Bank Reconciliations: Tips and Tricks
Laura Hofstrand
Diocese of Des Moines
Set Up
“Recalculate” button
For bank accounts that have a lot of activity this is a
nice feature to activate.
Setup>>User Options>>Check box.
This will turn off the automatic recalculation
Set Up
Set Up Interest/Service Charge
Accounts
Have the system
create the Journal
entry for you for
Interest and service
charges!
Accounts>>Select
Account>>Select
Interest Income
Account and Service
Charge Account
Column 2
Reconciliation Process Process>>Bank Reconciliation>>Create New Statement
Select Bank Account
Enter Statement Ending Date
The date you enter will determine which transactions
appear on the reconciliation.
Enter bank statement ending balance along with the
service charge amount and interest income (if any)
Reconciliation Process
If at any time you realize you
have selected the wrong bank
account or the statement date is
wrong you can delete the
reconciliation by clicking the
“delete” button.
TIP: if you just can’t get the
reconciliation to balance and you
know it’s probably because you
have something marked wrong
on the reconciliation deleting the
reconciliation and starting over is
always an option!
Reconciliation Process
Clear all deposits and checks as you see them on the
bank statement.
Reconciling Checks: Using the “Clear Range” button will
allow you to clear sequential checks at one time
If you are missing a deposit or journal entry, click
“submit” and go to “deposits” or “journal entries” and
enter the item missing. You then return to your bank
reconciliation. Process>>Bank Reconciliation>>Choose
the Reconciliation
Reconciliation Process
Voided Checks:
Be sure to clear the voided check along with the associated
journal entry that the system created. Clearing these two
items should net to a $0 change on your reconciliation.
If you don’t clear these transactions, you can still reconcile
to $0, but it makes your reconciliation look messy because
you have outstanding voided transactions.
Checks voided in a different month than they were issued
should not be cleared until the month they were voided in
ConnectNow.
Trouble Shooting
Make sure that you understand all of the transactions
you see on the bank statement. If you see something
strange, contact your bank to get more information.
Returned Deposits/Checks? Make sure ConnectNow
Accounting reflects these
Automatic deposits/withdrawals? Make sure that these
have all been entered.
Trouble Shooting
Compare the following amounts to
the bank statement:
Cleared Checks
Cleared Deposits
Cleared Other (Journal Entries)
If any of the above are off, further
research those items by comparing
each item to the bank statement.
Trouble Shooting Review the Account Balance report:
Reports>>Accounts>>Account Balance
Review the account for transactions that appear incorrect:
Line items that show a debit and a credit of the same
amount (so a net of $0 for that transaction).
Still not balancing?
Export the account balance report into Microsoft Excel for
further investigation and sorting.
General Tips
If you can’t get your account to reconcile, take a break.
Come back to it later. Sometimes just stepping away for
awhile can make all the difference.
Ask another person to look at your reconciliation if you
are having difficulties reconciling.
12
Still not reconciled?
Call ParishSOFT Support at 1-866-930-4774 ext. 2 and
a representative will assist you.
Finishing up Before clicking “reconcile” make sure you double check
the date you entered for the reconciliation.
If you click reconcile and later realize you put in the
wrong date, you need to contact ParishSOFT to have
them delete the reconciliation.
Be sure to print the Reconciliation Report:
(Reports>>Transactions>>Account Reconciliation
Report) and file this report with your bank statement.
This report can be printed at any time and for all
previous reconciliations.
14
Questions/Comments?
Do you have any tips/tricks for reconciling bank
accounts?
What problems do you come across when reconciling
your bank accounts?