Reconciliation is audit of accounts, which generally includes account certificate check, account check and account check. It is one of the basic work of enterprise accounting, and it is a kind of inspection and verification work for accounting. Perhaps it is precisely because it belongs to the category of basic accounting work and is the basic skill that accountants should master. Enterprises generally pay insufficient attention to its important role. Enterprises usually only reconcile inventory, fixed assets, bank deposits and current accounts, and the methods of reconciliation generally have no "certain rules", which are mainly mastered by accountants themselves. In practice, some accounting treatment problems and even frauds are not discovered in time due to the omission or incorrect account reconciliation, which makes the accounting statements distorted.
According to the past practical experience, correct and effective reconciliation is an effective internal control method, which plays an important role in the authenticity, accuracy and integrity of enterprise accounting and can help enterprises effectively avoid asset losses. In large and medium-sized enterprises with detailed division of labor, it can promote accountants to fully grasp the accounting matters of the company and improve their business ability.
Reconciliation is to ensure the consistency of related subjects and ensure that accounting vouchers accurately reflect the operation of enterprises in accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations. Find out the reasons for the differences found in the reconciliation, measure the time period when the differences occur, and track the differences until they are resolved. Reconciliation should not only check the balance sheet accounts, but also selectively check the accounts in the income statement. The following measures can be taken:
First, the choice of reconciliation subject.
All balance sheet accounts should be reconciled. Profit and loss accounts can be classified according to ABC method. For important accounts, such as sales revenue, sales cost and accrued expenses, they must be reconciled every month. For BC account, it can meet the standard. If they exceed a certain percentage of the budget level or historical level, they should be checked. For the differences found in the reconciliation, we must find out the reasons and "age" the differences until they are tracked and solved.
Second, the method of reconciliation.
Enterprises can perform reconciliation after the month-end report is completed. According to the nature of accounts, the following methods can be adopted:
1, balance sheet account. For example, the accounts receivable account can match the amount of general ledger and subsidiary ledger, and at the same time, it should be aged. For accounts receivable that exceed the specified time, solutions should be proposed and followed up. Check the bank deposit account with external documents such as bank statements. If a single asset-liability account has no details or other internal and external documents to check, you can analyze the transactions under this account to verify its accuracy and legitimacy. Through the analysis, it can be guaranteed that the entered vouchers meet the application scope of the subject, that is, it can be guaranteed that there is no wrong account, omission or repetition of vouchers that should be entered regularly every month.
2. Income statement account. The verification of sales revenue can be checked by the product of the total amount of invoices actually issued and the quantity of finished products issued and the sales unit price. Other subjects with no internal and external vouchers can be checked, and the accounting vouchers can be checked one by one, and whether there are omissions or duplicates can be considered according to the nature of the subjects. Mistakes that may be found in reconciliation include: confusion of debit and credit, omission or duplication of vouchers or errors in amount accounting. Through reconciliation, the correctness of the input vouchers can be verified, and at the same time, the enterprise can understand the difference between the actual situation and the budget, the difference between the current situation and the historical level, and find out the possible problems in production and operation in time. Some enterprises generally compare profit and loss accounts vertically (using historical data) and horizontally (using budget data), which is general expense analysis. However, assuming that the actual amount is correct in accounting, the comparison is made to find out the difference between the actual parameters and the comparison parameters. The reconciliation of profit and loss accounts can not only find the horizontal and vertical differences of the analysis data, but also check the correctness of the input vouchers and whether there are errors such as missing or re-recording the amount.
3. Format and reconciliation basis of statements. Standardized statements are the basis to ensure the standardization and stylization of reconciliation. Accounting statements generally include the following items: accounting subjects, opening balance, current amount, ending balance, differences and reasons, suspense time, measures to be taken, signatures of preparers and approvers, etc. The account statement of the income statement category should also include the trend table (chart), the difference from the budget and previous historical data, the historical maximum value, etc. The reconciliation basis should be attached to the statement for future reference.
Third, increase the frequency of reconciliation.
Regular monthly reconciliation can generally be arranged after the monthly report is completed. The completion period depends on the specific situation of the enterprise, which can be completed in about one week to ensure that most differences can be adjusted in time in the next month's report.
1. Check the reconciliation.
Financial managers and chief financial officers should review the statements, which are the basic reflection of the monthly operating conditions and accounting quality of enterprises and an important means of accounting internal control. The financial manager and chief financial officer regularly review the list, which can not only further analyze and master the enterprise situation, but also find the existing problems or hidden dangers, and also supervise the accountants to carefully complete the reconciliation work.
2. Formulate reconciliation norms.
According to the actual situation of the enterprise, formulate reconciliation work norms. The standardization of reconciliation procedures can ensure the correctness of reconciliation, avoid personal understanding deviation and improve work efficiency. Attention should be paid to the fact that reconciliation is a phased and fixed work when formulating specifications, and the division of incompatible responsibilities should be paid when assigning subjects, that is, the person in charge of the account cannot be the person in charge of the subject. For example, the accounts receivable accountant cannot be responsible for checking accounts receivable and the cashier cannot reconcile bank deposit accounts.
In a word, reconciliation is the basic work of accounting and an important method to ensure the quality of accounting information. We should consider the principle of cost-effectiveness, combine the characteristics of the enterprise and the external environment, and formulate a set of concrete and feasible reconciliation norms. (Nanjing Fendou Plastics Factory Wang)