In this document is a checklist for general and trust bank reconciliations.

(See bottom of page for acronym legend)

General Bank Reconciliation Check List:

(In this example, we are using statements from August 1st - August 31st.)

Step #1:

Check to see if the statement date is correct according to the bank statement? This is the ending date, Aug 31 on your bank statement. (see below) 

Step #2:

Check to see if the bank statement ending balance is accurate according to the bank statement as of Aug 31.. (see below) 

Step #3:

Check the General Ledger Code (GL) balance via the Trial Balance report for Aug 1st. This will be the closing balance for the prior month (July 31st) Bank Reconciliation (see below) 

Step #4:

Look at the totals from Total Cheques Cleared and Total Deposits And Other Credits Cleared.  Verify that these match with the bank statement.

Step #5:

Check if the General Ledger Account (GL) Ending Balance is the same as General Ledger Account Closing Trial Balance. (Use the following formula)

(GL opening balance (via Trial Balance Report) on August 1st) – (Total Cheques written in August (by cheque register report) + (Total deposits received in August (by deposit & receipt list report). )

*NOTE*

This total number should be equal to GL account closing balance on trial balance report for August 31st.

Step #6:

If you have completed steps 1-5 and there is still a difference in bank reconciliations do the following.

• #6:1: Identify if any cheques or deposits were within the previous month (July). If so, check if they are outstanding in the previous month bank reconciliations.
• #6:2: Check if there are any cheques or deposits that are clearing on a future date? Make sure the total cleared cheques and deposits are $0 on that future date. (see example #1 and example #2)

Example #1

Example #2

• #6:3: Check if the closing balance as of Jul 31st on the previous month’s bank reconciliations worksheet is equal to the bank statement ending balance as of Jul 31st. (See below)

• #6:4: Check and see If there are any JE posted during this period.
• #6:5: If there are any JE posted from bank reconciliations (such as recurring or new adjustments). Then check if the JE post the expense to the bank GL itself. (This will cause a difference)
• #6:6: Double check the wip dib, AR fee, AR disb on the system balance report. If these are out of balance, it could be a result of an out of balance posting in the general cheque, bill payment, pay unbilled disb. (This will also cause bank reconciliations to be out of balance.)
• #6:7: Check if any General receipt posted with GL = bank GL. This will cause a + difference.
• #6:8: Look for payroll cheque reversals. Advance cheque reversals will not automatically post in eislaw.
• #6:9: If a payroll cheque is entered by Enter Outstanding cheque, but payroll JE was not posted, this will cause a negative difference.
• #6:10: Pending deposits will cause a negative difference. This is due to a bug where the payment type is not supposed to be included in the deposit or the user change payment type’s deposit setting or the receipts sitting in the pending deposit.
• #6:11: If the deposit date is not in the same month of the receipt date. This will cause a negative difference.                                                                                                                                        SELECT TOP 1000 * FROM CTRAN4 WHERE (DATE >= '2020/03/01' AND DATE <= '2020/03/31') AND (DEPOSITDATE < '2020/03/01' OR DEPOSITDATE > '2020/03/31') AND REVERSED = 0
• #6:12: If Disb is posted into General bank. This will cause a plus difference.
• #6:13: If a user has entered a general cheque/receipt with bank GL number.
• #6:14: If a user has a deposit with dates in a different month but posted together. (example)  The receipt for August 30th and receipt for Sep 6th are posted in one audit. GL will update only the Sep 6th deposit. Augusts bank reconciliations will be out. This will cause a plus difference.
• #6:15: If there is duplicate cheque number used, one is cleared and the others are not. (example)
  
  cheque #1 $50 is cashed in the bank
  cheque #2 $150, is not cashed
  When posting in ESILAW , if the user uses the same cheque number for both the $50 and the $150 cheque. When you do the bank reconciliation, the user will clear the cheque #1 for $50, and leave the $150 not cleared and then balance the bank reconciliation, and print worksheet.

Once complete, close the bank reconciliation and the $150 will automatically be cleared. This is because it is the same cheque number. This will cause the next months bank reconciliations to be out of balance by +$150. The user won’t be able to notice this.

To find this issue, ask user to provide the bank reconciliation worksheet from the previous month. Unclear everything in the current month, then back to prior month. You will see the total OS cheque amount is different from the worksheet.

• #6:16: If a finalized deposit has an outstanding deposit within the month of the bank reconciliation . (example)
  
  February, but it is not showing in bank reconciliation . This is because the receipt included in this deposit has a transaction date that is in the following month.

Trust Bank Reconciliation Check List:

Step #1:

Check if the Bank reconciliation date is accurate according to the bank statement.

Step #2:

Check the Bank ending balance to see if it is accurate according to the bank statement.

Step #3:

Check if the GL opening balance of the current month equals the closing balance according to previous month bank reconciliation worksheet.

Step #4:

Check if the total cleared cheques and deposits agree with the bank statement.

Step #5:

Calculate using this formula

(GL opening balance (by trial balance report) in current month) – ( Total cheques written (by cheque register) ) + ( Total deposit posted (by deposit & receipt list report) ) = ( GL ending balance (by trial balance report) in current month )

Step #6:

If you have completed steps 1-5 and there is still a difference in bank reconciliations do the following.

• #6:1: Check the Trust bank balanced on system balance report.
• #6:2: Check Any cheques or deposits clearing in future months.
• #6:3: Check if the ending balance on the previous month’s bank reconciliation worksheet is equal to the bank statement ending balance from the previous month.
• #6:4: Check Pending deposits. These will cause a negative difference. This is caused by a bug where the payment type is not supposed to be included in the deposit or user change payment deposit setting. The receipt will sit in pending deposits.
• #6:5: Check if the Deposit date is not in the same month of receipt date. This will also cause a negative difference.
• #6:6: Look for deposits with dates in different months that are posted together. (example)            An August 30th receipt and a September 6th receipt are posted in one audit. GL will only update the Sep 6th receipt. The August bank reconciliation will be out. This will cause a plus difference.

GL = General Ledger Account, JE = Journal Entry , WIP DIB = Work In Progress Disbursement, AR = Accounts Receivable ,  DISB = Disbursement