What is Bank Reconciliation Statement? Explain the causes of disagreement in the
balances shown by cash Book and Pass Book.
Answers
A Bank Reconciliation is a statement prepared mainly to reconcile the differences shown between the bank column of the cash book and the pass book.
Causes of differences between the cash book and the pass book are:
1. Differences caused due to time gap
2. Differences caused by errors
Time differences are:
1. Cheque issued by the bank but not yet presented for payment: When cheque are issued to creditors or anyone we immediately make a recording on the credit side of the bank column of the cash book. However the bank will debit the firms account only when it actually receives the cheque. Thus there is a time gap which cause difference in the cash book and the pass book.
2. Cheque paid into the bank but not yet collected: When cheques are received from the debtors, they are immediately recorded on the debit side of the cash book and the balance of the cash book increase, however the bank takes some time say a few days to actually realise the amount which cause a difference between the cash book and the pass book.
3. Payments made by bank on our behalf: Sometimes we give the bank authority to pay for some specific things on our behalf. Until the information is received from the bank of the same the pass book is gonna show a decreased balance as compared to the cash book.
4. Direct deposit into the bank by customers: Sometimes the customers or debtors directly deposit the amount they owe to us to the bank. If the information is not received from the bank for the same. for that specific time the pass book will show an increased balance as compared to the cash book.
5. Interest Charged by the bank: Usually bank charges some money for the services it renders and the balance of the pass book decrease. However the firm will record it only when it receive a bank statement. For the mean time, the pass book will show an decreased balance as compared to the cash book.
6. Interest and Dividend collected by the bank: Sometimes the bank collects interest and dividend on our behalf and credits the firms amount. However the firm will debit the same only after receiving the bank statement. thus for the mean time the pass book will show an increased balance as compared to the cash book.
7. Cheques etc. Dishonored: If a cheque or bill discounted gets dishonored the pass book balance will decrease. The firm will also reduce the same amount from the cash book only after receiving the bank statement. In the mean time the pass book will show a decreased balance as compared to the cash book.
Differences caused due to errors:
1. Errors made while recording of transactions by us: we ain't perfect. sometimes we make mistakes while recording of the transactions like in totalling, posting single entry two times etc. which cause difference between the cash book and the pass book.
2. Errors made by bank in recording the transactions: Even the bank make mistakes in recording transactions like posting on wrong side, wrong totalling etc. which cause a difference between the cash book and pass book.
In Layman's term: A "Bank Reconciliation Statement" is a process by the help of which the bank tries to find out if there's a difference in between the record of bank account and that of the consumer's account for a specified date or not. Generally both the records must match, but in rare cases it mismatches, thus to sort it out this statement is made.
Some causes of disagreement:-
There can be many causes behind the disagreement in the balances shown by cash book and passbook:
1. While issuing a cheque, in most of the cases the cheque is not presented to the bank which leads to a balance difference.
2. Delay in receiving the information regarding direct deposit of money also leads to a difference of balance in passbook and cashbook.
3. Overdraft also leads to balance difference. Actually the intimation regarding the debit is received by us after sometime.