Reconcile balance sheet accounts
Part of the Close plan.
The Reconciliations page lists every balance sheet account due for a period end, with its GL balance straight from GP. Someone prepares each one when it ties to the cent, and someone else reviews it. Nothing in GP changes.
Pick a period
Open Month-end in the menu and choose Reconciliations, choose a Period end (last month end to start with) and Show. The summary counts what's reviewed, has nothing to reconcile, is waiting for review or isn't prepared. Amounts show the natural way up: credit-balance accounts are positive.
Accounts with nothing to reconcile are hidden; check Show the ones with nothing to reconcile to see them. See Reconciliations Ledger Doctor does for you.
Statuses
- Not prepared: waiting for someone to prepare it.
- Waiting for review: prepared, waiting for an approver to review it.
- Reviewed: done.
- Nothing to reconcile: signed off automatically, with the reason.
- Auto-certified: a low-risk account an approver set to certify itself (see below), with the reason.
- Balance changed after sign-off: GP's balance moved after it was prepared or reviewed. Check what posted, then prepare it again.
Prepare a reconciliation
- Choose Open on the account (Details on one Ledger Doctor signed off itself). Last period's reconciliation is shown for reference.
- Enter the Supporting balance to the cent, and what it comes from in Supported by, like a bank statement, an aging or a schedule. Add notes if they help.
- Add Reconciling items for anything that explains the difference: a description, an amount and a kind (Timing (clears next period), Adjustment to post, or Other). Choose Add item.
- Attach Supporting files: PDF, Excel, Word, CSV, text or image, up to 10 MB each.
- When the difference is 0.00 ("Ties: difference 0.00"), choose Prepare.
Reconciling items still open when the next period starts carry forward to it, marked "Carried from" with their period.
Match GL lines
For a clearing, accrual or suspense account, open Match GL lines on its reconciliation. Every GL line GP still has for the account is listed (history and open years, from the earliest year's balance brought forward), and lines that cancel each other are matched: an entry and its reversal, the same reference in and out, or equal and opposite amounts when nothing else could pair with them. Ledger Doctor suggests matches only where they're unambiguous; Accept all takes them. Select other lines that cancel and choose Match selected; they have to add up to zero. A match counts at a period end only when all its lines are dated on or before it.
What's left unmatched is what the balance is made of. Use the open lines as the supporting balance puts their total in as the supporting balance, and Open lines in Excel lists them; the close binder includes that list for each account supported this way. Matching works on accounts with up to 20,000 GL lines.
Accounts with a prepaid or accrual schedule fill in their supporting balance from the schedules.
Review and sign off
An approver who didn't prepare it opens the account and chooses Review and sign off. A reconciliation can't be reviewed by the person who prepared it.
Changing a signed reconciliation (Save changes (needs signing again)) or choosing Reopen puts it back to Not prepared.
How often, and who
Approvers can open How often and who under an account's details to set how often it's reconciled (Every month, Quarter end, Year end, or Never (not reconciled)) and name its preparer and reviewer. Accounts are reconciled every month unless you change it.
The same place sets Auto-certify for a low-risk account: enter an amount, and in a period when both the account's balance and its activity are within that amount, Ledger Doctor certifies it by itself and says why. It only does that when a person reconciled the account (and it tied) within the last 3 months, and nothing has been started on it this period, so a person still reconciles it at least once a quarter. Leave the amount empty to turn it off. Who set the amount and when is shown on each auto-certified reconciliation, and every change is in the Security page's log.
The close checklist and Excel
The close checklist's reconciliation step completes itself when every account due is reconciled and reviewed. Download Excel gives you the list with balances, items and sign-offs, and the reconciliations are in the close binder with their files.