Reconcile an Account (Bank Statement Reconciliation)

How Do I...

Sage 50 allows you to reconcile any account in your chart of accounts. Typically, you would reconcile bank accounts, cash accounts (such as petty cash), and credit card accounts.

Important! If you are using the batch posting method, post your accounts to the General Ledger before you reconcile. This ensures that you are using up-to-date information.

  1. From the Tasks menu, select Account Reconciliation. Sage 50 displays the Account Reconciliation window.
  2. Enter or select the account you want to reconcile. To display a list of existing accounts, type ? in the Account to Reconcile field, or select the Lookup button.
  3. Enter the closing date from the bank or credit card statement as the Statement Date.

  4. Enter the Statement Ending Balance (the ending balance amount included on the bank statement) in the lower section of the window.

    Transactions that are available to be cleared are listed at the center of the window; you can use the Show drop-down arrow button to select which transactions you would like to appear. For each transaction, reference information such as check numbers, amounts, dates, and vendor/payees or descriptions are listed. By default, checks are sorted by check number. You can change the sort order by clicking the heading of the column you want to sort by.

  5. Enter interest income:
  6. When you select OK, this information will be saved as a general journal entry.

  7. Enter service charges:
  8. When you select OK, this service charge information will be saved as a general journal entry.

  9. The Imported Interest and Imported Charges fields indicate amounts imported electronically into Sage 50 along with bank statements. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher)
  10. Check to see if these amounts are correct. Select the arrow button next to the field; the Imported Interest / Charges window will list information about the imported item(s). If any items represent duplicate entries or bank errors, you can delete them in this window.

  11. Select the Clear check box next to each item that is included on the bank statement. You can also use the right-click menu or Quick Action buttons that appear when you select a row; both give you additional options.

    In addition, you can select the Clear button and then All to select all transactions as cleared. Or you can select the Multiple button to choose a range of checks or deposits to clear. To unclear all transactions, select the Clear button and then None.

    Sage 50 keeps track of how many transactions recorded in the general ledger are cleared, how many are not, and the associated totals.

    When all transactions listed on the bank statement are entered and cleared in Sage 50 and outstanding transactions have been accounted for, the unreconciled difference should be zero (0.00). If not, check the bank statement to make sure that each transaction listed is also entered in Sage 50. For example, a service charge listed on the statement may need to be entered in Sage 50.

  12. If the list of transactions includes bank records imported electronically, some may not have been autocleared by Sage 50. These transactions will need to be manually matched to existing Sage 50 records and cleared. (Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher) How do I do this?
  13. If any unmatched bank records represent duplicate entries or bank errors, delete them using the Banking toolbar button, right-click menu, or Quick Action buttons.

  14. If this is the first reconciliation for the selected account, you might have outstanding transactions not listed on the bank statement that also do not appear in the Account Reconciliation window because these amounts were entered as a lump-sum beginning balance in the general ledger. This may cause you to have an unreconciled difference. Select the Beginning Transactions button to enter these outstanding transactions so that they can be reconciled.
  15. Select the Add New button to enter adjusting journal entries, checks, or receipts that the bank statement included but which are not included in Sage 50's general ledger.

    To make an adjusting journal entry, select General Journal Entry. To enter a check. select Write Check or Account Register. To enter a receipt, select Receipt or Account Register. Once the adjustment is entered and saved, you can close the transaction window and return to Account Reconciliation.

    For example, you may have a small discrepancy between the amount noted on a customer check and what the bank reports to you as credit on this transaction; say the bank rounds off to $10 a check for $10.10. Rather than contact the bank to make the change, losing more time and money than the discrepancy is worth, you'll probably want to make the adjustment using a general journal entry instead.

  16. If you added new items, select the Clear check box next to each of these items.
  17. When you have successfully reconciled the account (the unreconciled difference is zero), select OK to close the window.

    Tip: If you are interrupted during the middle of reconciling, select OK, and exit the window. Later, you can resume where you left off. All your cleared items and other reconciliation information for the account will remain.

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