To ensure the accuracy of your business records, you should keep a record of your bank accounts' balances matched up with your bank's records. This task is called reconciling accounts. If this is the first time you're reconciling an account using MYOB AccountEdge, be sure to see Reconciling an account for the first time for additional information.
Once you're sure all the checks and deposits that appear on your bank statement are entered in AccountEdge, you're ready to reconcile your account.
If you download bank or credit card statement files from the Internet to your computer, MYOB AccountEdge automatically matches transactions from the statement file to those within your company file. Once the match takes place, that transaction is marked as cleared in the Reconcile Accounts window. See Using statements downloaded from the Internet for more information.
If your account is out of balance, a window will indicate the amount by which your account is out of balance, and will provide you with a few ideas of how the out-of-balance situation might have occurred. Here are some additional things you might want to verify:
If you decide to exit the Reconcile Accounts window without successfully reconciling a checking account, the transactions marked as cleared remain marked. You can pick up where you left off at any time.
If you wish, you can enter bank service charges and interest using the Reconcile Accounts window. You'll click the Bank Entry button to open the Bank Entry window. If you've received bank service charges, enter an amount in the Service Charges section. If the account you're reconciling is a Detail Checking Account, the bank fee, when recorded, will appear as a Spend Money transaction assigned to the checking account you're reconciling. (If the account you're reconciling is a Detail Account, the bank fee, when recorded, will appear as a General Journal transaction.) The ID number assigned to the transaction begins with SC and includes the bank statement date you've entered in the Reconcile Accounts window. Verify the date and enter the account you wish to allocate the charges to (usually an expense account). Add a memo if you wish.
If you received interest, you'll enter an amount in the Interest Earned section. If the account you're reconciling is a Detail Checking Account, the interest, when recorded, will appear as a Receive Money transaction assigned to the checking account you're reconciling. (If the account you're reconciling is a Detail Account, the interest, when recorded, will appear as a General Journal transaction.) The ID number assigned to the transaction begins with IE and includes the bank statement date you've entered in the Reconcile Accounts window. Verify the date and enter the account you wish to allocate the bank interest to (usually an income account). Add a memo if you wish.
When you reconcile an account for the first time using AccountEdge, some of the checks you wrote and some of the deposits you made before you began using MYOB AccountEdge will probably be reflected in your bank statement. In order to reconcile the account, these transactions must also appear in the Reconcile Accounts window. Because you conducted the transactions before you began using AccountEdge, though, there will be no AccountEdge record of those transactions. This situation must be resolved before you can reconcile the checking account.
To resolve the situation, you'll create a general journal entry. Each uncleared check and uncleared deposit you conducted before using AccountEdge should be entered as line items on a general journal entry. When you're ready to reconcile the checking account, each line of the general journal entry will appear in the Reconcile Accounts window.
You'll enter your checking account in the Acct # column of the General Journal window. The individual deposit amounts should be entered in the Debit column and the individual check amounts should be entered in the Credit column.
It's unlikely that the debits will equal the credits in the Record Journal Entry window. If there is an out of balance amount, you need to enter another line item with an amount that balances the debits and credits.
Since the general journal entry you create debits and credits the checking account for the same amount, the journal entry will not affect the balance of the checking account.
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