Bank recs

[Sam]

Can anyone tell me the procedure for a question asking you to reconcile an opening bank statement figure with an opening bank account (in general ledger) figure - thank you.

[Gem2]

The opening balance (balance b/f) on the bank statement should match the opening balance (balance b/f) in the cash book, before you do the rest of the reconsiliation, if this is not the case and they dont match you have to find out why - its normally because one of the transactions at the top of the bank statement has been recorded in last months cash book and has been marked outstanding.<BR><BR>Is this any help?<BR><BR>Sorry if this makes no sence, i'm not to good at explaining myself!!<BR><BR>Gemma ;-)

[Sam]

Thanks Gemma, what you've explained is what I thought it might be but question contains no information prior to opening balances and its puzzling me - its actually taken from June 2002 MFR paper if anyone else has completed this? Its probably something dead simple but its how its worded. Cheers.

[Pookie]

I'm with Sam on this one. I am also working through the MFR June 02 paper, and have got stuck on the exact same question. We have never been taught in classes how to reconcile the opening balances before, only how to reconcile the closing balances. I am totally confused about how to go about answering this question, as there is no information given prior to the dates of the opening balances.....any ideas anyone??<BR><BR>

[LER]

I remember that we had to do a bank rec in the June 2002 exam (seems like years ago), but not all the details about it. Was there information in a previous question that you had to pick up on? ie: did you have to adjust a cash book? In which case you might have to use those new figures to adjust the opening bal. Sorry if I'm not making it clear, maybe someone else will understand what I mean and explain it a bit better. Where's Melanie when you need her???

[Andy]

When you have to reconcile the opening balances, questions don't usually give information about the previous period. All this means is a little bit of detective work...<BR><BR>Before doing anything else, tick all items which are identical in the cashbook and on the statement.<BR><BR>The difference between the opening balances is likely to comprise 1 or 2 of the first 2 or 3 transactions on the statement (these being items that were in last period's cashbook, but did not clear until this period). Once you've done the ticking, these items should be apparent.<BR><BR>Remember that having done the opening reconciliation, these 1 or 2 items should be ticked, and will NOT form part of the closing reconciliation.<BR><BR>Hope that helps, and GOOD LUCK!!<BR><BR>Andrew Harrington

[Melanie]

Sorry LER, I was in Malta last week, and have not quite got my head back into accounting mode :)

[Pete]

Malta! Shame you didn't stay there. The forum's been great without your messages for the last week or so.

[Sue]

Was that comment absolutely necessary?<BR>Melanie has given a lot of her free time to help people on this site, itâ??s a shame that you go out of your way to belittle these efforts.<BR>

[Pookie]

Thanx Andy. Did exactly what you said, and have got it sorted now. Hopefully your message helped Sam as well.<BR><BR>p.s I agree with Sue's message below. I thought this forum was an opportunity for people to ask advice/give advice on accounting problems? Not a site for people to drop in nasty comments here and there. Surely it woud be better for the '*****y comment makers' to post their own message offering their (correct) advice in a helpful and professional manner if they think a question has been previously answered incorrectly. Rather than running down the previous message poster with an unhelpful and unnecessary comment.<BR><BR>

[Sam]

Thanks to all who responded to bank rec query! Much appreciated, it really helped.<BR>This is what this forum is about, not meaningless/critical comments from &quot;clever&quot; people.

[Paddywack51]

If that is the only useful comment you can make it would have been better to keep quiet. Melanie has helped a lot of people and I for one am grateful to people like her.