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Bank reconciliation is the process of comparing business books and banking statements to make sure they match. This has been a traditionally important part of running a business, and businesses tend to reconcile regularly, most often every time a banking statement is issued. If the business records and the statement do not match, there are three possibilities: The banking statement is wrong; the business books are wrong; or there is a factor unaccounted for, such as a delay between cashing a check and receiving funds, that has caused the records to show different results.
Methods :
Book to Bank
Book to bank methods start with the business books and reconcile them to the bank statement. All the business records are added up, including checks, deposits and any other form of money that has gone in and out of the business since the previous statement. The final result and its components are then compared to the banking statement. If the two disagree, then the business goes back through its books to see what the problem is, and makes adjustments through new journal entries.
Bank to Book
Bank to book methods start by calculating what the bank account balance should be, counting in all the factors of the business, then compares the result to what the business books state. This is similar to the book to bank method, but instead of using the book balance to find the bank balance, this method uses the bank balance to find the book balance, and compares errors from there. Since bank processes are mostly automated but not all business processes are, bank statements may be more reliable than business books.
Adjusted Cash Balance
The adjusted cash balance method uses a third account, the adjusted balance, to manage comparisons. The business reconciles the books to the cash balance, then reconciles the bank statement to the cash balance. This method allows the business to check both its own books and the bank statement for errors more easily.
Software
Traditionally, bank reconciliation was done by hand, comparing literal business books and journal entries to the bank amounts. Today, the most common method for bank reconciliation is through software, which makes the process much faster and much less liable for errors. Business reconciliation programs automatically produce results for the business accounts, compare them to the bank statements, and offer possibilities for errors if the two balances do not match.
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