Bank Reconciliation in Legal Accounting

In this article:

• First Bank Reconciliation Checklist
• Performing the Bank Reconciliation
• Receipts vs Deposits
• Previous Reconciliations

Legal Accounting's bank reconciliation feature enables a firm to account for all the funds it manages, including trust money. It allows you to compare the data that has been entered into the system with the actual transaction(s) that have occurred at your firm’s financial institution(s). It also aids in identifying stale dated cheques as well as any clerical errors made at a bank or by the firm. These errors can then be corrected, ensuring that the firm’s accounting is accurate.

First Bank Reconciliation Checklist

Before you start, make sure that a complete account history has been entered into the system:

1. The GL Opening Balances and Bank Journal Balance are all the same and matches the Closing Bank Journal Balance from the prior bank reconciliation/system.
   • GL Opening Balance for the account.
     1. Go to Financials > GL Opening Balance.
     2. Note the date and balance of the account.
        
        
   • Bank Journal Opening Balance
     1. Go to Reports > Banking > Operating (or Trust) Bank
     2. Click the dropdown arrow and select op (or trust for trust bank)
     3. Set the start and end date as the same date in GL Opening Balance page.
     4. Click the play button.
        
2. Prior outstanding items have been entered.

1. Go to Bank Admin > Feeds and Reconciliation. 
2. Select the bank account you want to reconcile from the Bank Account drop-down list. 

3. Enter both a Start Date and an End Date. You can find these dates on your bank statement.

4. Click Submit.
5. Go to Prior Outstanding tab.
6. Enter all deposits or withdrawals which are showing as outstanding from your prior bank reconciliation and has not cleared the bank, as well as any outstanding bank errors.
   NOTE:  If you have have a .CSV or .TXT file of outstanding items, Legal Accounting support can assist in importing them correctly. Please contact us.
   

Performing the Bank Reconciliation

1. Go to Bank Admin > Feeds and Reconciliation. 
2. Select the bank account you want to reconcile from the Bank Account drop-down list. 
3. Click the Play button to load the reconciliation period.
   NOTE:  You may also load an electronic bank feed (.qbo file) from your bank. Loading a bank feed file directly into the system can identify entries that have not yet been recorded in (such as interest or bank charges) and mark cleared all items for which it has a corresponding match. Drag and drop the file, or click the box to locate it.  

4. Enter or confirm both the Start Date and an End Date. You can find these dates on your bank statement.

5. Click Submit.
   
6. (Required only if you use and created Deposit Slip, otherwise proceed to Step 7) Reconcile the deposits under Receipts vs Deposits. It is often utilized when deposit slips were used, see Receipts vs Deposits.
7. Go to Reconciliation tab.
8. Enter the Opening and Closing Dates.
9. Enter the Opening and Closing Balances.
10. Mark the cleared items by putting a checkmark on each entry.
11. Review the Statement and Journal Reconciliation as the entries are being cleared until both Differences show zero.
    
    NOTE:  For any reconciliation differences including Trust Listing, please refer to Troubleshooting Bank Reconciliation article.
12. Click Generate Reports to get the current bank reconciliation report, doing this will not close the period.
13. Toggle on Close Period and click Generate Reports to finalize and close this reconciliation report.
14. Click Close on the pop-up window and wait for the report to be downloaded before leaving the screen to avoid interruption.
    

Receipts vs Deposits

• Deposits will show deposit slips created in the system and any electronic transfers.
  • To expand and see the receipts on a deposit slip, click the plus (+) icon
  • The lock icon indicates that the deposit was made either by finalizing a deposit slip or it was made electronically. To edit or delete the slip, see Working with Deposit Slip.
    
• Unmatched Receipts will show entries made in the system but were not included on a deposit slip.
  • For receipts that were deposited as individual items, click and drag the entry onto the Click or Drag Receipts to Add Deposit area.
  • For receipts that were meant to be on one deposit slip, hold down the CTRL key, select all the entries and drag the them onto the Click or Drag Receipts to Add Deposit area. Choose Yes on the pop-up window to create one deposit slip for all the receipts.
    
    NOTE:  Any unmatched receipts that have not yet been deposited at the bank can be left in this section but will not be under the Reconciliation tab. They will be listed as an outstanding until added to a deposit slip.
• Receipts on Future Deposit shows receipts that are dated within the date range of the current reconciliation but appear on a deposit slip dated outside of the current reconciliation.

Previous Reconciliations

Legal Accounting saves the reconciliation once it is finalized to reprint, or reopen/delete previous reconciliations.

1. Go to Bank Admin > Feeds and Reconciliation. 
2. Select the bank account you want to reconcile from the Bank Account drop-down list. 
3. Click the Play button to load the reconciliation period.
4. Expand Previous Periods, it will list all previous reconciliations completed for the selected account and select the action you want to perform:
   • To re-open a reconciled period, click the trashcan icon to the right of the entry.
     NOTE:  To re-open more than one period, click on the trashcan icon beside the oldest period. This
     will undo all reconciliations in one step.
   • To reprint at previous bank reconciliation report, click the PDF icon.