A Bank reconciliation is a process that explains the difference between the bank balance shown in an organisation's bank statement, as supplied by the bank, and the corresponding amount shown in the organisation's own accounting records at a particular point in time.
Such differences may occur, for example, because a cheque or a list of cheques issued by the organisation has not been presented to the bank, a banking transaction, such as a credit received, or a charge made by the bank, has not yet been recorded in the organisation's books, or either the bank or the organisation itself has made an error.
It may be easy to reconcile the difference by looking at very recent transactions in either the bank statement or the organisation's own accounting records (cash book) and seeing if some combination of them tallies with the difference to be explained. Otherwise it may be necessary to go through and match every transaction in both sets of records since the last reconciliation, and see what transactions remain unmatched. The necessary adjustments should then be made in the cash book, or any timing differences recorded to assist with future reconciliations.
For this reason, and to minimise the amount of work involved, it is good practice to carry out such reconciliations at reasonably frequent intervals. Reconciliations are generally performed by specialised accounting software though the understanding of what occurs is important for a successful reconciliation. Also, Bank reconciliation statement is a statement prepared on a particular day to reconcile the bank balance as per Cash book or Bank statement showing entries causing difference between the two balances.
A BANK RECONCILIATION is a process performed by a company to ensure that the company's records (check register, general ledger account, balance sheet, etc.) are correct with the bank's records.
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are typical abbreviations on a bank statement:
- DO - Debit order
- SO - Standing order
- IS - Insurance
- SF - Service fees
- SD - Sundry debits
- EC - Error correction
- MT - Magnetic tape (Not generally used in modern statements)
- IN - Interest
- CB - Cheque book
- CM - Cheque marked for payment
- RD - Return to drawer
- DB - Debit balance
- OD - Overdrawn
Example
The following is a worked example of a bank reconciliation problem. To understand this example fully, you should have a good knowledge of general accounting principles.
Questions are below
The following was obtained from the records of ABC Computers of 30 September on statement on 31 August 2009 (Previous month)
Bank Statement for September 2009
Additional information:
- Cheque 100 was drawn on the 10 March 2008 to pay a payable. (This cheque is therefore regarded as "stale" for this example - some countries may have different requirements for stale cheques)
- ABC Computers signed a debit order for the monthly instalment on their motor vehicle bought from Speedy Car Sales.
- Cheque 614 was not drawn by ABC Computers. (Therefore must be taken out of the bank reconciliation)
- According to the paid cheques, cheque 112 was drawn for £350 and cheque 113 was drawn for £2070.
- A receivable deposited the amount of £4050 owed by him directly into ABC Computers bank account.
Required:
- Complete the cash book for September 2009 by starting with the pencil totals.
- Prepare the bank reconciliation statement as at 30 September 2009.
References
- ^ Carl S. Warren (18 January 2010). Survey of Accounting. Cengage Learning. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-538-74909-1. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ^ A. Dempsey and H. N. Pieters (2009). Introduction to financial accounting: questions and answers to the seventh edition (2nd ed.). LexisNexis. pp. 143-144. ISBN 978-0-409-10582-7.
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