Article ID: 8700

Finding the First Date That the G/L Reconciliation Report Shows an Imbalance

An imbalance can occur between your Ledgers, Journal, or G/L accounts. The amount of the imbalance appears under the Client/Journal or Journal/G/L column on the G/L Reconciliation Report. The first step in reconciling the G/L balances is to find the first day the imbalance occurs. Use either of the following methods to find the first date of the imbalance:

Finding the First Day of the Imbalance When You Know the Imbalance Does Not Exist at the End of Last Month

Take the following steps to find the first date that the G/L Reconciliation Report shows an imbalance for a G/L account when you know that the imbalance does not exist at the end of last month:

  1. Run the G/L Reconciliation Report for a date that you last believe there is not an imbalance, and ensure that there is not an imbalance on that date.
    NOTE: If there is still a difference, follow the steps for finding the first day of the imbalance when you do not know of a date when the imbalance did not exist.
  2. Rerun the G/L Reconciliation for the date in the middle of the last date there was not an imbalance and the current date.
    NOTE: For example, rerun the report for October 15th if there is not a difference on October 1st and there is a difference on October 31st.
  3. Take either of the following actions:
    • If there is still a difference on the report for the middle date, rerun the report for the date half-way between the last date that there is not an imbalance and the middle date.
    • If there is not a difference on the report, rerun the report for the date half-way between the middle date and the current date.
     NOTE: For example, rerun the report for October 23rd if there is not a difference on October 15th and there is a difference on October 31st.
  4. Continue to rerun the report for a decreasingly smaller period following the method from step 3 until you find the exact date that there is first an imbalance on the report.
    NOTE: There are multiple entries on different days that cause the imbalance if you notice the amount of the difference change on the report.

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Finding the First Day of the Imbalance When You Do not Know of a Date When the Imbalance Does not Exist

Take the following steps to find the first date that the G/L Reconciliation Report shows an imbalance for a G/L account when you do not know the last time the imbalance does not exist:

  1. Run the G/L Reconciliation Report for the date before the start date of your books.
    NOTE: If there is still a difference, you know the imbalance occurs from the beginning of your books and you do not need to continue to the next step.
  2. Rerun the G/L Reconciliation for the date in the middle of your start date and the current date.
    NOTE: For example, rerun the report for 1/1/2007 if there is not a difference on your start date of 1/1/2005 and there is a difference on the last date of the current report period of 12/31/2009.
  3. Take either of the following actions:
    • If there is still a difference on the report for the middle date, rerun the report for the date half-way between your start and the middle date.
    • If there is not a difference on the report, rerun the report for the date half-way between the middle date and the current date.
     NOTE: For example, rerun the report for 6/1/2008 if there is not a difference on 1/1/2007 and there is a difference on 12/31/2009.
  4. Continue to rerun the report for a decreasingly smaller period following the method from step 3 until you find the exact date that there is first an imbalance on the report.

NOTE:

There are multiple entries on different days that cause the imbalance if you notice the amount of the difference change on the report.

 

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