Advice please from an experienced Sage 50 user in industry

Jayney

I have just started a new job and use Sage 50 - I have noticed that the bank accounts have never been reconciled or VAT is not reconciled - i wish to reconcile the bank account and use Sage 50 as it is meant to be used. The financial year is July 2017 - what balance shall I put in the unreconcilied area of the bank account so that I can use Sage as it is intended? I do not wish to use their spreadsheets as I think this is unnecessary and use the software as it is intended. Thank you

Neillaw

I would first reconcile the account to the end of November before starting with December. Has it not been reconciled due to the spreadsheet or does the bank historically not reconcile with the spreadsheet being the easier option.

Jayney

Hi Niellaw the account has never been reconciled and goes back as far as 2010 - the previous bookkeeper is not trained, so obviously was not aware that she needed to reconcile the account. I would prefer to use Sage rather than a spreadsheet to reconcile the bank account. Kind regards

Neillaw

As long as your bank is up to date then you could actually use today's balance, just put your statement figure in and see if it agrees back. If your lucky and it balances then clear everything down but if not your then your going to have to go back to the year end and find out which year the difference belongs too.

I hope your lucky and it balance's back at todays date, once had this problem and ended up going back 5 years to find out the auditor had posted an adjustment into the bank and not through the cash book.

Jayney

Thank you - I don't think it is going to be a simple, as the accounts have never been reconciled since day one - business started 25 years ago!! Been using sage since late 1990s - last people were not trained in accounts & have used Sage for data entry and not as an account package. Very annoying

Neillaw

May be worth finding out how much you are going to be out and then check for any journal posting into the bank nominal account.
Auditors being as they are usually decide on a journal and then post it straight into the bank account instead of going through the cash book.
It's always nice to balance back to the penny but I would first work out how far the bank in currently out of balance and then if it's not a large amount is it worth the time & cost to correct or w/o.

Jayney

Many thanks for your advice.