What’s New in Bank Reconciliation for Version 13.4
Table of Contents
Required Security Changes 2
Reconciliation ID 3
Clearing 4
View Buttons 5
Deposit Tab Drill Down 6
Jump Buttons 7
Locking and Suspense Items 9
Viewing History 10
New Buttons 11
FAQ’s 14
What’s New in Bank Reconciliation for 13.4
Version 13.4 includes significant enhancements and changes to the bank reconciliation process. A Video of this process can be found at https://vimeo.com/66902927
Required Security Changes
If you are an existing user, even one with all permissions you will have to log into the Admin Module and uncheck and recheck your permissions to use bank rec after the 13.4 upgrade. This is because new features are not automatically granted to existing users for security reasons. If you try and do a reconciliation without resetting permissions you will get the following message.
To reset security go to Administration>Security>Setup Organization Menus.
Click the “+” in front of Accounting and then Activities. Click the “Reconcile Cash Accounts” so it is highlighted and then uncheck and recheck the appropriate permissions and click Save.
Prior versions only had View and Edit permissions. Users who are responsible for reconciling the account should have all but process records. Administrators should have all rights.
After doing this you will need to log out of the accounting module and then back in for the changes to take effect. A video of the change process can be found at https://vimeo.com/66902928
Reconciliation ID
There is a new field on the reconciliation screen called the Reconciliation ID. This is a new required piece of information when you are reconciling a cash account.
It is similar to a batch or session number for your bank rec activity. You can only have one reconciliation ID active for a specific reconciliation date. This allows for better tracking of reconciliation items and allows you to go back and quickly access previous reconciliations.
In order to do a new reconciliation you have to click the New button and then type in your new reconciliation ID. This is perhaps the biggest change in the workflow. Without pushing new and typing in a reconciliation ID you cannot continue the reconciliation process.
Clearing
After you have given the system a reconciliation ID the process remains the same. Give it a reconciliation date and your beginning bank balance.
You will go to the Checks tab to clear any check type transactions. Deposits Tab to clear receipts and receivables, Other Cash Items Tab for Journal Vouchers. Suspense Tab for Suspense Items.
By default the view will show ALL items. This may take some time to load. If you find performance to be an issue change the view to Outstanding Only using the view buttons as explained below.
View Buttons
The biggest change in clearing items revolves around changing the view.
When you open the form it defaults to displaying all records. Using the view buttons at the top you can choose to view cleared or un-cleared items only. When you switch between views the system updates the display with the current cleared status of items without the need to click the update button. Therefore if you clear an item and switch your view it will automatically appear in the cleared view and will not show up in the outstanding view.
Deposit Tab Drill Down
A new feature on the deposits tab is the ability to drill down into a deposit number and see the detail that makes it up.
If you double click on a deposit number a new window will pop up to show you all the documents in that deposit. Click close to go back to the deposits screen.
You can have multiple deposit drill down windows open at the same time.
You may notice that most of your deposit numbers are simply dates. This is a label the system automatically assigns to the deposit number if the transactions were posted without a deposit number. This is a label in the screen only and will not show up on any reports.
Jump Buttons
If you find yourself needing to make some type of data entry to correct any items there are now jump buttons to common cash transaction types in the button bar above.
This allows you to make entries on your bank statement into the system without having to exit the bank rec module. After you make the entries hit update and it will bring those entries onto the reconciliation screen.
Locking Reconciliation IDs
After you have reconciled your balance so the Un-reconciled Difference is zero you now have the option of locking your reconciliation ID. Locking a reconciliation ID will prevent anyone from clearing or unclearing any items on that reconciliation date. This locking makes it easier to go back and audit previous reconciliations. You cannot lock a reconciliation unless the un-reconciled difference is zero.
If you need to make changes to the reconciliation ID that is locked you must unlock it first. Then make changes. The reconciliation should then be relocked.
Locking of reconciliation IDs must be done in chronological order. After you have locked an ID you cannot go back to an earlier reconciliation date and lock it.
The locking of reconciliation ID’s provides good way to keep a historical snapshot of what was in bank rec at the time. If a reconciliation is locked you will not be able to add any items to it without unlocking it. If an item is posted to the cash account on or before the locked reconciliation date it will not show up in the reconciliation.
It is still possible to remove items from a locked reconciliation by clearing them in an earlier reconciliation date. They will be removed from the locked reconciliation and be cleared on the earlier reconciliation.
Users without process rights can lock a reconciliation. Users must have process rights to unlock a reconciliation.
Locking and Suspense Items
Suspense items are used to record a temporary item on the Bank Statement but not in the accounting system. For example a Fee that was going to be reversed or some other bank error. This was done by entering the suspense item and later deleting it.
Reconciliations that include suspense items generally should not be locked. Only after the issue has been resolved and the suspense item deleted should you lock the reconciliation ID.
If you lock a reconciliation ID that contains a suspense item that item is also locked and cleared from your future reconciliations. You will not be able to view it on any date except the reconciliation date. You will not be able to access it on any date other than the reconciliation date. If you wish to delete it you would need to unlock the reconciliation ID and delete it.
Deleting it is largely unnecessary because the locking process effectively deletes it by removing it from the balances going forward (will not show in the suspense items tab or line).
In the example of the extra fee we recorded with a suspense item was reversed in the next period. This reversal is included in your bank statement and bring the balance back to what it was on account WITHOUT the suspense item. The suspense item has been effectively removed by the lock so you would not need to do anything.
In the even the fee was still outstanding you would need to put in an additional suspense item to account for it.
Given that your un-reconciled difference has to be zero before you can lock a reconciliation it might be tempting to just plug the difference as a suspense item and lock. This is not a good practice as it doesn’t address the real problem of the item causing the difference in your reconciliation. When the suspense item is locked it will no longer figure into the balances and the next month you will still be off.
Viewing History
In addition to the advantages of tracking and locking reconciliation IDs changes have been made to make finding previously cleared transactions much easier. If you clear a document as of a certain date and then go back prior to that cleared date you will see the document as outstanding in the system.
4/30/13 Documents 100350 and 100351 have been cleared.
03/31/2013 Documents 100350 and 100351 are outstanding.
This allows you to go back to previous dates and see what was cleared and outstanding at that time. If you are in the habit of printing your reconciliation statements you can compare your historical report to the values currently in the system for that date to find any changes.
Buttons to print Reconciliation Statements
If you discover that an item should have been cleared in the earlier date you can clear it in that reconciliation id. It will automatically be taken out of the later ID and put into the current one.
New Buttons
The buttons across the bottom have changed. There is a “New” or “Save” button and a delete button. This relates to reconciliation IDs allowing you to create a new one or save or delete an existing one.
The update button still works the same though save or changing views will achieve the same thing.
The Save Button will both update the reconciliation as if you had clicked update and save the information to the reconciliation ID.
The delete button will delete the reconciliation. This will remove all activity associated with the reconciliation. Items that were cleared will be un-cleared. If you get stuck and want to start over you should click the delete button.
Historical Reconciliations
If you click on the dropdown before clicking new you will see a number of recent IDs. For reconciliations that were done prior to 13.4 the system automatically creates a reconciliation ID for each date that it found reconciliation activity. Not all are displayed in the dropdown but you can type the name of a historical reconciliation to pull it up.
If you delete a reconciliation ID it will set all items in that ID to outstanding. This makes it very easy to un-reconcile back to a previous date by simply deleting all the reconciliation ids.
You can also use the search button to look for historical Reconciliation IDs.
Search Results
Reporting Enchantments
Under Reports>Bank Reconciliation Analysis the reports have been enhanced. There is also a new report “Combined Reconciliation”. This report allows you to see all bank rec items on one report instead of running reports for each item type.
Important new fields have been added to the reports. These are
Reconciliation ID and other reconciliation information-
This allows you to report on what reconciliation ID an item was associated with and if/when it was locked.
NOTE: Historical information cleared before 13.4 will have a system assigned reconciliation ID.
Last Updated Information-
This can tell you when a bank rec item was last changed, which computer it was changed at and who made the change. Update can mean cleared our un-cleared (a change to its current status). This is very useful when determining how mistakes got made.
Screenshot of a sample Combined Reconciliation Report setup
FAQ’s
Q: After upgrade I can’t do anything in bank rec, it gives me an error about security setup. How can I use the module?
A: You will need to log into the administration module and modify your security permissions
Q: When I open bank rec it takes much longer to load and moves much slower than it used it.
A: The default view is loading ALL transactions. Switch to View Outstanding Only.
Q: When pull up a historical reconciliation date and print the reconciliation register it shows all zero’s in the summary information.
Reconciliations that existed prior to 13.4 and were converted during the upgrade do not have all the new information required to display properly. The summary reconciliation register will show zero but the detail will be there. If you clear and unclear and item and click update it will refresh with the proper information and going forward it will display properly on the register.
Q: I have reset permissions but I still can’t type in a new reconciliation ID.
A: Before you can create a new reconciliation ID you must click the “New” Button.
Q: I got confused by the new workflow and have messed up my reconciliation. I want to undo the changes I have made to this reconciliation but there is no Undo button. How do I get back to how I started?
A: Click the Delete Button to delete the reconciliation. Nothing you have done will be saved and then you can click New and start your reconciliation over again.
Q: A cleared item has disappeared from an existing reconciliation, what happened?
A: The item was either un-cleared or it was cleared on an earlier date. Run the Bank Reconciliation Analysis report to find out the status of that item.
Q: I want to lock my reconciliation but the button is not available.
A: The lock button only becomes available when the un-reconciled difference is zero.
Q: On the reconciliation report some of my information is missing a reconciliation ID.
A: Reconciliations done before 13.4 will not have reconciliation ID’s on conversion.
Q: Sometimes information doesn’t seem to get updated to the reconciliation register. Is this a problem?
A: Certain items will not automatically update in some cases. If you observe this hit the Update Button and the issue should be resolved.
Q: I have locked a reconciliation ID. When I pull it up again the information I see on the various tabs does not match the information listed in my reconciliation reports. How come?
A: One or more of the items in that locked reconciliation were later cleared at an earlier date or an item was posted to the cash account before the locked reconciliation date after it was locked.
15