Incorrect Beginning Balance

[judylind]

We use PC+ Ver. 9. While reconciling our Asset accounts we have discovered that one of our Vanguard Money Market funds cannot be reconciled in PC+ with what Vanguard says we actually have in our account because PC+'s Beginning Balance for 2007 is too low (by several thousand dollars). This error probably has been carried along for several years (we have been lax on reconcilations). Prior-year Vanguard statements have been archived (or lost) so it would be very hard to go back to find the error.

My solution would be to include that discrepancy amount in Income either as an extra "dividend" or by setting up a special Income account called something like "MM Corrections." Our treasurer does not like this since it artificially appears to inflate our 2007 income.

Is there any other way to increase an Asset account in PC+ besides including that extra money in Income?

[Jeff]

You can offset the difference to the equity account. Transactions that directly chnage an equity account are often discouraged, but this is an example of a time when it is appropriate to do so.

In your case the transaction would debit the Money Market and Credit the Equity account. This bypasses the income statement so the amount will not be shown as income for 2007.

[judylind]

Thank you, Jeff. That makes sense. I'll see if our treasurer will agree to that solution for correcting our Beginning Balance problem.