Electronic Bank Reconciliation
Many clients maintain their bank accounts with the same bank. In this case it may be possible to obtain all the client bank statements as a single computer file, the "statement file". Depending on the file format it may be possible to perform the reconciliation automatically. The option is accessed through Activities > Global Operations > Electronic Bank Rec. To use the Electronic Bank Rec the user must be licensed for Bank Links.
To set up the electronic bank reconciliation the reconciliation is first created on each client in the usual way except that the sort code and account number must be entered. The system uses the sort code and account number in the statement file to find which client and nominal account the statement relates to. When the statements have been read and matched to the clients they can be reconciled. Reconciling does the following:
- New Period is simulated to start a new reconciliation. So entries ticked in the previous period are not visible in Electronic Bank Rec. However the system is not actually updated until Update is selected. So if you exit before updating no changes will be saved and the entries ticked in the previous period will still be visible.
- The system looks for nominal ledger amounts that match the amounts on the statement and automatically ticks them. When searching for the entry to tick the system starts at the date of the entry on the statement and searches through earlier dates. The number of days it searches back is specified by the user as the Matching Tolerance in Days.
After Reconciliation has been run it is possible to review and amend the ticking that has been done by the system. It is also possible to produce a report of each client’s reconciliation and of any statement entries that could not be matched to the nominal accounts. Finally Update is run to save those reconciliations with no difference on them.
The sequence of operation follows the order of the buttons:
Browse
Select the bank statement file. Currently only files in APACS (the UK’s Association for Payment Clearing Services) format can be read. When the file has been selected the information in it is scanned. A line is shown in the listbox for each bank statement the file contains. The columns are as follows:
Statement date and balance
The date and balance taken from the statement file.
Client
The client code is shown if the sort code and account number in the statement file can be matched to the sort code and account number of a client bank reconciliation.
Status
The status of each bank statement is shown. It can be one of the following:
- Sort code / A/c num not found - No client reconciliation was found with the sort code and account number in the statement file.
- Past statement date - The client reconciliation was found but its statement date is on or after the date in the statement file.
- Found, not reconciled - The client reconciliation was found but the Reconcile button has not yet been clicked.
- Diff - The Reconcile button has been clicked. So the Diff and Unrecorded columns are filled in.
- No diff - The Reconcile button has been clicked and gave a difference of zero.
Note: Diff Only shown if the Reconcile button has been pressed. The resulting difference on the reconciliation is shown.
Unrecorded
Only shown if the Reconcile button has been pressed. If any statement entries could not be found on the nominal accounts their total value is shown in this column.
Reconcile
This button performs the automatic reconciliation as explained above. Only statements that have a status of "Found, not reconciled" are processed. The others are ignored. After the reconciliation these clients have a status of "Diff" or "No diff".
It can happen that the automatic reconciliation finds two entries with the same amount that could reconcile to a bank statement entry. In this case it ticks the most recent one but highlights the situation by showing " (dup amt)" after the status.
Entries
This button is available after Reconcile has been run if an individual reconciliation is selected. Clicking it goes to the Tick Entries screen where the results of the automatic reconciliation can be viewed and changed if needed. Unlike running a manual reconciliation, clicking OK on the Tick Entries screen does not immediately save the changes. They are only saved when Update is run.
Produces a report of each client’s reconciliation and of any statement entries that could not be matched to the nominal accounts. If the report is required for just a single client reconciliation then select the reconciliation before clicking Print.
Update
Saves all the results of the reconciliation. Only clients with a status of "No diff" are saved. Note that once a reconciliation has been saved its statement date will agree to that on the statement file. This means that if the Electronic Bank Rec is run again with the same statement file then any client that has already been Updated will have a status of Past statement date and will not be processed again. To amend a reconciliation that has been updated, edit the individual reconciliation.
After Update has been pressed to update the statements with no difference, the user can continue to reconcile the remaining statements. The statements already updated are not shown in the listbox unless Show updated recs is ticked.