Bank Reconciliations ‐ uggghhhh!! The bane of your accounting existence. When anyone mentions Bank Statements, your eyes roll back in your head and you start retching. Reconciling Bank Statements is the final step to completing the accounting period/month closing process. But all too often the Bank Statements and reconciliation process get pushed to the side of your desk in deference of more urgent daily processing, and they start piling up. Bank statements are tedious and time-consuming, and no one likes doing them. Getting behind on bank statements is NO BUENO either cuz…well…it is about your dinero!!!
SSI Oil and Gas Accounting Software has a solution to make reconciling bank statements faster, easier and most importantly, AUTOMATED! Think about it. Everything that affects cash gets booked into the SSI General Ledger cash account(s) ‐ right? So why not take advantage of what's already there? SSI's Bank Reconciliation product takes cash transactions from the General Ledger ‐ inclusive of checks written ‐ and integrates the pieces into our BK10 ‐ Bank Reconciliation program.
Implementation is easy and SSI has great documentation in Help on getting started. For easy access to the SSI On-Line Help, right click on the BK10 ‐ Bank Reconciliation button and select Help from the drop-down. You'll see links to 2 documents ‐ Startup and Monthly Processing. Choose the Startup document for initial requirements and step by step instructions for kicking off Bank Reconciliations.
Of course, SSI easily accommodates multiple bank accounts, separate bank accounts for revenue and operating, combined bank accounts for revenue and operating, payroll, etc.
A quick overview for monthly processing:
As is normal, from the bank statement make any journal entries needed to SSI's general ledger for interest income, service charges, transfers, and such. Then, in BK10 ‐ Bank Reconciliation choose the cash account being reconciled. There'll be a spot for the Ending Bank Balance and the Statement Ending Date (from the bank statement).
There's also a special place for Outstanding Payroll Checks ‐ if any. FYI ‐ this method keeps the integrity and security of payroll intact. No one can see the detail of who gets paid what. Just the grand totals. More info/instruction on Payroll reconciliation can be found in the Help ‐ Monthly Processing doc.
Notice the buttons at the bottom of the BK10 dialog screen ‐ Clear Checks and Clear Bank Entries.
The BK10 ‐ Bank Reconciliation uses a simple “click the box” technology for clearing checks, bank deposit entries, and anything else that affects cash. It's fast and easy. And simple - if it clears on the Bank side, it's a single click in the box. Click, click, click. THAT'S not hard. Along with some other neat little assistance tools on the BK10 ‐ Bank Reconciliation dialog screen, there's an option to auto-clear a range of checks, whoosh! Which means even less clicking for you!
Oh!!! Like Excel much? How about this? We've got IMPORTS for clearing outstanding checks. Cuts the click, click, click even more!
Once all the applicable bank items/outstanding checks have been flagged as cleared, execute the yellow book icon to run the program. If you're balanced ‐ you'll get a WOO-HOO! message, a list of cleared and outstanding checks, and a summary of reconciled bank and book. That's a good thing ‐ you're DONE.
(sad face) Not balanced will throw a BOO-HOO, the list of the cleared/outstanding checks, reconciled bank and book balances, and the out of balance amount.
The most common examples of something that might cause an out of balance problem on the bank reconciliation? If the check date and the accounting period don't match. Don't put 10/15 as the check date and post into period 09. And don't void a check before the check was written ‐ meaning if a check is written in pp 10 don't void it in a prior period. Voids have to be booked in the original period written or in the future of the period written. You can see how those would be trouble for a bank reconciliation.
The On-line Help has more tips on what to look for and how to trouble-shoot when you get the BOO-HOO, so you can change the BOO-HOO into the WOO-HOO!!
What about changing bank account numbers and/or changing banks? It's inevitable there will be factors with going from the old bank to new bank, outstanding checks, all kinds of stuff. Never fear, your SSI Oil and Gas Accounting Software has been there, done that, and we HAVE a PLAN. We've worked through all the ramifications of changing banks and can help you through the process of getting changed over to a new bank/bank account.
Are you doing your bank statements the old-fashioned way and you're current? Converting to the BK10 ‐ Bank Reconciliation will be a breeze! If you're behind and need some help, we're here for you. Once you get up and going it will be SO. MUCH. EASIER. to reconcile your bank each month and stay on a current basis.
Contact us! We can help you get current and stay current with your Bank Reconciliations.
Bank Reconciliations ‐ yet another way SSI Oil and Gas Accounting Software can make YOUR job EZier!!
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