Bank reconciliation is one of the most critical tasks of every finance and accounting department in a company. It compares the bank account balance on the company's books with your company's account balance on the bank books.
Every company reconciles its books. It's done periodically, depending on the volume of transactions. If transaction volume is high, bank reconciliation should be done monthly, bimonthly or daily. If the trading volume is lower, it can be done quarterly, semiannually or annually.
Using a standardized template will ensure accuracy and eliminate errors. If you plan to use Excel to create your bank reconciliation template, we've prepared this guide to help you configure your spreadsheet for bank reconciliation.
A bank reconciliation template in Excel helps speed up report preparation, especially for your organization's bank accounts. For visualization, the template directs all connected data to the model for immediate analysis. Without a template, reconciliation often requires a lot of effort due to a lack of format consistency, or a dedicated reconciliation software.
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Several programs offer templates you can pay for and use to reconcile your bank statements.
However, they are often quite generic and time-consuming to personalize for your organization's needs, which is why so many companies look for SaaS solutions. They offer pre-configured templates for various accounting functions and finance tasks.
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If you still want to create a template in Excel, we have some suggestions for creating a bank reconciliation template.
The first thing you will need to do is label all fields in the rows and columns. These should correlate with the fields on your bank statement.
If you are downloading the CSV version of your bank statement from your financial institution, it will automatically convert it into a spreadsheet document you can open with Excel. You can use this to help set the template fields.
Unfortunately, these CSV versions will offer more fields than you need to include in your template. Make sure you capture and extract only the data you need.
Once you have labelled your fields, you need to set them--using formulas--to ensure accurate data collation.
Accounting professionals use formulas or functions to find transactions, such as outstanding checks. VLOOKUP, SUMIF and COUNTIF are the three reconciliation Excel formulas.
First, VLOOKUP can locate values in a table and return the value based on the number of columns. It is useful if you reconcile an amount recorded in two financial registers.
Then SUMIF adds the amount from found values in a range. It's helpful when calculating the deposit in transit. Additionally, COUNTIF adds the number of times values exist in any given range. That is especially useful for catching duplicates.
Finally, you are ready to prepare your report and begin reconciling your bank statement with your accounting records. Sort each row from the spreadsheet through unmatched transaction columns. This allows you to list the reconciling items.
Compare the data to ensure you account for every transaction and finalise your report. Save the data and store a copy in the company's central database to ensure those who need it can access your reconciliation.
You can set functions in your Excel template to automatically reconcile banks with functions such as VLOOKUP, SUMIF and COUNTIF. VLOOKUP checks bank records and quickly matches them against bank statement debits to alert you of any unchecked records.
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You can then identify all unmatched transactions as reconciliation entries in depositor records and bank statements. The SUMIF function can match all deposits to bank statements for account reconciliation using a deposit lot reference.
Companies usually deposit all collections in bulk with banks as it isn't feasible to deposit them into the bank individually. The SUMIF function will quickly match and add up all bank transactions using batch numbers to match depositor records and bank statements.
Lastly, the COUNTIF function recognises multiple or duplicate records of the same transaction. It does this by counting every transaction that meets the criterion. It helps uncover accounting and banking errors.
Increase the speed of bank reconciliation by using a Vena Bank Reconciliation Template. We designed our templates to streamline accounting tasks and ensure report accuracy.
Whether it's time to close out the week, month, quarter or year, Vena's Account Reconciliation Software will make the process easier. Get a central database that integrates with your ERP, GL systems and the rest of your existing tech stack.
Streamline workflows with our pre-configured solutions for all your standard and specialized reconciliations. Our software tracks every submission and times stamps them for improved accuracy. Provide your auditors with the detailed audit trail reports they need.
Save time, increase transparency and track all reconciliations with a central template. Make sure that submitters and reviewers are on the same page. See which accounts need review and reconciling, track account balances and reconcile amounts.
Eliminate common reconciliation errors with templates designed by finance professionals for finance professionals. Download any of our free Excel templates to see how Vena can help streamline your entire finance department.
As Vice President, FP&A at Vena, Tom Seegmiller is responsible for strategic finance, including business partnering, budgeting and forecasting, with a focus on optimizing enterprise value. Tom is instrumental in the formulation of the financial narrative for the executive leadership team, investors and board members. Tom has always had a focus on driving enhanced business decisions through leveraging financial and operational data. He is an experienced finance executive, having most recently led the finance team at Miovision Technologies. Prior to that, he was in senior FP&A leadership roles at OpenText. Tom enjoys golfing, skiing, exercising and traveling in his spare time, but most importantly, he loves spending time with his wife and daughter.
