Bank Rec not balancing! - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

Noola · Senior Member

Bank Rec not balancing!

MarkS · Expert

Hi Noola

Always best to go back to old methods when the bank doesnt balance.

I would print off the SAGE nominal for the period and tick all the entries to the bank statement checking the following

1. Opening balance agrees to closing balance on previous reconciliation
2. All outstanding lodgements/cheques on the previous bank rec have come through the bank statement.
3. Adjusting for for outstanding lodgements/cheques at the period end.

This theoretically should work.

I assume you are using SAGE?

Regards

MarkS

Noola · Senior Member

Hi Mark

I don't use sage it is excel I use. I will check the points given however and see if I can find it! Thanks.

nautica · Veteran Member

Hi

Have you checked that all the dates are correct on all your transactions in sage for this statement as if the date is not correct or the year is out this can lead to a balance when you do your bank rec

Martyn

Sorry just seen you are not uesing Sage

-- Edited by nautica on Monday 14th of March 2011 02:25:20 PM

sarahleighton · Veteran Member

Hi Noola

I don't know about you but I often find it's a good idea to take a break and come back to it a little later on - it's amazing what you can suddenly see!

Not very helpful but I certainly find it works for me!

Good luck!
Sarah

-- Edited by sarahleighton on Monday 14th of March 2011 03:26:24 PM

YLB-HO · Guru

Without knowing how much you are out, it is difficult to say, but I did once discover a load of "Hidden" rows on a spreadsheet a client had done - some had figures on which because they were hidden were duplicated which meant the totals just would not balance.

The other option is to redo the amounts quickly on another spreadsheet to check the totals are correct and see if that identifies the outstanding balance.

-- Edited by YLB-HO on Monday 14th of March 2011 03:39:16 PM

RuthA · Senior Member

Also how many transactions are in the statement? Sometimes I find it helps to break the statement down into smaller chunks to be reconciled separately.

Flex Accounting Services · Senior Member

Also check to see if there are any transposed figures, ie, 219 could be entered as 129.

attilabenko · Guru

Hi,

there are ways in Excel to show figures not matching, there is one on the ICB's website

http://www.bookkeepers.org.uk/members_area/Excel_Zone

(have a look at the last one - fast fix when your debits and credits don't add up)
This isn't really for bank recon but you could work somewhere on those lines,
especially if your bank statements are in .csv or other excel friendly format.

Apart from that it is difficult without seeing it...

Car · Newbie

I would go with Ruth A's suggestion - try reconciling a week at a time rather than in one fell swoop.

morgwick · Senior Member

Have you made sure all your bank statements are complete.

debzinkent · Veteran Member

If it's Excel, check your formulas.

Noola · Senior Member

Thanks everyone for your help.

I finally found what the problem was. It was a cheque from the previous month which I didn't know the director had made it a void. I put the cheque onto the accounts before he did this and obviously it didn't come out of the bank.

KEELY · Veteran Member

you say you are using excel not sage, so i take it you saved a copy of the previous spreadsheet where the bank did balance, if so you can print off older spreadsheet and the current one and manually tick back to see what is missing. hope this helps

Noola · Senior Member

Thanks Keely :) Thats actually reminded me of a question I meant to ask. The unpresented cheques each month confuses me as they don't affect the current month and in the bank reconciliation it just sort of balances out itself without me checking the unpresented cheques from previous months. Should I be checking them incase its balancing but really theres a problem - much like a trail balance where it balances but there may be an omission etc? Simple things seem to mind boggle me because I think about them in too much depth and detail and I end up tying myself in knots :/

Hope it makes sense.

AccountantsCircle · Senior Member

It may help to reconcile it in short periods... so a week at a time instead of monthly, or a couple of days at a time.

Also, what is the difference it is out by? If it's cleanly divisible by 9 it may be a transposed figure as Beverley mentioned.

I didn't quite understand your question regarding unpresented cheques. As they should be entered in the accounts system (ie Excel) at the date of the cheque, these are included in the adjustment in the reconcilition since they won't yet appear in the bank statement (so deducted from the bank statment balance to show it adjusted as though the cheques had already cleared).

Unpresented cheques from previous periods should certainly be removed from this if they have been presented since, which should happen as a part of the reconciliation process. Since these are actually deducted from the bank account, and already appeared in the accounts, they no longer form a part of that adjustment figure - Unpresented Cheques.