The Importance Of Bank Reconciliation In Internal Control

In addition to ensuring correct cash records, the bank reconciliation process also helps in keeping a track of the occurrence of any form of fraud. Such insights would help you as a business to control cash receipts and payments in a much better way. NSF checks are recorded as an adjusted book balance line item on the bank reconciliation statement, with the NSF amount deducted from its balance. Bank reconciliation statements compare transactions from financial records to those on a bank statement. Where there are discrepancies, companies are able to identify the source of errors and correct them. A bank reconciliation statement summarizes banking and business activity, reconciling an entity’s bank account with its financial records.

Similarly, if you were expecting an electronic payment in one month, but it didn’t actually clear until a day before or after the end of the month, this could cause a discrepancy. It is helpful for a company to have a separate general ledger Cash account for each of its checking accounts.

As apparent, there are differences between the two statements. First of all, the unrecorded differences are identified and recorded. First of all, the balance from the bank statement is compared with the bank book. The balance in the bank statement is $500 while the balance on the bank book is $2,350. The bank reconciliation of the ABC Co. for the month of May 20xx can be prepared by using the steps above. This is one of the reasons bank reconciliations are a major part of a business’ internal control procedures.

When a company maintains more than one checking account, it must reconcile each account separately with the balance on the bank statement for that account. The depositor should also check carefully to see that the bank did not combine the transactions of the two accounts. A common error by depositors is recording a check in the accounting records at an amount that differs from the actual amount. Although the check clears the bank at the amount written on the check ($47), the depositor frequently does not catch the error until reviewing the bank statement or canceled checks.

Video Explanation Of Bank Reconciliation

Monthly bank reconciliations help catch any unfamiliar transactions, prevent fraud, or correct accounting errors. When you process a Bank Reconciliation in QuickBooks, you help avoid bounced checks, overdrafts, and ensures A/P transactions have cleared. As mentioned above, timing differences do not require any adjustments in the bank book balance. Therefore, these items need to be part of the bank reconciliation statement only. They do not require an adjustment to the books of the company. For timing differences, the company must cancel out the effect of outstanding checks and deposits in transit. Bank reconciliation is the process of comparing accounting records to a bank statement to identify differences and make adjustments or corrections.

• I have the amount in my books, but it’s not in the bank yet…that I get.
• Outstanding checks need to be deducted from the bank balance.
• It is more likely to be correct if you have an error in your reconciliation.
• Add the deposits in transit to the beginning balance and subtract the outstanding checks.
• The bank reconciliation can highlight any errors recorded in either the company books or in the bank statements.
• Thus, such debits made by the bank directly from your bank account lead to a difference between the balance as per cash book and the balance as per the passbook.
• In other words, bank reconciliation is undertaken in order to ensure that your balance as per the bank statement is correct.

Deposits in transit, outstanding checks, and bank service charges usually account for the difference between the company’s Cash account balance and the bank balance. This bank statement is an example of the transactions that occurred during the month. In the Deposit and credits section, you see the deposits made into the account and a CM which is a collection of a note and interest the bank has paid to your account.

Outstanding Check

Since the adjusted balance for both the bank book and bank statement is $400, it means there are no extra items that need to be reconciled. Mostly, errors occur in the bank book of the business rather than the bank statements. These errors are then investigated properly to ensure they were not committed intentionally. Bank reconciliations are carried out to reconcile the differences between the balance in the bank book of a business and the balance in the bank statement of a business.

Bank Service Charges – These are amounts that the bank withdraws from the account as a charge for having the account. Bank service charges include regular monthly fees, overdraft fees, returned check fees and credit card processing fees. Bank reconciliation is a part of the internal control process of a company. As mentioned above, two different documents show the bank balance of a company at the end of a specific period.

Check The Structure Of The Reconciliation Statement

The accounting records in-office should be used to adjust the bank statement. Using the cash balance shown on the statement, add back in any deposits “in transit”.

The statement outlines the deposits, withdrawals, and other activities affecting a bank account for a specific period. A bank reconciliation statement is a useful financial internal control tool used to thwart fraud. The first step in bank reconciliation is to compare your business’s record of transactions and balances to your monthly bank statement.

How To Prepare Bank Reconciliation? A Step

Many accounts may have automatic monthly payments set up for certain recurring bills. If you don’t have the payment date for auto payments on your calendar, you may not see the withdrawal until it appears on the monthly bank statement. Post any missing automated debit payments to your cash account. These definitions are different from how the accounting profession uses these terms. When you do a bank reconciliation, you first find the bank transactions that are responsible for your books and your bank account being out of sync. You only need to reconcile bank statements if you use the accrual method of accounting. This is to confirm that all uncleared bank transactions you recorded actually went through.

Therefore, the company must adjust these differences on the bank reconciliation statement. Finally, add or subtract all the items marked as reconciling items from your bank’s closing cash balance. Then, compare the balance as per the cash book with the balance as per the passbook of your account. In case the two balances do not match, it is quite possible that the opening balances also did not match. In such a case, you will have to reconcile your bank statement with your books of accounts for the previous period. If there is no error in the beginning balances, then there is certainly a reconciling item within the current period itself that you have failed to identify. Preparing a bank reconciliation statement on a periodic basis is an important cash control procedure.

Compare The Deposits

To keep a track of accounts payable and accounts receivable of your business. However, in practice there exist differences between the two balances and we need to identify the underlying reasons for such differences.

One is making a note in your cash book , and the other is to prepare a bank reconciliation statement . If you use the accrual system of accounting, how to prepare a bank reconciliation you might “debit” your cash account when you finish a project and the client says “the cheque is going in the mail today, I promise!

Preparing a bank reconciliation statement helps businesses to eliminate possible errors in transactions or bookkeeping. Some businesses create a bank reconciliation statement to document that they regularly reconcile accounts.

Errors Made By Your Business Or Your Bank

Therefore, you need to pass a journal entry in your books of accounts showcasing the increase in cash balance due to the interest or dividend earned. This is done by taking into account all the transactions that have occurred until the date preceding the day on which the bank reconciliation statement is prepared. The very idea of locating differences is to update your books of accounts in order to match them with the bank statement. Such errors are committed while recording the transactions in the bank passbook.

• Bank reconciliations verify the integrity of data between the bank records and a company’s internal financial records.
• Usually, most companies prepare bank reconciliations at the end of each month.
• To prepare a bank reconciliation, it is important that both the bank book and the bank statement of the business are available.
• There are several mistakes that are possible, like wrong entries being made into the existing accounts.
• It’s important to keep in mind that consumers have more protections under federal law in terms of their bank accounts than businesses.
• Those two balances are rarely equal owing to both differences in timing in recording transactions and errors made by the bank or the depositor.

As a business, the practice can also help you manage your cash flow and spot any inefficiencies. Every check amount on the bank statement must be compared to the check amounts in the company’s general ledger Cash account. Any differences, such as the company’s outstanding checks and errors, will become part of the adjustments listed on the bank reconciliation. Bank charges are service charges and fees deducted for the bank’s processing of the business’ checking account activity. This can include monthly charges or charges from overdrawing your account. If you’ve earned any interest on your bank account balance, they must be added to the cash account.

Your bank may collect interest and dividends on your behalf and credit such an amount to your bank account. This is useful for both audit trials and compliance, as well as historical data.

Watch the following video example and then we will continue by looking at bank statement and records of MY COMPANY for a printable copy. Any accounts that are active should be reconciled at month end, even if there are only a few transactions. If a transaction isn’t showing in your business books, it could be from a keystroke error when you entered a transaction. The $425 check deposited by the business has been charged back by the bank as NSF (non-sufficient funds). For example, information about a redeposit of a returned item or a deposit in transit might be recorded there.

For example, a cheque that keeps appearing as un-cleared month after month could mean it is lost. Cheques do eventually become “stale” so these must be followed up. Peachtree automatically calculates the unreconciled difference as the statement ending balance minus outstanding checks plus deposits in transit minus the G/L system balance. Now, when you prepare the bank reconciliation statement for the month of November as on November 30, 2019, the check issued on November 30 is unlikely to be cashed by the bank. You first need to determine the underlying reasons responsible for the mismatch between balance as per cash book and passbook. Once you have determined the reasons, you need to record such changes in your books of accounts. In such a case, your bank records the receipts in your firm’s account at the bank.