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Account Reconciliation – Discrepancies

Company owners sometimes ask me:  “Should balance adjustments arising from account reconciliation problems cause me any concern?”

Reconciliation Discrepancies in Your Quickbooks FileIn my experience and opinion, accounts should reconcile – right down to the penny – almost all of the time! Account reconciliation is paramount, here’s why…

The account reconciliation process is just a large matching game between what you have on your books, and what the bank statement shows.

  • First, you click off all matching (cleared) checks and deposits.
  • Then you record transactions shown by the bank not yet on your books and check them off as matching. This is so important when it comes to account reconciliation.
  • Finally, you review the non-matching (outstanding) items on your books, such as checks and deposits not yet cleared by the bank.
  • When the cleared balance on your books equals the bank ending balance (i.e., the difference is $0.00), you’re reconciled!

Quick Tip

Once or twice a year, if you have a large number of transactions clearing the account and you’re “off” by a small amount (e.g., between $.01 to $5 total), in the interest of using your time effectively, it’s acceptable to post an entry to an account such as Miscellaneous Office Expense for that small unreconciled difference to help with account reconciliation.

If, however, you find that your accounting assistant regularly has small, unresolved differences, be vigilant and let him or her know that you are reviewing the account reconciliation closely.  Of course, follow up immediately if you see any large, unresolved differences!

If you liked this blog, you’ll enjoy this one as well.

 

Regards – Diane Gilson


From the Intuit Find a ProAdvisor website…
“We contacted Diane regarding some industry-specific needs. She did a fantastic job of listening to our needs and then crafting accounts and memorized transactions to help us accomplish what we needed. We’re a small company and time is super important. She has great expertise that will save you time (and money) and make your QB system work most effectively for you. Worth noting that we had been working with our accounting group before reaching out to Diane and were still not smooth with the transactions and reports we needed. They were impressed with how Diane resolved the issues for us. It would have cost less to have used her from the start.”

Copyright: Diane C.O. Gilson, Info Plus ( + ) Accounting®