MATCHING REPORTS

[passD]

Hi, I've been using pc8.5 since January. Fiscal year began in September. I just did 2 reports: check register & income expense statement. The total income in "income & expense" does not reflect my deposits in "check register". Total expenses does not jive with checks written.

Although "excess income/expenses" balances out with actual facts. This is very confusing to me. Obviously I'm not an accountant. Is there any explaination for this behavior? It seems that if I have ALL transactions/contributions posted/updated, that these reports would match.

BLESSINGS

[Zaphod]

There are a couple of reasons why this may be. The most obvious would be if you have Payroll set up, some of the transactions that are a part of a Payroll check affect an asset and a liability. Generally, that will increase your asset account, but not affect an income or an expense account. This is perfectly normal, and the proper way to handle witholdings.

Another possibility is that you've entered a check which reduces an income account rather than increase an expense (or vice-versa). This is not exactly the best way to handle regular transactions, but there's nothing that prohibits you from doing it (there are plenty of good reasons to do this ie., corrections). If this is the case, just make sure you use expense accounts for money going out, and income accounts for money coming in.

The short answer would be, they don't have to match, and in many cases, won't. As long as your check register is able to be reconciled with your bank statement, you should be fine. You might want to check with an accountant to make sure you're on the right track.

[passD]

I just opened "maintain check register", I had voided 2 checks and re-issued them to cope with 2 refunds (so that the refunds would not show up as income). The amount of these 2 cks equaled the discrepency on the deposits and checks written. I guess this is cool, but would love to understand it.
Thanks for your help