A bank reconciliation is used to ensure that the transactions you have entered into your Sage 50 software match up with the transactions on your bank statement. Prior to performing a bank reconciliation in Sage 50, make sure that all of your sales invoices, checks, supplier invoices, recurring charges, and receipts have been posted for the time period you are trying to reconcile. Checking this prior to actually performing the bank reconciliation in Sage 50 will save you the headache of trying to find any variance you may encounter when the reconciliation is completed.

1. From the Sage 50 Bank Accounts module, select which account you want to reconcile by clicking on the “Reconcile” icon. You will then see the Statement Summary window, where you will need to enter the following:
   • A title for the bank reconciliation
   • The bank statement balance you are reconciling to
   • The date of the statement
2. After clicking “OK”, the bank reconciliation screen will open and you’ll be able to use your bank statements to tick off all the transactions that are currently showing in Sage 50 against the bank statements themselves. If any items have not been selected, such as direct debits or  receipts, add them by using the adjustment button and selecting the appropriate type of payment or receipt.
3. When you are able to match all of the items in Sage 50 with an entry on your bank statement, double check that the “Difference” box in the bottom right hand corner is zero. If the variance is anything other than zero, the first thing you should check is that you have entered the correct bank statement amount.  If those numbers are correct, you’ll have to compare the bank statement to the items you have checked off on the Sage 50 reconciliation screen.
   • Common errors include double entry of a particular transaction, accidentally selecting a transaction which is out of that particular date range, or even a transposed amount somewhere within your Sage 50 transactions.
   • One way you can quickly find errors is to compare the bank statement to the Sage 50 reconciliation screen from the most recent transaction to the oldest transaction (so backwards).
4. If you are confident that your figures are correct and the “Difference” box in the bottom right hand side of your screen is zero, press “Reconcile.”
   • Sage 50 automatically saves a copy of your bank reconciliation in the archives if you need to revisit it at a later date.

For more Sage 50 training or to learn more about performing a bank reconciliation in Sage 50 accounting software, visit Accounting Business Solutions by JCS or call us today at 800-475-1047!