Reconciling the Bank Statement in Quicken 2003

Reconciling the Bank Statement in Quicken 2003

Reconciling your Quicken account with your bank statement serves as a good
“check” on the completeness and accuracy of your data entry for bank accounts. The
reconciliation process includes:
• Entering information from your bank statement.
• Marking cleared transactions in the Reconcile window. You may add missing

transactions or edit existing transactions as you go.
• Comparing the cleared balance with your bank ending balance to see whether a

difference exists.
You may create and print a reconciliation report, but you are not required to do so.

If you are not currently reconciling your bank statements in Quicken, you should be!
Here is why:
1. Opportunity to make sure the bank is handling your money correctly.
2. Catches duplicate entries, switched numbers, or transactions you forgot to record.
3. Helps discover irregular activities that can reveal stolen checks, incorrect electronic
transfers, or misuse of an ATM card.
4. Allows use of the “Start New Year” feature in Quicken.

Using the Lond03 file with the Checking register open, click on Reconcile at the
top left of the check register screen (or click on Cash Flow, Reconcile, Checking).
Using the attached bank statement, enter the requested information on the screen:

Click on OK.

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Entries for service charges and interest earned are recorded as transactions and
checked as cleared in the reconciliation screen that follows. Payments and Checks are
listed at left and Deposits at right:

You may mark transactions as cleared using either the space bar or the mouse
(clicking and dragging will mark a series of transactions as cleared). A check mark is
placed by cleared transactions. You may add missing transactions, delete duplicate
transactions or edit entries with mistakes as you go. Use the attached bank statement to
identify and mark cleared transactions. It may help to change the view to “sort by check
number” or “sort by date.” To do this, click on View at the right of the window and
select the appropria te option.

If you find that you forgot to enter a transaction, click on New (top left of the
“Statement Summary” window) and you will be taken to the Checking register to enter
and record the transaction. You can get back to reconcile by clicking on Return to
Reconcile at the right of the screen, or by clicking on Reconcile in the Checking register
window menu line.

Continue verifying entries with the 1st National Bank Statement. If you’ve
managed to enter a transaction twice, highlight one of the entries and click on Delete.
Confirm that you want to delete the current transaction by clicking on Yes.

Note: If you begin to reconcile the bank statement but are unable to complete it
at the time, you can always click on Finish Later. Your work will be saved and
you can finish the process at your convenience.

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Have you ever transposed a number in your entry or recorded the wrong amount?
With the transaction highlighted, click on Edit in the Reconcile window menu. You are
taken to the original entry in the check register and can make the necessary changes in the
register and record the entry. Again, click on Return to Reconcile, which will return you
to the Summary Statement screen.

Once you have marked all cleared payments, checks and deposits, the Difference
listed in the bottom right corner should be 0.00 (see below). If it is correct,
congratulations!

You can click on Finished.
If the Difference amount is not zero, recheck your marked Quicken transactions
with your bank statement. Click on the Back to Statement Summary (upper middle of
screen) to check the information you entered from the bank statement. As a last resort, if
you are unable to find the difference, select Finished, and Quicken will enter a balance
adjustment in your register. Select an Adjustment Date when prompted, and then click
on Adjust).
You will be asked if you want to create a reconciliation report. Select Yes.

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Print
OK

Note: If you change a reconciled transaction in your check register (it is best not
to do this!), the next time you select Reconcile you will see a screen like this:

Your choices are to re-reconcile previous statements using Resolve or to allow
Quicken to make an adjusting entry.

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Select the line that shows a discrepancy and Reconcile Again.
The process for reconciling savings accounts is the same for checking. Credit
card accounts have a different opening screen (as shown below), but the rest of the
process is similar to the other cash flow center accounts.

Cash accounts do not have a reconcile process. However, if you happen to forget
to record transactions, the balance can be updated. Click on Update Balance. Enter the
amount you want in the account and an adjusting entry will be made.

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