Bank Rec-Outstanding Checks

[Kristi]

I am helping a friend at her church and she always comes up with new things for me to figure out. This gets confusing:

On 6/25 "Sue" posted checks that were dated 6/29

On 6/26 I helped her reconcile her bank statement. It balanced out to 0.
I ran her Bank Rec report, Unreconciled Checks & Balance Sheet reports.
"Sue" still keeps handwritten journals until she learns PowerChurch. Her Finance Committee wants us to explain why the figures she does by a month to month basis does not match PowerChurch (which balances with the bank.), because she clears all her transactions as she enters them in her journal and we are clearing only the checks in PowerChurch that clear the bank.

While comparing PowerChurch reports with her records, I noticed:
Bank Rec Report
Bank bal 4,602.75
-out/cks 8,657.32
+out/dep 7,058.35
Adj bank bal 3,003.78
Accnt 1110 3,003.78
Diff 0

Check Regis:Unreconciled: Date range 1/1-6/26
Unrec cks 5,872.38
Unrec dep 7,058.35

If I run the Ck Regis:Unrec:Date range 1/1-6/29
It includes the cks that were dated 6/29; but it also changes the updated deposits,
so I can't use this upated report to show the committee.
I'm getting myself confused on posted and reconciled.

Apparently unreconciled items are pulled up by the date entered for the check and
not by the date they are posted.
The ONLY place where POSTED information appears is when I run a Journal Report for each ck...at the bottom of the entry is the note:
From: Payroll on 6/25/2009 4:28 PM by SYSTEM ADMIN Posted:6/25/2009 ""

I have tried every report in accounting and payroll and can not pull up items posted to 6/25/2009 so I can get just that total to add to the rest of the unrec checks for the date 6/25.
Is this a report I will need to try to create in Custom Reports?
Am I trying the wrong approach?
Am I just ?

"Sue" is concerned about their next meeting. I told her not to show them her report just PowerChurch's that balances with the bank.

Suggestions? Help? God bless you patient people!

[Jeff]

The check register report you ran had an ending date of 6/26 so the uncleared checks dated 6/29 are not included in the report or the total.

The bank reconciliation process on the other hand always works against all posted transactions so the checks dated 6/29 are included in the totals. That is cause of the difference.

I would run the check register report through the last posted transaction date and it should match.

[JohnDMeyers]

(I submitted this before Jeff's post was visible, by the way)

Apparently unreconciled items are pulled up by the date entered for the check and
not by the date they are posted.

It's the other way around, and maybe you just typed it in wrong. Unreconciled checks are brought up by the date they are posted, and not by the date they are printed.

If you print a check on May 29th, and post it on June 1st, then the check won't show up if you list the unreconciled checks from May 01 to May 31.

Without trying to figure out why you are doing all this, I have a thought about how to do what you want to do.

To get ALL the checks from 1/1 through 6/29 (unreconciled and reconciled), you can go to Accounts Payable and put the dates in the "Selected Paid Items" report.

Then, run a "Reconciled" report in Fund Accounting for the same date range. Put a line through the reconciled checks on the Accounts Payable report, and you will have constructed a list of unreconciled checks through any date range by the date the check was printed.

Maybe that's too much to do, but I think it will work.

[Jeff]

I went back and re-read the post and noticed I didn't answer your question completly. I don't understand what you mean by:

It includes the cks that were dated 6/29; but it also changes the updated deposits,
so I can't use this upated report to show the committee.

Specifically, I don't understand the reference to "updated deposits."

The bank reconciliation report is just a proof that all transactions clearing the bank have been entered in PowerChurch. it should not be used for anything other than that. The balances on it or just to make sure that PowerChurch records and the bank records are in agreement. Ideally the bank reconciliation should be completed by people other than those that wrote the checks to make sure all entries were entered and they are valid entries to legitimate vendors.

[Kristi]

Thank you so much for your quick postings.
In response to:
by Jeff » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:04 pm
I went back and re-read the post and noticed I didn't answer your question completly. I don't understand what you mean by:
It includes the cks that were dated 6/29; but it also changes the updated deposits,
so I can't use this upated report to show the committee.

What I meant was new, unposted deposits. She entered a deposit for Jul 28.
So now when I run a report for the whole month, the new deposit balance won't match my orig. Bank Rec. out/standing deposits (because it didn't exist at the time I reconcilled.)

I will get to go help "Sue" again next week and I bring your replies with me.

The reason for trying to get all figures consistant is that her:

Committee wants us to explain why the figures she does by a month to month basis does not match PowerChurch (which balances with the bank.), because she clears all her transactions as she enters them in her journal and we are clearing only the checks in PowerChurch that clear the bank. They are trying to balance apples and oranges.

What I can't seem to explain to them clearly is that information is not entered into powerchurch per month. We keep making entries at the end of the current month: as the bills & payroll come due for the first of the next month.

I will convey to her committee your point:
The bank reconciliation report is just a proof that all transactions clearing the bank have been entered in PowerChurch. it should not be used for anything other than that. The balances on it or just to make sure that PowerChurch records and the bank records are in agreement.

Thank you again~Happy 4th of July!