Account Reconciliation in Peachtree- Tutorial

Account Reconciliation in Peachtree: Overview

            You can perform account reconciliation for any account in Peachtree using the “Account Reconciliation” window. This window shows your uncleared transactions that have affected the account balance through the end of the current accounting period. You can use this information to then reconcile the transactions in Peachtree with your bank account statements. As you clear the Peachtree transactions, the “Unreconciled Difference” will approach zero. Once you have marked all of your cleared transactions, the difference should be zero.

            Additional transactions, such as bank service charges can be added while you perform account reconciliation in Peachtree by using the “Adjust” button in the toolbar. Starting in Peachtree 2004, you can input bank service fees and interest earned directly into the reconciliation window, if desired. You can also use the “Adjust” button, if you prefer that method. Starting in Peachtree 2004, clicking the “Adjust” button brings up the “General Journal Entry” screen where you can enter the necessary entries. To perform account reconciliation in Peachtree, select “Tasks| Account Reconciliation…” from the Menu Bar.

Account Reconciliation in Peachtree- Tutorial: A picture of the “Account Reconciliation” window in Peachtree.

            First, select the ID of the account that you want to reconcile from the “Account to Reconcile:” drop-down. Next, enter the statement date in the “Statement date:” field. Then, if using Peachtree 2003-2007, look in the “Checks” and “Deposits” lists to find your entered transactions to compare them to your bank statement. Starting in Peachtree 2007, all the bank account transactions are displayed in a single list.

            Check the checkbox at the left of any transaction to clear it. After you successfully perform account reconciliation in Peachtree, these cleared transactions will be removed from the list when you move to the next accounting period.

            At the bottom of this window, in the “Statement Ending Balance:” field, enter the ending balance for this account as shown in your bank statement. This will be the figure used to calculate the unreconciled difference. If you are just beginning to use Peachtree, you may need to click the “Beginning Transactions” gray arrow button to bring up the “Beginning Transactions” window. In this window, you can enter transactions that occurred before the Peachtree start date. These transactions will not affect the General Ledger and they will only be used to perform account reconciliation in Peachtree.

            You also have some unique buttons on the toolbar in the “Account Reconciliation” window. If you click the “OK” button, you will save your changes and close the “Account Reconciliation” window. You can return at any time within the accounting period to finish the reconciliation, if needed.

            You can click the “Range” button to enter a range of check numbers to clear. You can also click the “Row” drop-down to select either “All (checked),” which will check every transaction listed, or “All (unchecked),” which will clear every transaction listed.

            The most important button is the “Adjust” button. If you click this button in Peachtree 2003, it will display the “Additional Transactions” window where you can enter transactions listed on your bank statement that aren’t in Peachtree. This is used for things like “Interest Earned” from the Bank Statement. Entries that you make in this window do affect the General Ledger. Starting in Peachtree 2004, clicking the “Adjust” button simply launches the “General Journal Entry” screen where you can also enter these types of additional unrecorded transactions in a true journal entry format.

Account Reconciliation in Peachtree: Instructions

1. To perform account reconciliation in Peachtree, select “Tasks| Account Reconciliation…” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the ID of the account you want to reconcile from the “Account to Reconcile:” drop-down.
3. Enter the statement date into the “Statement date:” field.
4. In the “Statement Ending Balance:” field at the bottom of the “Account Reconciliation” window, enter the ending balance for the account, as shown in your bank statement.
5. Check the “Clear” check box to clear a transaction marked as “cleared” in your bank statement using the “Checks” or “Deposits” list windows. These items will be removed from your list after you change to the next accounting period. The “Reference,” “Amount,” “Date,” and “Vendor/Payee” fields show that information for the transaction.
6. To enter transactions that occurred before the Peachtree company file’s “start date,” click the “Beginning Transactions” button to bring up the “Beginning Transactions” window.
7. In this window, enter the transactions that occurred before the Peachtree start date. These transactions will not affect the General Ledger, they will only be used to perform account reconciliation in Peachtree.
8. To enter transactions not recorded in Peachtree if using Peachtree 2003 or earlier, click the “Adjust” button, to display the “Additional Transactions” window where you can enter the transactions listed on your bank statement that aren’t recorded in Peachtree. This is used for things like “Bank Service Fees” or “Interest Earned” from the bank statement. Entries that you make in this window do affect the General Ledger.
9. To enter transactions not recorded in Peachtree if using Peachtree 2004 or later, enter the “Service charges:” and “Interest income:” into the text boxes provided below the list of “Checks” and “Deposits.” If you need to enter multiple additional transactions, click the “Adjust” button and enter the transactions as General Journal Entries.
10. Once the “Unreconciled Difference” is zero, click “OK” to finish the account reconciliation in Peachtree.

Account Reconciliation in Peachtree: Video Lesson

            The following video lesson, titled “Reconciling the Bank Accounts,” shows you how to perform account reconciliation in Peachtree. This video is from our complete Peachtree training, titled “Mastering Peachtree Made Easy v.2012-2010.”