What if the Bank is Out of Balance with the General Ledger?

If the G/L Difference in the Bank Account Reconciliation window is not zero once you have reconciled the bank statement:

• Check the Banking Cash Accounts window to make sure that all Funds/Controlling accounts are set up.

• Run the Bank Account Reconciliation Report. Check to see how much you are off for the month you are reconciling. This number is shown as the Sub-Total Difference amount on the GL Reconciliation tab of the Bank Account Reconciliation Report. If the difference is not zero, you’ll need to research and correct or document the discrepancy.

Researching differences using the Bank Account Reconciliation Report

There are four tabs on the Bank Account Reconciliation Report which play a part in determining the source of any differences between the bank and the G/L.

• Bank Reconciliation: All cleared transactions that matched that period’s bank statement.

• Outstanding: All deposits and withdrawals recorded in AptaFund that have not cleared the bank.

• Actual GL Detail: All general ledger transactions where the transaction dates fall between the previous and current bank reconciliation dates.

• GL Reconciliation: Summary of the prior three tabs’ totals and any remaining difference.

All transactions/totals with dates within the reconciled period contained on the Bank Reconciliation and Outstanding tabs must match the transactions/totals on the Actual GL Detail Tab.
(Bank Reconciliation (current period) + Outstanding (current period) = Actual GL Detail)

Find & correct the differences

Start by looking at the differences for the deposits on the GL Reconciliation Tab. Then look at the transactions on the Actual GL Tab. Compare the amounts to the transactions in the Bank Reconciliation and Outstanding Tabs, highlighting matches as you go until you locate one or more transactions/totals that don’t have matches.

Continue this process comparing the withdrawals and credits, also highlighting as you go until you have located all of the differences.

Determine how to correct these differences and re-run the Bank Account Reconciliation Report to confirm all differences have been resolved.

Transactions that may cause differences

• Date issues

• Transactions on the Bank Reconciliation tab that are not on the Actual GL Detail tab because the transactions entered in AptaFund have dates beyond the actual bank transaction.
  Best solution: Locate the transactions and use the Re-Date feature in Journal Entry.

• Transactions on the Actual GL Detail tab that don’t belong because they have incorrect dates.
  Best solution: Locate the transactions and use the Re-Date feature in Journal Entry.

• Transactions on the Outstanding tab that don’t belong, which may or may not contribute to differences.

• Possible solutions:

• If journal entries were made to clear stale checks, mark both transactions as cleared in Bank Reconciliation.

• If a journal entry was pulled into the Bank Register but doesn’t belong, remove the transaction from the Bank Register

• Transactions on the Actual GL Detail tab that don’t belong because they're duplicates.
  Best solution: Locate one of the duplicates and void it.

• Transactions on the Actual GL Detail tab that don’t belong because they were added as journal entries but didn't post to the Bank Register.
  Best solution: Locate the transaction in the Reconcile Bank Account window on the Journal Entries not on Register tab, and add the transaction to the register.

Return to Reconcile a Bank Account

Return to Bank Account Register Overview