Previous posts talked about loading data in QB and making net change entries to create previous years of GL history.
For example you start a company file 1/1/2012. However you want a year of GL history. Enter a beginning balance j/e for the balance sheet accounts for 12/31/2010. For each month after enter a net change j/e for the entire chart from a general ledger or trial balance report from the other system. Remember that net change entries are the net debit/credit difference for each account for the period. Not the ending balance for the period. If you pick up the ending balance for each account your books will be totally out for each period and at 12/31/2011.
So at the 12/31/2011 you’ve entered all the net changes and the trial balance looks good. But you go to reconile the bank statement at 12/31/2011 and you realize you have un-cleared checks and what’s more all the j/e’s appear on the reconcile screen.
Clear all the j/e’s. The beginning balance plus all the net changes will equal the ending balance in the checkbook, and supposedly what the bank has. But how do balance to the bank when you have un-cleared checks or deposits. You can’t. We have to make a couple of entries to handle this. I suppose you could just enter the book balance and not the balance from the bank. Buy here’s another way.
Create a new gl account called Un-cleared Checks. You can make it an Other asset account.
Make a j/e on 12/31/2011 to credit Un-cleared Checks and Debit the checkbook for the total amount of the un-cleared checks. Or you can enter each check individually. Put the check number in the memo field.
Click Reverse on the j/e to record a reversal of this on 1/1/2012. Both j/e will be recorded at this point.
Reconcile the checkbook to the bank statement at 12/31/2011. You will clear all the appropriate entries on the right side of the reconcile screen including the debits entered above.
Do not clear the entires on the left side