Identifying Reconciliation Errors

What can I look at when reconciling USAS to bank statements?

If the statements do not reconcile, a number of conditions could be the cause of the problem. Listed below are steps which can be taken to identify the discrepancy.

• Verify all previous months are in balance. 

  Any easy check is by going to the Periodic/Cash Reconciliation Grid and adding "Total Fund and Item Balance Difference" to your grid (if it isn't already there) by using the More button. If there is a value other than 0 for a month that means that month does not balance from what was entered to the system Fund balance. 
• Generate a Financial Detail report for Current Period for the month you are attempting to reconcile.  Compare the expended and received amounts with the Cash Summary report's expended and received amounts to isolate the problem to a particular fund and from there, to a particular transaction if needed.  

If USAS shows more money than the financial institution(s), the following items should be checked:

• Check to insure that only those checks which have not yet cleared the bank(s) are reflected on the "Outstanding" Disbursement Summary Report. Make certain that all "memo" transactions have been posted to USAS, (e.g.---STRS Employer's Share).
• Check to see that all deposits made are reflected on the bank statement. It is possible that a deposit made, and posted to USAS, was not credited on the bank statement(s), or was credited for a different amount.
• Check to see that a deposit was not "double-posted" to USAS, (i.e.---entered twice on two different receipts).

If USAS shows less money than the financial institutions(s), the following items should be checked:

• Check to ensure that a check that is still outstanding is not missing from the "Outstanding" Disbursement Summary report. If the reason for a check not showing up on the report is because it was mistakenly reconciled, use the Unreconcile option on the Disbursement grid to unreconcile the disbursement. If the check was never reconciled, but is still missing from the "Outstanding" Disbursement Summary report, you will need to obtain assistance from  your ITC in correcting this situation.
• Check to see that all Change Funds, Petty Cash Funds, and Investments have been accurately reflected in the total.
• Check to ensure that all deposits shown on the bank statement(s) have been posted to USAS.
• Make certain that all interest income has been deposited in USAS.