Accruals hekp

bexs2247

Hi, I started a new job a few months and the spreadsheets I have taken over were messy and I struggled with them. Each month I have been chipping away at trying to tidy things up. Last month there were lots of accrual balances that had never been released. I went through and released the ones I thought should have been done.

This month my starting balances are out (roughly by the extras I released last month)

I'm not sure why or what I've done.

I've never done accruals before this job and don't really have any one else to ask now.

Any ideas?

Sharon123

When you say you released the accrual balances, what were the journal entries you did? Don't forget that the accruals account is in the balance sheet and the expenses accounts are in the P&L account

bexs2247

Debited the accruals code and credited the expense code, as the amounts had been accrued over the years and just left in the accruals rather than being released when any actual bill was paid.

Sharon123

Sounds like you have released the accruals correctly. When you say your starting balances are out which ones do you mean? Releasing accruals will reduce your YTD expenses in the P&L account. Did you release the accruals in the right period? Did you check that the accruals balance in the spreadsheet matched the accruals account in the ledger? Seems like lots of questions just trying to give you some checks to make that might help ☺

Neillaw

Were they reversing accruals.
I would check if this as if they were reversing each month when you posted your adjustment there would have been nothing to transfer it against.

Sharon123

Sometimes it's a complete red herring and the amount comes from something else completely which just coincidentally is the same value