Just moved to Sage 50, problems with unreconciled items from previous year

[JohnD]

Hi, I've just installed Sage 50 (for charity), v22.1.10.394 on Windows 10 Pro x64.

I'm putting in the data from the start of our financial year. However, I'm struggling with getting the unreconciled items from the previous financial year set up correctly so that I can reconcile them in the bank without them being processed as payments which affect the profit/loss for the current year.

I have a few dozen transactions which are included in the profit/loss in the previous financial year, which straddle the financial year end. They are either supplier payments which have not cleared at the bank, or transfers between bank accounts which similarly have not been reconciled and included in the carried forward bank balance by financial year end. I'd like to be able to enter the correct (actual) bank balances as opening balances, and see the outstanding transactions be reconciled in due course.

I've tried using the Tools > Opening Balances wizard but that hasn't worked for me. And I've tried using the manual method as outlined in Sage 50 for Dummies too, but that hasn't worked either (both my fault, I'm certain). I know that it's a relatively simple thing to do once you know how, but I just don't seem to be able to get it right.

I'm fairly used to using Sage once I get started, since I used Instant Accounts for some years while self-employed. But getting this set up initially is just baffling me. I've searched the forum (and Sage help) and don't see any answers to this exact question. Any thoughts as to how to set up the outstanding payments would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[brucedenney]

If you date them in the previous year then they will not be in this year.

If you want to describer a single transaction issue, then I could try and be more specific.

[JohnD]

Thanks Bruce.

Yes, I had dated everything at the last day of the previous year when posting opening balances and unreconciled bank transactions.

One example, a payment to a supplier at the end of the last financial year was not reconciled at the bank until weeks after the start of the new financial year. If instead of entering opening balances or using the opening balances wizard to enter unreconciled bank transactions, if I were simply to make payments dated in the previous year, would that work? Would I just need to then reconcile the payments this year in the bank?

Another example is where fund transfers were made between bank accounts. (One legacy bank account doesn't have internet banking so we use cheques to transfer funds to our main bank account.) Should I just make bank transfers before the end of the financial year and then reconcile them after the year end?

Would Sage automatically post the unreconciled items to suspense or creditors or debtors control accounts?

[brucedenney]

The payment to the supplier at the end of last year

First this transaction will not want to alter the creditors control, because the invoice has been paid off.
You just want to have a transaction in the bank.
A bank payment would be a good way to do this.
I would setup up a temporary bank reconciliation adjustments nominal code 9994 or something

You may have several transactions coming forward.
Sounds like the opening balance on the bank was set to the opening balance on the bank statement not the balance from the bank rec in your old system.

When you have found everything missing form the bank and got it all right then the balance of the new control account 9994 (which will be the difference between the bank balance and the cash book balance at the prior year end) will need to be got rid of, I suspect that it is part of retained profit and loss so i would probably journal it there.

The bank transfers can be done just backdated.

[JohnD]

Hi Bruce,

That is very helpful. I'm starting to understand things a bit more.

The bank transfers I'll do just as you say.

The supplier payment was probably wrongly described. I should have said that it was an invoice received and paid immediately, with both invoice date and payment date in the previous financial year. It isn't a payment on account or anything like that, so I'm guessing that it retained profit/loss wouldn't need to be used in the end. Would recording a supplier invoice and supplier payment, both in the previous year, be a practical option instead (if that would work along the same lines as the bank transfers)?