Reconciling Accounts Payable (AP)

This guide helps you reconcile your accounts receivables report and Payables General Ledger (2000) account. If your account balances aren't matching up, try these steps to troubleshoot.

Finding the Difference

1. Check for any Journal entries.
   1. Go to Financials > General Journal.
   2. Click the dropdown arrow to select the view, general.
   3. Leave the dates blank.
   4. Enter the payables GL account under GL Acct field.
   5. If any, add up all values posted to that GL account and see if that is the difference. Please consult with your accountant on how to address it.
      NOTE:  Journal entries posted on controlled accounts only affect the GL and not the sub-ledgers or reports.
      
      

2. Check if the GL Opening Balances were entered correctly and agree with the AP report.

   1. Go to Financials > GL Opening Balance (click Cancel first to refresh the balances). Note the date and balance for the account.

   2. Go to Reports > Payables > Payables > payable (Payables Listing), run it with both the End Date and Payments Up To Date matching the same date as the date on the GL Opening Balances date.

   3. Confirm that the balances match. If not, please contact us and provide as much details as possible.
      

      NOTE:  If the months have been closed, the GL Opening Balance tab will disappear. Run a General Ledger report as of Legal Accounting start date, the opening balance on that report will show what was entered as GL Opening Balance.
3. Find the first date of the imbalance. 
   1. Go to Reports > Payables > Payables > payable (Payables Listing).
   2. Leave the Start Date blank and set both the End Date and Payment Up To Date the same, start with last year or last month.
   3. Go to Financials > Trial Balance.
   4. Select the Payables GL and set the same End Date as the Payable Listing report.
      NOTE:  Run the reports using the binary search approach; divide the period to quickly narrow down the date range to find out the first date of the imbalance. e.g. prior year, prior month, prior week then on each day.
      Report Parameters:
      
      
4. Find the entry or entries in question.
   Once you've identified the date when your balances first went out of sync, your next step is to find the specific entry or entries that caused the problem.
   
   To do this, you'll need to compare the entries shown on your AP GL report with the Payable Listing and Payment Listing.
   • Run a detailed General Ledger report for the Payables (AP) GL account for that specific date.
     Go to Financials > General Ledger > basic (General Ledger)
     
     
   • Run a Payable Listing for that specific date.  Please ensure to set the Payable Status to Both.
     Go to Reports > Payables > Payables > payable (Payables Listing).
     
     
   • Run a Payment Listing for that specific date.
     Go to Reports > Payables > Payments > payment (Payment Listing). Toggle on Include operating out entries.
     
     Look for any entries that appear on your AP GL report but are missing from these other reports, or vice-versa. The numbers on all your subledger reports (Payable Listing and Payment Listing) should be reflected in your AP GL report as follows:
     • All payables in the Payable Listing will show as a Credit.
     • All payments in the Payment Listing will show as a Debit.

Fixing the Entry that Caused the Imbalance

Once the entry or entries have been identified, please consult with your accountant should the entry need to be corrected or deleted, and if it's no longer an option, to create a journal entry to account for the difference.

If all steps and suggestions in this document have been followed and there are still issues that cannot be found/resolved after finding the exact days that the balances go off, please contact us.