How to reconcile a bank account?

Reconciling the trust bank account is the process of verifying that all the items you have entered into your trust account match with what the paper bank statement shows, and that you have accounted for all items such as checks written, and deposits made. Some of these items may have been created and entered in the trust account but have not yet been recorded by the bank. These items are referred to as "Outstanding Items". The most common Outstanding Items are checks that have not yet cleared the bank and deposits in transit which the bank has not yet received or credited to your bank account.

To reconcile a bank account:

Click the Trust Accounts drop-down in the left panel of The Mortgage Office®.
From the list of Trust Accounts that are listed, select the trust account drop-down to reconcile the bank account in.
From that drop-down, click All.
In the grid, click from the options available on top panel and select Reconcile Bank Account.
The Reconcile: window opens populated with a list of unreconciled deposits and other credits.
Enter the following information under the Bank Statement section:

Field:	Description:
Opening Date	Enter the bank statement's opening date. TIP: The first time you do a bank reconciliation, this field will be blank, thereafter, the system will assume the opening date to be one day after the last reconciliation's closing date.
Closing Date	Enter the bank statement's closing date.
Opening Balance	Enter the bank statement's opening balance. TIP: The first time you do a bank reconciliation, this field will be blank, thereafter, the system will assume the opening balance to be the closing balance from the last reconciliation.
Closing Balance	Enter the bank statement's closing balance.

In the Reconciliation Summary section, the fields are read-only but contain the following information:

Field:	Description:
Adjusted Bank Balance	The Adjusted Bank Balance is updated if balanced are adjusted, as deposits and checks are cleared.
Trust Account Balance	This is the trust account balance as of the Reconcile As Of date.
Unreconciled Difference	This is the difference between the Adjusted Bank Balance and the Trust Account Balance. When you are finished reconciling, this amount should be zero. If the unreconciled difference is not zero after marking the cleared items, you need to audit your records to determine where the difference lies. Click Finish Later to save your work and exit and make the necessary corrections. Then you may return to reconcile your bank statement.

In the Trust Account section, enter and view the following information:

Field:	Description:
Reconcile As Of	Enter the date through which you want to reconcile your bank statement. Typically, one reconciles the bank to today's date, but you may want to reconcile to the end of the month, or the end of the quarter, or to a particular reporting date. This date will affect which transactions are displayed in the reconciliation screen. For example: if you select a date prior to today's date, transactions entered after the date you selected will not be displayed.
Outstanding Deposits	This read-only field contains the number and total dollar amount of outstanding deposits.
Outstanding Checks	This read-only field contains the number and total dollar amount of outstanding checks.

In the Cleared Items, view the following information:

Field:

Description:

Cleared Items

As checks and deposits are cleared, the numbers and amounts of the checks and deposits is reflected in the Cleared Items boxes. You can use this box as a calculator when checking off items to arrive at a desired total.

NOTE: These boxes does not affect processing in any way and can be cleared by clicking the blue Reset hyperlink to clear the totals.

TIP: You can use this counter to keep track of running totals. For example: if you have a deposit that is made up of five checks and you want to make sure that the sum of the five checks you have just cleared equal the deposit amount on the bank statement, reset the counter, then clear the five checks and you will see the total of the deposit.

Under the --- Deposits & Other Credits --- and the --- Checks --- sections, use the options in the Toolbar to take different actions without exiting the reconciliation window.
The available options are:

Field:

Description:

Click to Edit a transaction. For additional information, see Edit Transactions.

Click to Delete a transaction. For additional information, see Delete Transactions.

Click this drop-down to access additional actions to take:

Button:	Action:
Enter Deposit	Click to enter a Deposit. For additional information, see Enter Deposits
Enter Check	Click to enter a Check. For additional information, see Enter Checks.
Enter Adjustment	Click to enter an Adjustment. For additional information, see Enter Adjustments.
Transfer Funds	Click to Transfer funds. For additional information, see Transfer Funds.
Void Transaction	Click to Void the transaction. For additional information, see Void a Transaction.
Make Bank Deposit	Click to make a Bank Deposit. For additional information, see Bank Deposit.
Maximize Deposits & Credits	Check this box to maximize the --- Deposits & Other Credits --- section and to hide the --- Checks --- section from view.
Maximize Checks	Check this box to maximize the --- Checks --- section and to hide the --- Deposits & Other Credits --- section from view.

Click to Group or Ungroup Deposits and display your bank deposits in either summary (the total deposit amount) or detail (each individual check that makes up the deposit).

Click to Export either the Deposits & Other Credits section or the Checks section of the grid to Microsoft Excel.

Click Finished once you've completed reconciling and the Unreconciled Difference is zero ($0.00).

TIPS:

If the reconciliation report has not been printed, you'll be asked to print it.
Click Yes to print the report, No to not print the report or Cancel to abort the changes.
A copy of the bank reconciliation statement is automatically saved as an attachment.

Click Finish Later to save your work and exit the reconciliation.
- You may return to continue the reconciliation at a later time.
Click Print to open the Bank Reconciliation as of XX/XX/XXXX print preview window containing the bank reconciliation statement.
- Click here to learn more about print preview windows.
Click Mark All to mark all items as cleared.
Click Unmark All to mark all items as unreconciled.

How to reconcile a bank account?

This article discusses how to reconcile a bank account in a Trust Account register.

To reconcile a bank account: