Bank Reconciliation Examples

Bank reconciliation is done by bank customers, totally their records and their respective bank’s statements. As the bank provides its statement periodically (generally monthly, but sometimes more frequently if requested upon charge), there may be some differences between customers’ books of accounts and those of the bank, which generates the need for reconciliationReconciliationCompanies do reconciliation prior to closing their books of accounts to match balances in different accounts and to account for the double effect of journal entries. It assists in ensuring that the books are up to date and that there is no manipulation, fraud, missing, or incorrect entries in the firm’s books of accounts.read more.

Bank Reconciliation examples can be useful for understanding what can be the key factors in various instances that require such reconciliation. There are innumerable reasons which can cause breaks during such reconciliation. We shall see some basic and practical examples of bank reconciliation –

You are free to use this image on you website, templates, etc., Please provide us with an attribution linkHow to Provide Attribution?Article Link to be HyperlinkedFor eg:Source: Bank Reconciliation Examples (wallstreetmojo.com)

Top 6 Examples of Bank Reconciliation Statement

The following are the top examples of the Bank Reconciliation statement.

Example #1

ABC Corp holds an account with Citizens Bank. On December 31st, 2016, the bank closed its records for ABC Corp, having an ending balance of $180,000, while the company closed with $170,000. The company wishes to analyze the difference of $10,000 when they receive the bank’s statement next month.

Analysis

Below are the company’s income/expenses (at a broader level) for December 2016:

Below is the record in Bank’s statements:

Hence it is determined that the provisions made for salaries to be paid and accounts receivablesAccounts ReceivablesAccounts receivables is the money owed to a business by clients for which the business has given services or delivered a product but has not yet collected payment. They are categorized as current assets on the balance sheet as the payments expected within a year. read more cannot be reflected by the bank statements as these are transactions yet to be made.

Example #2

On March 31st, 2018, Neeta paid her office rent for April 2018, amounting to $2,000. She made the payment by check, which was settled on April 2nd, 2018. When the bank statement was reconciled for March 2018, it was found that the Ending Balance in Neeta’s accounts was $2,000 short compared to that in the bank statement.

Neeta made a payment of $2,000 for the office rent on March 31st, which was recorded in her book of accounts in the same month. However, as the payment was such that the actual settlement was made in the next month, the bank could not record that transaction. Hence it was showing a break in reconciliation.

Example #3

Jane made the following transactions in June from her savings bank account:

However, when the bank statement was received, it was found that the Closing Balance was $10,450. Jane wants to analyze the difference between her records and the bank statement.

After careful reconciliation was made between the two statements (Jane’s and that of the bank), it was found that $50.00 was charged to Jane as a fee by the bank. Upon further investigation, Jane realized that she had ordered a checkbook and a new Debit Card for her account in June, for which the bank charged her $50.00.

Thus, bank fees can be a major factor that may cause a break between the customer’s and the bank’s books of accounts.

Example #4

John purchases a long-term note from Bank A, which pays semi-annual interest at 4% at the end of every June and December. In June, John closed his book of accounts, with Ending Balance being $35,000. However, when John received his bank statement, it reflected a closing balance of $35,500. Can you guess what can be the reason for such a difference?

The difference is clearly due to interest accrued on the note purchased by John. As the interest paid is semi-annual, which is paid out at the end of June and December, the monthly statement for June included this accrued interestAccrued InterestAccrued Interest is the unsettled interest amount which is either earned by the company or which is payable by the company within the same accounting period.read more. The amount would be calculated based on the Principal on the note.

Example #5

On July 31st, 2018, Mr. Alex George closed his books of savings accounts with an ending balance of $4,500, which was estimated in his bank account. However, when he received the bank statement, to his surprise, he was charged $50.00, and his closing balance was $4,450.

Mr. Alex approached his bank, and he was guided by the fact that his account had non-sufficient funds for July. However, after further analysis, he found out that the requirements for the minimum balance in the account had changed during this month, raising it to $5,000. Therefore, due to an insufficient balance in his account, Mr. Alex was charged $50.00.

Example #6

Jake received his bank statement, which has the following differences from his accounts:

  • Interest incomeInterest IncomeInterest Income is the amount of revenue generated by interest-yielding investments like certificates of deposit, savings accounts, or other investments & it is reported in the Company’s income statement. read more of $400 not recorded in Jake’s accountsBank yearly maintenance charges of $100SurchargesSurchargesA surcharge is an extra fee or tax added to the customer’s final bill for paying through check, credit, or debit card rather than cash. The additional sum reflects the extra services offered by the merchant, increased product costs, or government regulatory costs. It could be either a fixed amount or a percentage of the purchase amount.
  • read more on other services availed from a bank at $100

Jake’s accounts refer to an ending balance of $3,000. Prepare a reconciliation statementReconciliation StatementA reconciliation statement contains a list of differences between bank balance as per bank statement, books of accounts, debtor-creditor reconciliation, debt balance reconciliation, or any other reconciliation with a difference in the records of two separate legal entities, and it aims at nullifying the difference.read more for Jake.

Solution

A reconciliation statement would include the below:

Conclusion

A break in the bank reconciliation statement may be positive or negative, thus affecting higher or lower ending balances in bank records. Although there may be various factors that may cause breaks between the bank’s statement and personal records, bank statements still form the basis of a lot of other analyses like valid KYC documents, calculation of credit scores, company analysis, etc. Bank statements are verified by authorized professionals while personal records may or may not be accurate, and are sometimes adulterated to show other benefits as well.

While discussing the authenticity of bank statements, it should always be kept in mind that these financial figures are a major part of the economy once they start flowing into public sectors. In addition, banks use these numbers for their reporting purposes; hence, the bank statements are considered valid documents for the customer’s financial analysis rather than a statement(s) received from non-professional and unauthorized customer sources.

This has been a guide to what is Bank Reconciliation Examples. Here we provide you with the top 6 examples to prepare a Bank Reconciliation Statement and a detailed explanation. You can learn more about accounting from the following articles –

  • Bank CreditAccounts Receivable Financing | MeaningSalary PayableBalance Sheet Reconciliation