How do you prepare a bank reconciliation?
submitted by Demetrius A. Funkytown

Uriah

Get your bank statement and the company's cash book.
Compare the deposits listed on the bank statement with your company's cash receipts journal. Look for any discrepancies. If you find any, jot those down.
Next, match the bank's withdrawals with the company's payment records. Find any outstanding checks or other pending things that haven't cleared yet.
You're basically checking both records and noting anything that's off. Your report will include any differences you find.

Verity

You would check the company's cash records and compare them to the bank statement for that month. Compare the deposits and withdrawals to see if they match. Ad any deposits that the bank hasn't recorded yet (like deposits in transit) and subtract any bank charges or fees that the company hasn't recorded. Don't forget to account for outstanding checks. After making those adjustments, both the bank statement and the company's records should show the same balance. If not, you'll need to track down the differences, like payments made from company accounts that weren't entered into the accounting system.

Dewey

Basically, you compare the bank statement against your own records. Cross off the lines that match, and then figure out what's missing or wrong. Add deposits that haven't cleared yet and see if it adds up to the same total. The goal is to make sure both balances match up after you fix any differences.

It's hard to get it perfectly matched without making some adjustments, because bank reconciliation typically happens right after a month has ended, and there may be a few pending payments still. Just account for those numbers, and most times your figures should be the same in your accounting and at the bank.