excel and would love to sit down with you to sort it out, but I am in North Yorkshire, and you are in London. Post some more info and I 'll do what I can for you.
There are quite a few bookkeeping software packages you could use as alternative to or alongside Excel, depends on how complex your set up is, what management info you need, how much you want to spend, whether you want the hassle of learning a new system, etc.
Have replied to your email as below, posting here for completeness....
My reply:
Process: 1. Checked your accounts totals and c/d figures were correct and on right side. 2. Checked your opening Dr and Cr balances balanced each other out. 3. Checked your totalling was complete (is a form of Trial Balance you have there). Noted inbalance £40 too heavy on Cr side. 4. Started doing tick-back of entries, fortunately error was in one of items in your first account so soon found it.
Offending item is entry dated 31/8 where you've posted £337.65 Dr to purchases and £377.65 Cr to bank (see highlighted on attached modifed version of your spreadsheet). By the way, this is known as an "error of original entry". When you correct whichever figure is wrong, the accounts will balance.
To prevent future occurrence put a formula above both Dr and Cr columns summing everything below, check they agree after every batch of postings. As soon as the columns fall out of balance, you will know straight away something is wrong and can then fix it.
