Reconcile Accounts in Sage 50 (Bank Statement Reconciliation)

The Sage users can easily reconcile accounts within Sage 50 using the “Account Reconciliation” window. Usually, the users need to reconcile bank accounts, cash accounts, and credit card accounts. Once you reconcile accounts within Sage 50, the users need to make sure that the transactions within the account within your company file matches the transactions within the account’s statement from its financial institution. Once the user has received an account statement from a financial institution, they need to reconcile the transactions statements on to the transactions of the company file. This allows the users to detect bank errors, data entry errors, and fraud more easily.

How to Reconcile an Account in Sage 50

 In order to reconcile accounts within Sage 50:

• You need to select “Tasks| Account Reconciliation…” from the Menu Bar in order to open the “Account Reconciliation” window. 
• Now, Select the ID of the account to reconcile from the “Account to Reconcile” drop-down. 
• Next enter the account’s statement date into the “Statement Date” field.
• When required the user can reconcile information from the pre-existing accounting periods without leaving the current accounting period by selecting the prior period statement date within the required prior period inorder to reconcile from the “Statement Date” field. 
• Next, enter the account’s balance as of the statement date into the “Statement Ending Balance” field.
• By now all the selected account’s transactions appear in a list with deposits and bank credits shown first. 
• In order to change the items that appear within the transaction list, use the “Show” drop-down located at the top of the window. 
• The various choices selected by you displays those transactions for the account through the end of the selected accounting period.

So, you see, the user can easily utilize these details to later reconcile the account transactions within Sage 50 using your bank account statement by marking the transactions that are displayed within the statement as “cleared” in Sage 50. Once you clear the Sage 50 transactions, the “Unreconciled Difference” located at the bottom of the window reaches to zero. After marking all your cleared transactions, the difference should be zero

Read More : Enable Bank Reconciliation in Sage 50

How to Enter Interest and Service Fees

Likewise, the additional transactions that are not generally recorded within Sage 50 until you receive the bank statement, such as the: bank service charges, can be added when reconciling the account. The user can input bank service fees and interest earned directly into the reconciliation window. Inorder to do this:

• Start by clicking on the “Expand” option located in the lower-left corner of this window to expand the “Interest Earned/Service Charges” section, when required.
• Later enter any “Service Charges” or “Interest Income” into the fields of the same names in this section. 
• Next enter the “Date” that these transactions have occurred, and the associated “Account” used to track their value such as the: bank service fees expense account or an interest earned income account.

How to Clear Transactions

In order to clear the transactions displayed within the account transaction list:

• Start by checking the checkbox located at the left of any transaction to mark it as “cleared.” 
• Once a successful reconciliation has been done, these cleared transactions are removed from the list when you move over to the next accounting period.
• Likewise, notice that there are some unique options located within the toolbar at the top of the “Account Reconciliation” window. 
• As you click the “OK” option, you can save your changes and close the “Account Reconciliation” window. 
• Finally, you can also return at any time to finish the reconciliation, if required.

How to Clear Multiple Transactions

• The user can click the “Multiple” option to open the “Clear Transactions” dialog box where the user can select a range of transactions to clear.
• With In this dialog box, you need to select the kinds of transactions to clear from the “Type” drop-down. 
• Next, select whether to clear the transactions according to the “Reference Number” or “Date Range.” 
• Once done enter a range of reference numbers or a date range within which to mark the selected type of transactions as “cleared.” 
• Finally, click the “OK” button to clear the range of transactions

How to Link a Bank Feed

• In order to link a bank feed on to your account through Sage Bank Feeds, which is a separate service, click the “Bank Feeds” options located within the toolbar 
• Next, select the “Connect to Bank Feed” command inorder to open the “Sage Bank Feeds” window. 
• Now, Enter and confirm your email here and then accept the terms and conditions to continue. 
• Finally follow the steps located in the “Sage Bank Feeds” wizard to authenticate yourself and access the bank’s online account feed.

How to Import a Bank Statement

• In order to import a local copy of a bank statement to match against the transactions:
• Start by clicking on the “Import” option located within the toolbar in inorder to open the “Import Statement” window. 
• In order to use this feature, the user should have already downloaded a copy of the bank statement from within your bank’s website. 
• Next, click the “Browse” option to launch a dialog box that allows you to select and open the saved statement file. 
• In order to import the statement after selecting it, click the “Import” option to open a “Select Account” window where one can select the account from which to import.

How to Run Reconciliation Reports, Clear All Transactions, or Add New Transactions

• In order to select reconciliation reports, if required, click the “Reports” option within the window’s toolbar.
• After that select the report to open. 
• The user can also click the “Clear” drop-down within the toolbar inorder to select either “(check) All,” which checks every transaction to mark them all as cleared, or “(uncheck) All,” which unchecks every transaction to mark them all as uncleared. 
• In order to enter new transactions that affect the account reconciliation, click the “Add New” option to show a drop-down menu of task window choices you can open to enter additional transactions. 
• One can also select either “General Journal Entry,” “Write Check,” “Receipt,” or “Account Register” to open the task window and then enter the additional transactions, if required.

How to Add Beginning Transactions

In case the user has just started to use Sage 50, they might need to:

• Start by clicking on the “Beginning Transactions” gray arrow option located in the lower-right corner of the “Interest Earned/Service Charges” section.
• This will allow it to expand inorder to open the “Beginning Transactions” window. 
• Within this window, one can enter transactions that have occurred before the Sage 50 company file’s start date. 
• These transactions will not affect the General Ledger as these are only utilized for account reconciliation.

Reconcile Accounts in Sage 50: Instructions

• In order to reconcile accounts within Sage 50, select “Tasks| Account Reconciliation…” from the Menu Bar to open the “Account Reconciliation” window.
• Now, select the ID of the account to reconcile from the “Account to Reconcile” drop-down.
• Next enter the statement date from the account statement into the “Statement Date” field.
• If required, to reconcile information from before the accounting periods without leaving the current accounting period, you need to select the previous period statement date within the previous period to reconcile from the “Statement Date” field.
• Next, enter the account’s balance as of the statement date into the “Statement Ending Balance” field.
• At this stage, all the selected account’s transactions will be displayed within a list with deposits and bank credits shown first.
• In order to change which items are displayed  within the transaction list, use the “Show” drop-down menu located at the top of the window.
• The user can use these details to then reconcile the account transactions within Sage 50 with your bank account statement by marking the transactions that are displayed within the statement as “cleared” in Sage 50.
• After you clear the Sage 50 transactions, the “Unreconciled Difference” displayed at the bottom of the window approaches zero. Once you have marked all your cleared transactions, the difference should be zero.
• In order to enter bank service fees and interest: click the “Expand” option within the lower-left corner of this window inorder to expand the “Interest Earned/Service Charges” section, if required.
• Finally enter any “Service Charges” or “Interest Income” within those fields within this section.
• Likewise, also enter the “Date” that these transactions have occurred, and the associated “Account” used to track their value.
• In order to clear transactions within the transaction list, check the checkbox located at the left of any transaction.
• In order to save your changes and shut the “Account Reconciliation” window, click the “OK” option located within the window’s toolbar.
• Similarly, one can return at any time to complete the reconciliation, if required

Method on How to Clear a Range of Transactions

• In order to clear a range of transactions: click the “Multiple” option within the window’s toolbar.
• Once done, this then launches the “Clear Transactions” dialog box.
• WithIn this dialog box, you need to select the kinds of transactions inorder to clear from the “Type” drop-down.
• Next, select whether to clear the transactions according to the“Reference Number” or “Date Range.”
• Next you need to enter a range of reference numbers or a date range within which to mark the selected type of transactions as “cleared.”
• Finally, click the “OK” button to clear the range of transactions.

Method on How to Link a Bank Feed

• In order to link a bank feed on to your account through Sage Bank Feeds: click the “Bank Feeds” option within the toolbar.
• Next select the “Connect to Bank Feed” command to launch the “Sage Bank Feeds” window.
• Now, enter and confirm your email here and then accept the terms and conditions to continue.
• Finally, follow the steps within the “Sage Bank Feeds” wizard to authenticate yourself and access the bank’s online account feed.

How to Import a Copy of a Bank Statement

• In order to import a local copy of a bank statement in order to match against transactions: click the “Import” option located within the toolbar.
• Once done, this then launches the “Import Statement” window.
• In order to use this feature, one should have previously downloaded a copy of the bank statement from within your bank’s website.
• Once done, click the “Browse” option to launch a dialog box that allows you to select and open the saved statement file.
• In order to import the statement after selecting it, you need to click the “Import” option to launch a “Select Account” window.
• WithIn this window, select the account from which to import

Method on how to Run Reconciliation Reports

• In order to select reconciliation reports, if required: Start by clicking the “Reports” option within the window’s toolbar.
• Next select the report to open.

Method on How to Clear or Unclear All Transactions

• In order to mark all transactions as cleared or uncleared:  click the “Clear” drop-down in the toolbar.
• Next, select either “(check) All,” which checks all the  transactions to mark them all as cleared, or “(uncheck) All,” which unchecks every transaction to mark them all as uncleared.

How to Enter New Transactions

• In order to enter new transactions that affect the account reconciliation: click on the “Add New” option to display a drop-down menu.
• Next, select either “General Journal Entry,” “Write Check,” “Receipt,” or “Account Register” to launch the related task window.
• Finally enter the additional transactions, if required.

Method on how to Enter Beginning Transactions

• In order to enter the beginning transactions if you have just started to use Sage 50: click the “Beginning Transactions” gray arrow option located in the lower-right corner of the “Interest Earned/Service Charges” section when it is expanded  to launch the “Beginning Transactions” window.
• WithIn this window, you need to enter the transactions that have occurred before the Sage 50 company file’s start date. It is these transactions that do not affect the General Ledger and are only utilized for account reconciliation.

Reconcile an Account (Bank Statement Reconciliation)

Most users might be knowing that Sage 50 allows the users to reconcile any account within your chart of accounts. Generally, one would reconcile bank accounts, cash accounts, like those as petty cash and credit card accounts.

Note: In case one is using the batch posting method, you need to post the accounts over to the General Ledger before the process of reconciliation has been done. This is essential so that the user is able to utilize up-to-date information.

• Go to the Tasks menu, now, select Account Reconciliation.
• Next Sage 50 displays the Account Reconciliation window.
• Now, enter or select the account one wants to reconcile. To be able to display a list of existing accounts, you need to type within the Account over to the Reconcile field, or select the Lookup option.
• Next, enter the closing date from within the bank or credit card statement as the Statement Date. 
• According to the date entered, the list of transactions can be changed. The only transactions entered up to the statement date are displayed here. In order to change the date, you need to click the Calendar icon.
• After this, enter the Statement Ending Balance: this is the ending balance amount that is included within the bank statement located at the lower section of the window. Transactions that are required to be cleared are listed within the center of the window; one can use the Show drop-down arrow option to select which transactions one would like to be displayed. For every transaction, the reference information such as check numbers, dates, amounts and vendor or the payees or descriptions are listed. By default, the checks are sorted according to the check number. One can change the sort order by clicking the heading of the column you wish to sort by.
• Now, enter interest income:
  • One might require to expand the lower section where the Statement Ending Balance has been located in order to check the Interest Income fields.
  • Within the Interest Income box, you can enter any interest that is earned by the account.
  • Within the Date box you need to enter the date when the interest was earned.
  • Within the Account box, you need to enter or select the appropriate interest income account inorder to act as an offsetting account for the interest. Hence it is advised that you do not select the account that you wish to reconcile.
• Once you click OK, this details will be saved as a general journal entry. Enter service charges
  • One might need to expand the lower section where the Statement Ending Balance has been located inorder to check the Service Charges fields.
  • WithIn the Service Charges box, you need to enter any charges that are incurred by the account.
  • Within the Date box you need to enter the date when the charges were incurred.
  • Within the Account box you need to enter or select the required service charge account inorder to act as the offsetting account for the charges required.
• After you click OK, the service charge details will be saved as a general journal entry.
• Likewise, the Imported Interest and Imported Charges fields indicate amounts imported electronically into Sage 50 along with the bank statements.
• To be able to check inorder to see if these amounts are correct. You can select the arrow icon next to the field; the Imported Interest / Charges window will list the details regarding the imported item(s). In case any items represent duplicate entries or bank errors, one can delete them within this window. 
• Next, select the Clear check box next to each option that is included within the bank statement. One can also use the right-click menu or Quick Action option that appear when the user selects a row; However, both offer you additional options. In addition to this, one can also select the Clear option and then All to select all transactions as cleared. Likewise you can also select the Multiple option inorder to select a range of checks or deposits to be cleared. In order to unclear all transactions, you need to select the Clear option and then None.
• As you know Sage 50 keeps track of how many transactions that have been recorded within the general ledger have been cleared, how many are not, and the related totals.
  When all the transactions listed within the bank statement have been entered and cleared within Sage 50 and outstanding transactions have been accounted for, the unreconciled difference should be zero (0.00). In case it is not, you need to check the bank statement in order to make sure that every transaction listed has also been entered within Sage 50. For example, a service charge en-listed within the statement might need to be entered within Sage 50.
• In case the list of transactions comprises bank records that are imported electronically, some might not have been auto cleared by Sage 50. These transactions are required to be manually matched on to the existing Sage 50 records and cleared. 
• In case any unmatched bank records that are representing duplicate entries or bank errors are available, you need to delete them using the Banking toolbar option, right-click menu, or Quick Action options. In case this is the first reconciliation for the selected account, one might have outstanding transactions that have not been listed within the bank statement that also do not appear within the Account Reconciliation window as these amounts were entered as a lump-sum beginning balance within the general ledger. This might cause the user to have an unreconciled difference. In this case, you need to select the Beginning Transactions option inorder to enter these outstanding transactions so that they can be reconciled easily.
• Now, click on Add New in order to enter the adjusting journal entries, checks, or receipts that the bank statement comprises but which are not included within the Sage 50’s general ledger.
• In order to make an adjusting journal entry, you need to:
  • Select General Journal Entry. 
  • To enter a check: 
  • Select Write Check or Account Register. 
  • To enter a receipt:
  • Select Receipt or Account Register. After the adjustment has been entered and saved, one can shut the transaction window and return to Account Reconciliation.
  • For example: The user might have a small discrepancy between the amount noted within a customer check and what the bank reports to you as credit on this transaction; say the bank rounds off to $10 a check for $10.10. So, instead of contacting the bank to make the change and losing more time and money than the discrepancy is worth, you will probably wish to make the adjustment using a general journal entry instead.
• In case the user has added new items, you need to select the Clear check box next to each of these items.
• Once you have successfully reconciled the account , the unreconciled difference is zero, click OK to close the window.
  • Note: In case the user is interrupted during the middle of reconciling:
    • Start by clicking OK
    • Next, exit the window.
    • After this, you can resume where you left off.Hence all your cleared items and other reconciliation information for the account will remain intact.

Also Read : Reset Bank Reconciliation in Sage 50

Conclusion

So, you see, this is all that we have at the moment on how to Reconcile Accounts in Sage 50. Once you are done with your bank reconciliation and check if your difference is zero, the next step would be to run a bank statement in order to produce some evidence of what you have reconciled. It is recommended  to do it every calendar month and use this date range, assuming you have reconciled the whole of this period. This will thus produce a bank statement. The figure located at the bottom should agree to the bank statement end balance that you have within your paper statement.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)