Using the Desktop Reconciliation Tool for Cash Management
By Donna King, Sage Timberline Office Senior Certified Consultant

The Reconciliation Tool is an additional tool available from your Sage Desktop. This tool can help you reconcile your sub-ledgers to themselves, and then to the General Ledger. The Reconciliation Tool steps you through posting, running verification reports, and directs you as needed to Knowledgebase articles.

Where is the Reconciliation Tool?

Start – Programs- Sage Software – Sage Desktop

• In the Desktop from the View menu verify that Tasks is selected.
• In the Tasks pane, select Sage Timberline Office – Additional Tools
• Double-click Reconciliation to open the Reconciliation Tool.

How do you balance Cash Management to General Ledger after Reconciliation of your Bank Account?

• Print your Bank Reconciliation report after completing the reconcile task.

o Cash Management – Reports – Reports – Bank Reconciliation

Verify that the Adjusted Bank Balance and the Register Balance as of the Statement Date totals at the bottom of the report are the same.

• In the General Ledger from the Reports menu, select Year-to-date Ledger.

o General Ledger – Reports – Year-to-date Ledger

• Select the modify date range check box.

• Type the first day of the month you are reconciling in the Start date box, and type the Statement Date you used on your bank reconciliation in the End Date Box.

• Click Ranges
• Select the cash account you are reconciling.
• Click Print Preview.

• Verify the ending balance agrees with the Adjusted Bank Balance from your Cash Management Bank Reconciliation above.

How are the Cash Management bank account balances derived?

It might be helpful to understand where the balances are stored in Cash Management.

Cash Management – Setup – Bank Accounts

• Register balance on the General Tab. The register balance is the total of all transactions entered into CM.
• Bank Balance on the General Tab. Reflects the balance based on all cleared and reconciled entries.
• Last reconciled balance on General Tab. This displays the last balance from completed bank reconciliation. 

• Posted CM Balance – Posted CM balance on the Totals Tab. The Posted CM balance reflects the balance based on all posted transactions. The Posted CM Balance should always equal the sum of the Cash Account totals.

• Cash Account Totals – Totals by GL Cash Account Tab. The cash account totals are the amounts posted to the cash accounts in GL. The sum of the cash account totals should match the posted CM balance. If everything is posted in the GL the cash account totals should match the balance of the corresponding cash accounts in GL.

Common Out of Balance Scenario

Change in Voided Accounting Date in Accounts Payable will affect the Cash Management reconcilation to General Ledger. When you void checks in Accounts Payable, you can use the original date or specify a date for the reversing entries. Cash Management always uses the original check date. This can cause reconcilation issues when you compare Cash Management with the General Ledger.

You can record entries in Cash Management Edit Register task to correct the out of balance voided check amounts.

• Go to CM – Tasks – Edit Register
• Select the appropriate Bank Account

• Type a description for the transaction and in the subtraction column type the original amount of your voided check.

• Verify the Date and Accounting Date is the same as your original check date. Select your cash account as both the GL debit and GL credit, this creates a washing entry to the GL that does not change your account balances

Withdrawal

Now you need to create an additon adjustment to effectively place the void in the correct period.

• Go to Tasks – Edit Register
• Type the void date you used for your voided check in AP.
• Use the Adjustment for your Type in the column.
• In the addition column type the amount of voided check, verify the date and accounting date are the same.
• Select the cash account as both the GL debit and the GL Credit. Again this creates a washing entry to the General Ledger and does not change your account balances.

• Make sure you Post in CM and GL, go through the reconcilation process to verify the GL to CM is balanced.

For more information on this topic contact Ledgerwood Associates, the #1 Sage Timberline Business Partner in the Southwest!

Using the Desktop Reconciliation Tool in Sage Timberline Office 9.7 for Accounts Receivable Reconciliation

By Gary Jacobson, Sage Timberline Certified Consultant

(This is the outline of an April, 2011 seminar presentation by Gary to a group of 23 Timberline Office users in Scottsdale, AZ. I hope you find this useful, Kent)

Common Reasons Why Accounts Receivable and General Ledger Do Not Balance

    1.  Un-posted Entries – Post the Following Modules in this order:

• Service Management (Not Listed on the Reconciliation Tool!)

• Billing

• Accounts Receivable

• General Ledger

    Look for any rejecting entries and fix as needed.

    2.  Entries in General Ledger that originated in applications other than:

• Accounts Receivable

• Billings

• Service Management

     3.  Unapplied Cash Receipts – Most AR Aging Reports include unapplied cash receipts in the totals, but unapplied cash receipts may not be included in the Accounts Receivable balance in the General Ledger. Check your AR Settings to determine your default accounts.

    4.  Default Account Numbers overridden during entry or missing due to changes in interface settings

    5.  Overbilled retainage (see Timberline Knowledgebase Article KB82349 for instructions).

Using the Reconciliation Tools in Sage Desktop:

    Go to: Sage Desktop – Tasks – Sage Timberline Office – Additional Tools – Reconciliation

Reconciliation Steps in the Reconciliation Tool:

    1.  Ensure All Entries Are Posted – Post the Following Modules in this order:

• Service Management (Not Listed on the Reconciliation Tool!)

• Billing

• Accounts Receivable

• General Ledger

    Look for any rejecting entries and fix as needed.

    2.  AR Summary Reconciliation Report

• This report shows Accounts Receivable and Retainage accounts with General Ledger activity compared to the Accounts Receivable activity for the reporting period specified. An out of balance situation is indicated when there are differences between the two activity amounts.

• NOTE: Ignore the Cash account(s) shown on this report, as they will not balance to Accounts Receivable transactions.

    3. Totals by Batch Report

• This step allows you to perform a more detailed analysis of your transactions by reviewing batches to see if any do not balance to GL.

• This report offers drill-down capability into each batch to see the transaction detail.

    4. Unexplained Entries – Accounts Receivable Entries Report

• Use this report to identify entries made to receivable accounts that did not originate in Accounts Receivable, Service Management or Billing.

• How to correct: Reverse the original transaction and enter the correction in AR.

    5. Un-posted Transactions – Un-posted AR Transactions in GL Report

• When AR transactions are not posted or rejected in GL, an out-of-balance situation results. This can happen, for example, when you post to a closed month. This report will help determine if these transactions are the cause of the out-of-balance situation

• You should not have any unposted transactions if you performed step 1 in these instructions properly.

• NOTE: This report is conditioned to show only entries with an application of origin of “AR”. If you use Billing or Service Management, you must change the condition to see entries from “BL” or “SM”.

    6. Wrong Account Override – Account Entry Review Report

• This report helps you identify transactions that posted to the wrong AR account because the account was manually overridden during entry.

    7. Unapplied Cash Receipts – Unapplied Cash Receipts Report

• This report helps you identify unapplied cash receipts that may cause an out-of-balance situation.

Period End Reports

After you reconcile the accounts, run the AR Aging – Detail By Customer, or Period End Report to show the detail of entries that balance with the General Ledger account balances.

For Further Information:

See Timberline Knowledgebase Articles: KB319 and KB320

Gary Jacobson