I have recently started to work in a small company using Quickbooks to help monitor the accounts. I have no experience of book keeping but I have started working towards AAT on-line.
Throughout the day we receive a number of payments from "customers" in the form of cash and cheques. I am seeking advice as to how to record these payments in QB, and how to pay these into the bank such that bank reconciling is simple.
I ask as I see a single bank deposit on the bank statement, but it's not clear exactly which items ( cheques and cash) this deposit is made up of, particularly which cash items, as the bank deposit is not itemised.
I was considering recording and storing the payments as per each month received. So, I'd record each payment individually on paper, under say "April", and at the end of the month pay them all in together. Mays monies will be recorded on a new sheet and physically stored separately. At least then I'd know that the deposit on the bank statement represents a group of cash/cheque payments received in a particular month.
Accounting is something that is useful in your personal as well as professional lives, and it would be worth your while to shed your prejudices and listen! Accounting is nothing complex as you have mistakenly imagined. It is based on one of the most fundamental concepts that if one receives something, then obviously another has to give; and therefore every transaction has a two-fold aspect called debit and credit in accounting terms. Maybe this reminds you of one of Newton's Laws that action and reaction are always equal and opposite.
Fundamentally, the study of accounting is built on (i) The Accounting Equation, and (ii) Double Entry Book Keeping.
-- Edited by bryan_w on Tuesday 21st of June 2011 08:40:03 AM
what the heck was all that about? It doesn't answer Palawan's question at all which relates to the quite legitimate problem that when doing bank recs against smaller items bundled into a single transaction how do you seperate out which transactions belong in which bank entries.
Its a very good question and deserving of a good answer. Probably a better one than I am able to provide as in my case companies have always known what went into (or should have gone into) which bank transaction.
Your answer did not relate to the question and seems for the most part to have been lifted directly from an internet site that covers what basic bookkeeping is... Specifically this one :
And as for your line "and it would be worth your while to shed your prejudices and listen!" I didn't get the impression that Palawan had any prejudices. He just wanted an answer to an age old question that is the nightmare of many a credit controller.
I think that you should appologise to Palawan for the rather abrupt and condescending tone of your message as neither of such is tollerated on this site and I will remove any messages that I feel break the generally helpful tone of this website.
Your post may disappear imminently.
Also, if there is any repetition of speaking to people making legitimate queries on the site in the manner of this reply I will look seriously at speaking with the Site Admin team about having your userid revoked.
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I can see your problem as we have many clients who can't quite manage to write on paying in slips!
Personally I would think that storing up the receipts for a month isn't a good idea, it could cause a cashflow issue in the bank, and the amount held on the premises could potentially go over the companies cash on premises insurance limit.
I would say pay them in once a week keeping a log, as you've suggested, on paper of everything that you've paid in, and then when you're reconciling the bank it should be straightforward as the bank statement should match the amount shown on your logs.
You were on the right track already, hope this helps.
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Jenny
Responses are my opinion based on the information provided. All information should be thoroughly checked before being relied on.
We do not receive a large amount of cash and cheques in the average week. The weekly total would be a few hundred pounds at most, but I will consider a weekly collection and bank deposit.
I have recently started the AAT course and am aware of double entry book keeping and the accounting equation but as stated I am not a book keeper. I have been drafted in on a temporary basis to help a small company who's book keeper is off sick. I decided to try and help, so please bear with me as I will be posting some very basic questions. So far I have been able to pay off invoices and make deposits and record it all on the quickbooks register. I am just wondering how bundles of cash items are recorded and deposited into the bank.
Bryan - Thanks for the copy and paste ! I too am a scientist. I'll happily talk to you about Newtons Laws, sub-cloning of DNA fragments and medicinal chemistry. I will be very helpful and patient in explaining these concepts to you. Perhaps your ego is obeying Newtons First Law ?
Bryan - Thanks for the copy and paste ! I too am a scientist. I'll happily talk to you about Newtons Laws, sub-cloning of DNA fragments and medicinal chemistry. I will be very helpful and patient in explaining these concepts to you. Perhaps your ego is obeying Newtons First Law ?
Nicely put Palawan
Having looked at the previous posts by bryan w, sounds like he needs to be acted upon by an outside force.
Have you ever been refered to as an outside force Shaun?
To get back to your problem, what I have done with one of my clients, who receives cash and cheques, and never indicates when they are banked is, I set up a dummy bank account and called it Undeposited Receipts. When the bank statement comes in with the batch total for the lodgements, i go to the dummy account and try and match off the receipts of a similar date before the deposit, to equal the amount deposited. This way I have an idea if he has kept back any cash (or mislaid/ not deposited any cheques). Any discrepancies I adjust to an appropriate account.
Bill
PS welcome to the forum
-- Edited by Wella on Tuesday 21st of June 2011 12:10:14 PM
I did look at Bryan's earlier posts before my snotty response above.
As far as I'm concerned Bryans actually on a yellow card at the moment. Once everyone has had chance to view his post I'm going to delete it as Palawan deserved better than that for a quite legitimate question (eloquently answered by Jenny above) and this site isn't the sort of place for those sort of answers.
Palawan,
many appologies, in my annoyance at Bryans response I completely ommitted to wish you a big welcome to the forum.
Hope that we can be of some help to you whilst you get to grips with the new role,
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
