Jennifer Tasker (Customer) asked a question.
Does anyone else find it ridiculous that backdated transactions for EOM bank rec requires an adjusting item so that you can reconcile?
I have just returned from 6 weeks leave, only to find that I cannot reconcile the December trust bank reconciliation correctly because my backdated December transactions will ONLY appear in the January bank reconciliation. This means even though my trust transactions are entered as at the correct date they occurred in our trust BANK ACCOUNT (and therefore appear in the trust ledger on the correct dates), they do NOT appear in my bank reconciliation, nor do they appear in my trust cashbooks - payments or receipts. I have to insert an "addition" or adjusting item to the bank rec to reconcile the prior month. That is absolutely ridiculous. WHY WHY WHY????
Hi Jennifer, thanks for your query.
In relation to trust entries entered after the transaction date, for our software to be Law Society compliant we have to use the entry date, as opposed to the transaction date.
Thus, if the entry date falls in to the following month (as it has in your situation), additions are required to complete the reconciliation.
Kind Regards,
Simon
Hi Simon. Thanks for your response. In fact what LPMS systems need to keep a record of is (1) the date the receipt is made out (the "processing" date - in my instance the January date; and (2) if different, the date of receipt of the money (the "transaction" date being the date the trust transaction hits the bank account - in my instance, the December date). So, in fact, what LEAP should be keeping a record of in the trust ledger is both of these dates and the transactions should be appearing as per their transaction date as is correct as per the bank statement. If I run a trust ledger report from an Affinity ledger, I will see both dates attached to the transaction and the transaction will appear in the bank reconciliation as it should in the correct month in which it occurred.
Hi,
I believe Jennifer is correct. Having returned to LEAP after a few years absence I am astounded that this date confusion still exists. I believe LEAP'S methodology is incorrect. The need to enter transactions from the last day of the month as adjustments to the reconciliation makes a nonsense of that report, the cashbook, and the trial balance.
It is not unusual to see 20 or 30 deposits on any one day in the TA I'm dealing with at the moment. The only way to capture these on the day they occur is to work late into the night (up until midnight) - after the banks have finished their machinations. With the proliferation of eft transactions, and the fact that part time staff handle these processes in a lot of practices, I think it is time for LEAP to make a useful update and change this.
FilePro records both dates, but, like Affinity (see above) uses the transaction date.
The LIV online Trust Accounting software unfortunately has followed LEAP'S lead and forces the same nonsense on us. I did challenge this at the time of its release but was soundly rebutted by the examiner I was dealing with at the time. I might have another go at them if I can find the energy.
Peter Caldwell
It is worth finding the energy. I will join my voice to yours. Further, Peter, if you have this situation occur with transactions to the trust account on 31 March, well, your trust bank reconciliation just does not reconcile unless those pesky adjustments are entered. It is an extremely inefficient use of time for users. The external examiner is confused and asking questions as to why the bank reconciliation and trust reports are incorrect. It is well past time for this issue to be fixed and the program updated.
I am having trouble with the bank reconciliation - How do I clear the adjustments - they seem to disappear. I asked Leap and the so called help assistant said just tick them - Yes I can tick them but can't see where I can cancel the adjustments.
Hi Linda. It is very frustrating for users to have to use this option. This is the type of action that was around many many years ago, and should not need to be utilised in today's day of smarter coding. You can delete the adjustments once you have entered the transaction directly to the matter. I use the adjustment to balance at EOM if necessary, and then code the transaction to the matter once EOM has been completed. I return to the bank reconciliation and click on the bin icon which is at the end of the adjustment line. Hope that helps. Cheers Jen
The problem is that the adjustments disappear when we do the reconciliation- so if I tick the entry in the new month - I can not delete the adjustment as it has disapp
That shouldn't happen. I actually just had this issue with closing off November. My usual steps are receipt the money in noting the transaction date, go to bank reconciliation when ready to finalise, insert an adjustment for the deposit as it clearly is not going to appear in the reconciliation, roll the month, commence new month transactions, at end of day go back to bank reconciliation and insert today's balance of trust account, delete the adjustment and it all clears to no variance.
I was hoping someone would be able to help me. My variance is $739.20 but when I delete it. The variance doubles. I had some problems in the earlier months with balancing. I have checked my entries in my previous matters where I thought the error was but they equal. I can normally solve this but I can't balance by
Trust.
Hi Lesleigh, Can I give you a call and I can ask you a few questions so we can see if we can get to the bottom of this for you? I am assuming you haven't reconciled your trust bank as at 30 June yet? Cheers Jen