Troubleshooting Out Of Balance Bank Reconciliation

The First step is to find out if it is a previous reconciliation or the current reconciliation that is Out of Balance

1. Enter the last successfully reconciled balance (from the PREVIOUS BANK STATEMENT'S ending balance)
2. Enter the last successful reconciliation date
3. Do not mark any transaction as cleared
4. Are you out of balance?

Did you change the opening balance of the bank account? Go to the Setup > Opening Balances screen and check that the opening balance for the relevant bank account agrees with the Cash Book balance as of the Conversion Date

Have any previously reconciled transactions been changed or deleted? This would cause the transaction to become unreconciled. An edited transaction will reappear on your current reconciliation as unreconciled. Any deleted transaction will have to be re-entered.

Use the reconciliation report to determine what month the out of balance issue started to figure out what transaction was edited or deleted:

1. Go to your top menu bar and select Reports > Index to Reports.
2. Select the Banking tab at the top.
3. Select the Reconciliation Report and click the Customize button.
4. At the top of the Report Customization window set the Accounts field to the specific account you are reconciling.
5. Set the Select by field to List of Recorded Statement Dates.
6. Set the Statement Date field to a previous reconciliation.
7. Display the report.
8. Compare the Expected Balance on Statement to the balance that it should be according to your statement.
9. Go back statement date by statement date to figure out which period the issue started.

This will help you to determine what transaction became unreconciled based on the date it started. If a transaction was deleted you will need to re-enter it. After it has been re-entered or after you identify the transaction that became unreconciled you can usually just do your next reconciliation as your normally would with the extra step of checking off the the transaction that previously became unreconciled

If you are still having trouble you can undo the bank reconciliations back to the last point that it did balance and then redo them.

If you are not out of balance for the previous reconciliation the problem is with the CURRENT reconciliation. Check for bank fees, direct debits, un-entered (forgotten) transactions, duplicate entries, or transactions that may have been incorrectly entered. You should also check for any errors on the bank statement.

• At the bottom of the reconcile window verify that your total Deposits and Withdrawals in AccountEdge match the total deposits and withdrawals on your bank statement.
• Check for any future dated transactions 
  
  1. Go to the Reconcile Accounts window
  2. Enter a future date
  3. Check to see if there are any incorrectly dated transactions
• Look for missing Check IDs 
  
  1. Run a Bank Register Report
  2. Customize the report just for withdrawals
  3. Sort the report by ID# in the filter
  4. Check for any missing check numbers
• Look for missing Deposits 
  
  1. Run a Bank Register Report
  2. Customize the report to display just deposits
  3. Sort the Report by ID# in the filter
  4. Check for any missing CR numbers

Tip: If the Out of Balance amount is divisible by 9, an amount has been transposed. (Example: $78.32 was entered as $87.32).  This is the “Rule of 9”.