Reconcile An Account In QuickBooks Desktop

Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop

Users should know how to reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop to match their account transactions with the bank records. To maintain the accounting data accurately, it is advisable for users to reconcile the QuickBooks desktop regularly. The process is quite similar to that of balancing checkbooks and is termed reconciling.

Steps to follow for Account Reconciling:

1. Reviewing the Opening Balance

The first step would be to back up the company file. For first-time users, it is crucial to get the opening balance reviewed. It should be matching with the existing bank account balance for any particular day that’s decided for the purpose of account tracking in QuickBooks. Any mismatch would be an indication of incorrect reconciliation of past records.

1. Reconciliation Preparation

Users should record all transactions related to the bank statement period that is supposed to be reconciled. They have to wait for the entry of transactions that remain uncleared by the bank and doesn’t reflect on the statement.

1. Begin with the Reconciliation

The reconciliation process can be started once the user receives the bank statement. The process should begin with the oldest month bank statement in case of multiple months of reconciliation. At one time only one months’ statement should be reconciled. Separate reconciling is mandatory for each month. Let’s begin with the reconciling process:

• Select Reconcile from the Banking menu.
• Select the specific account for reconciling from the Account drop-down list. The ending date needs to be entered from the bank statement.
• The bank statement’s Opening balance needs to be compared with the amount reflecting on the Beginning Balance field. Other necessary information should be completed and then click on Continue.
• The Ending Balance should be matching with the balance that’s entered in the Ending Balance field. 
• Any service charge/interest reflecting on the bank statement, however not entered I the QuickBooks, should not be a cause of concern. It can be entered in the Service Charge and Interest Earned field. Charges that are already added into the QuickBooks are not supposed to be entered.
• To begin with, reconciling click on Continue, but prior to that, the fields need to be reviewed.

1. Collate the Bank Statement and QuickBooks

Users can proceed with the reconcile by merely comparing the transactions list reflecting on their bank statement with that in QuickBooks. However, it is important to have the correct dates and transactions entered. Once the statement has been reviewed it is clear that everything has been entered into the QuickBooks. To reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop simply the following steps would be helpful:

• Click on Hide transactions after the statement’s end date to view transactions for the statement period the user would be working on.
• QuickBooks contains two fields related to bank account transactions – Cheques and Payments (money out) and Deposits and other Credits (money in). For a credit card account reconciling, the fields would be Charges and Cash Advances (purchases) and Payments and Credits (payments to the credit card company). One section at a time should be taken care of.
• Click on Matched while an account set up is reconciled for online banking. Next, in the Statement Ending Date window, the bank statement’s ending date should be filled. The transactions downloaded and matched by QuickBooks would be automatically selected.

The above-mentioned steps would guide the users to reconcile their banking transaction records smoothly and easily. If at any point they find it tricky then they can connect with the QuickBooks Support services helpdesk and get it done.