The Bank Reconciliation feature is designed to automate monthly reconciliations between the Trustee Suite ledger activity and the records at the bank. A helpful wizard steps the user through each phase, enabling the user to view the ledger when necessary.
Accessing the Bank Reconciliation Feature
There are three access points for Bank Reconciliation:
1. The Home Page Link
• When you open Trustee Suite, the Home Page is the default screen (of which a portion of the banking section of the page is shown below). Click on the ‘All accounts have been reconciled as of 04/30/2013’ link (note that the verbiage of this link will be different depending on the status of the current accounts). To navigate to the Home Page from another page within Trustee Suite, from the Form Selection toolbar on the far left side of the screen, select the ‘Home’ tab.
2. The Banking Sub-menu
• From the Form Selection toolbar at the far left side of the page, select the ‘Banking’ tab and then the ‘Bank Reconciliation’ link from the Banking sub-menu beneath the tabs on the far left side of the screen.
3. The File Menu
• From the top Main Menu toolbar (File Menu), select ‘Case Administration’ > ‘Bank Reconciliation’.
Step 1 – Bank Statement Date Selection
The drop-down list displays dates up to which Trustee Suite can reconcile. Choose the Date and click on the ‘Show Accounts to Reconcile’ button.
Step 2 – Accounts Requiring Reconciliation
This screen displays items needing attention. Trustee Suite will automatically attempt to reconcile any accounts when you click on ‘Reconcile Accounts’.
Step 3 – Accounts Reconciled up to (Date Selected in Drop-down)
This view displays all of the cases Trustee Suite was able to automatically reconcile. Additional items needing manual reconciliation can be addressed by clicking on ‘Show Accounts Requiring your Attention’.
Step 4 – Accounts Requiring Your Attention
At this point, users will need to highlight indiviual cases and manually reconcile each issue. Users must select a case to reconcile, To do so, click on the desired case and then choose ‘Reconcile Highlighted Account’.
Note: Users can choose to leave Step 4 and return to where they were prior to Step 4. Trustee Suite prompts the user to save the selection when exiting. The next time the user accesses the Bank Reconciliation screen, they will have a choice to resume at the step they were on where they exited.
Reconciliation Assistant
The Reconciliation Assistant displays specific details for the case selected from Step 4. If any of the potential issues matches the following categories, the item number will display to the right of the issue.
Match Items
Each item listed below (in the form of links) displays an item total if there is an open issue. Clicking on these links will take users through a secondary wizard to resolve the issues. Each secondary wizard is custom to the issue. Follow the steps to resolve each line item.
• Match banking Items: This link displays total # of issues.
• Match Ledger Items: This link displays total number of issues, accounting for the total of the sub-items listed below this link.
• Match Deposits, Transfers, and /or Adjustments: Issue totals here are reflected in the Match Ledger Items.
• Match Paid, Stopped, and/or Voided Checks: Issue totals here are reflected in the Match Ledger Items
• Match Outstanding Checks Issue totals here are reflected in the Match Ledger Items.
• Create Balancing Notes: Balancing Notes are used to document why an account remains out of balance. These notes can be edited and deleted at a later review. Also, the user can create adjustments in addition to the Balancing Notes.
• Edit/Delete Balancing Notes: This link accesses prior Balancing Notes, enabling the user to edit or delete the notes.
Other Tools
Reconciliation Summary Form: This screen view displays a side-by-side analysis of the ledger and bank information. This displays out-of-balance items in red.
View Account Online: This link takes the user to their login at the BMS7 website. Each trustee has a username and password and can view their banking detail.