Difference in checking balance between Check Register and prior Balance Sheet

[sgbani]

Hi All,

I was exploring different reports upon request from our board, and decided to look into the check register report.
We only have one (1) checking account, but multiple accounting funds (yes, fun indeed).

However, I noticed that if I ran the check register report for a month (e.g. Nov 2023), the beginning balance for it is not the same as what the balance sheet reports for the previous month (e.g. Oct 2023).

My perception is that these values should match. The check register starting balance should equal the previous month's balance sheet amount for the checking account.

If I continue this comparison all the way back to the beginning of the year between each month, the same amount of difference exists between what the balance sheet indicates the checking account asset should be versus the check register.

I was able to check the same type of numerical comparison for Dec 2022 balance sheet and January 2023 Check Register, and the amount was not the same as the current difference (which was the same difference between all other months in 2023).
So, something happened in January 2023 that altered this difference in checking account balance values between balance sheet and check register reports.

We reconcile and balance out every month all accounts every month to the penny, all outstanding checks are accounted for, and the fund balances + liabilities = Total assets for each fund.

I admit, I did some cleanup and fixed some errors from my predecessors, but I would not think anything like that would alter the checking account balance between reports.

I am not sure where to look to try and figure out why there is this difference between the balance sheet and check register.
If I can figure out what to look for and figure out what happened in January 2023 that altered the difference, I might be able to figure out how to resolve the remaining difference.

Basically, I do not know where to begin looking for an error that would yield this type of difference in the checking account balance between two different reports.

Anyone have any ideas?

*Edit - if I check the most recent reconciliation report for the checking account, the adjusted balance matches the balance sheet. And all the amounts from the statement and outstanding checks are correct / as expected. So, the check register report 'beginning balance' seems to be off for a reason I cannot understand yet.

[Zorak]

The fundamental difference in the Check Register and most other Fund Accounting report is that it selects data and calculates balances strictly by the transaction date, whereas all other Fund Accounting reports are based on the posting month.

This means if you have a transaction dated January 31 which is posted into the month of February, a Check Register report run for January 1-31 would include the transaction, but a Balance Sheet run for January would not include it. Run a Check Register for February 1-28 and the transaction would not be included, but a Balance Sheet for February would include it.

If you have narrowed it down to something during the month of January 2023 that caused the difference, you should be able to run a report like Account Activity for January 2023 and look for transactions dated outside the month of January 2023 (like a February date on a January transaction) or possibly a transaction posted in the month of December 2022 with a January 2023 date.

[sgbani]

The fundamental difference in the Check Register and most other Fund Accounting report is that it selects data and calculates balances strictly by the transaction date, whereas all other Fund Accounting reports are based on the posting month.

This means if you have a transaction dated January 31 which is posted into the month of February, a Check Register report run for January 1-31 would include the transaction, but a Balance Sheet run for January would not include it. Run a Check Register for February 1-28 and the transaction would not be included, but a Balance Sheet for February would include it.

If you have narrowed it down to something during the month of January 2023 that caused the difference, you should be able to run a report like Account Activity for January 2023 and look for transactions dated outside the month of January 2023 (like a February date on a January transaction) or possibly a transaction posted in the month of December 2022 with a January 2023 date.

Thank you, this is insightful. The check register calculates balances based on transaction date vs posting month, this is indeed helpful.

What perplexed me a bit is this exact numerical difference spans multiple months. Meaning, the same amount difference between months did not change (except for the Jan2023 / Dec2022 comparison). So, either the same monthly transactions of the same amount are positing in one month, but transaction date in a different month, or something else is happening I have yet to discover.

I will take a closer look at the activity reports and see if I can figure out which transactions may be listed in a different month than the posting month in order to explain this issue.

Thanks!