LawWare Ltd lawware.co.uk

Transcription

1 Bank Reconciliation LawWare Ltd lawware.co.uk

2 Contents The purpose of this manual is to take you through the Bank reconciliation process within Lawware Bank Reconicliations... 2 Accessing the Bank Reconciliation Function... 2 The Bank Reconciliation Screen... 3 Clearing Reconciled Transactions... 4 Un-reconcile a Transaction... 5 Uncleared Items Pre- LawWare... 5 Electronic Bank Reconciliation... 6 Page 1

3 Bank Reconicliations Bank reconciliation is a process that explains the difference between the bank balance shown in a firm s bank statement, as supplied by the bank, and the corresponding amount shown in the firm s own accounting records at a particular point in time. In LawWare reconciliations for all bank accounts: firm (including petty cash) and client accounts are performed in the same way. Accessing the Bank Reconciliation Function The bank reconciliation process is accessed from the Bank Account Centre. Click on the Bank Accounts icon on your toolbar You will be presented with the following screen Select which list of bank accounts you wish to work with, i.e. Firm accounts or Client Accounts. This will display the list of accounts and balances. To access the reconciliation screen select the account you want to reconcile, right click on the account and choose Reconcile account. The following screen will appear for completion: The first section to be completed is relevant if there are uncleared items on your bank statement that have been included on your opening balance when LawWare is first installed. For further information on what should be entered in this field, see the detailed section on Uncleared Items Pre-Lawware later in this guide Enter the date of reconciliation; this is the date on your bank statement Enter the Statement Closing bank balance for that day. Click OK to access the reconciliation screen. Page 2

4 The Bank Reconciliation Screen The following screen appears for you to reconcile the transactions in Lawware with your bank statement. Note: Only unreconciled items are displayed (to view all transactions in the bank account, you should open the Bank account). As you reconcile each item in Lawware, mark the checkbox at the left of the transaction. There is a useful summary at the foot of the reconciliation window showing: Total of unreconciled Dr and Cr. Statement amount that you entered and are reconciling to. Rec Balance is the total amount you have marked as reconciled this amount will eventually reduce to zero. Difference shows the difference between what you have reconciled and your statement balance once all items have been reconciled, this will be zero. Pre LawWare Balance is also shown, this is discussed in later in this guide. Page 3

5 Clearing Reconciled Transactions Once you have marked all your items and both Lawware and your Bank Statement reconcile the following message will appear Note: If you have entered a Pre-Lawware figure then the above window will not appear If the above message does not appear you can still perform the reconciliation Click on the options button and choose Clear all reconciled Transactions You will be prompted to take a print of the ledger, which you should do. Once you have printed the Reconciliation Statement and are happy to clear all the reconiled transactions: - Click Options and choose Clear all Reconciled Transactions again This time click No when prompted to take a print of the ledger The next Window will ask you to confirm that you want to clear all reconciled transactions Confirmation Screen willl appear Items cleared Successfully! and the reconciled items will dissapear from the screen and you will be left with the unreconciled items ready for the next reconciliation. Note: If you want to take a print of the unreconciled items use the print icon on the ledger Page 4

6 Un-reconcile a Transaction If you have incorrectly marked an item as reconciled, you can un-reconcile the transaction. Open the bank account centre and double click on the account, locate the transaction you want to work with and double click to open it: Click on the blue Unreconcile link at the top of the transaction window. Uncleared Items Pre- LawWare This field is only relevant If Lawware has converted your old data into the Lawware software. You will have Pre-Lawware uncleared items that will appear on your bank statement that have been included in your opening balance when Lawware was first installed. As time goes by and the cheques are cashed they will show on your bank statement but there will be no entry to reconcile against in the Lawware reconciliation screen as they were part of your opening balance. For this reason, in order to reconcile your bank account, you will need to enter the balance of un-cleared items in the Pre-Lawware field. Note that this Pre-Lawware figure will reduce each time you prepare reconciliation with each cheque or item that appears on the bank statement reducing the Pre-Lawware total. Once all items have been cleared, in time, the figure for Pre-Lawware items will be zero. When reconciling the bank, enter the Pre-Lawware balance. Page 5

7 When you have accessed the reconciliation screen, the Pre-Lawware balance is shown at the foot of the window: Note: This Pre-LawWare figure will reduce each time you prepare reconciliation with each cheque or item that appears on the bank statement from before Lawware implementation. For example, if you have 500 pre LawWare items, and 200 of these are listed on the bank statement and reconciled, for the next reconciliation you will prepare, you should enter 300 in the Pre-Lawware items field. Once all items have been cleared, in time, the figure for Pre-LawWare items will be zero. Electronic Bank Reconciliation If you have the Electronic Bank Reconciliation module switched on you can import you Bank Statement and Lawware will automatically match cheques (if the cheque number has been entered correctly) From the main bank reconciliation screen select the tick box Use electronic reconciliation and click OK You will be presented with the following screen At the bottom of the screen you will see an additional window, right click this window and choose Import Transactions Page 6

8 The Electronic Bank reconciliation wizard is displayed: Choose the Bank name from the dropdown that you are looking to reconcile Click on the Browse button and browse to the bank statement that you have downloaded from your banking online In the format drop down choose your banks format Then Click on the Import button The bottom part of the screen should now be showing all your transactions from your bank statement with tick boxes to the left of each line Right Click the screen and select Perform Automatic Reconciliation Lawware will match any transactions it can with the Lawware transactions and the bank transactions, which you then have the option to accept or reject manually. Note: The reference and the value needs to be the same as entered in Lawware for a match to happen, in the first instance this will be mainly cheques, Lawware will then make suggsestions of any entries that match, however, this may not be correct due to the input of multiple transastions of the same value. If you import the wrong bank statement call the helpdesk to have this reset. Once you have completed the Bank reconciliation the following message will appear Note: If you have entered a Pre-Lawware figure then the above window will not appear If the above message does not appear you can still perform the reconciliation Click on the options button and choose Clear all reconciled Transactions You will be prompted to take a print of the ledger, which you should do. Page 7

9 Once you have printed the Reconciliation Statement and are happy to clear all the reconiled transactions: - Click Options and choose Clear all Reconciled Transactions again This time click No when prompted to take a print of the ledger The next Window will ask you to confirm that you want to clear all reconciled transactions Confirmation Screen willl appear Items cleared Successfully! and the reconciled items will dissapear from the screen and you will be left with the unreconciled items ready for the next reconciliation. Note: If you want to take a print of the unreconciled items use the print icon on the ledger Page 8