Multiple account balances incorrect

I have am a business owner who has relied on book keepers to manage my MYOB over approx 25 years. We send the figures to the accountant once per year who does my tax. This year I decided to inspect the figures myself and started asking some question about balances etc, Well it has been an eye opening experience to say the least, I have uncovered many errors and incorrect procedures. I have been able to fix many of them and have revised numerous BAS going back 4 Years but the issues go well beyond that period. I will put a list of issues below and would appreciate some guidence as to how I move forward to correct the issues

GST recieved Balance is out

GST paid balance is out

Linked recievable doesnt match invoices by a small amount

Payroll deductions payable balance incorrect

PAYG Tax payable balance incorrect

Superannuation payable balance incorrect, super has been paid but maybe the proper process wasnt followed

Tracey_H
4 years ago
Hi LC500

I agree with your previous bookkeepers and if adjustment journals weren't provided by the accountant I asked for them too. I know some accountants don't think they're necessary and I don't want to disagree with your accountant. But, without them your file isn't accurate because not only are they for EOY adjustments like depreciation, they also correct any data entry errors. My question to my employers was 'Do you want your accountant to have the only correct financial record of your business?', just my opinion though.

So anyway, to resolve your receivables out of balance run the Receivables Reconciliation report, Reports>>Sales>>Receivables, for prior dates until you find when the out of balance occurred. So keep going back in dates until you get to nil out of balance, then move forward in small date periods until you find the date it occurred, You can then find the transaction that caused the issue.

Please let me know how you go.

If my response has answered your enquiry please click "Accept as Solution" to assist other users find this information.

Tracey_H
Former Staff
4 years ago
Hi LC500

Thanks for your post. If you haven't already I'd recommend sitting down with your accountant to go over all of your issues. I was a bookkeeper for 20 years and worked with enough accountants to know they have different ways of working. Some like the clients file to match their copy of the file so will provide EOFY adjustment journals to be entered into the clients file and any BAS adjustments that need to be reported. While for others the clients file is for data entry purposes only and the actual tax/BAS/payroll adjustments are done in their copy of the file.

I'd check for EOFY journals by going to Transaction Journal>>General tab and looking for GJ transactions posted at the end of financial year, usually dated the 30 June. This will give you some indication of how your accountant works.

Another reason to discuss this with your accountant is that any BAS adjustments in previous years will also impact the company tax returns.

Without detailed information it's hard to give you help with your list of issues. For example, the GST collected and paid are out of balance, I'd need to know how you're reconciling those accounts and where you're seeing the out of balance.

I can tell you how I used to reconcile my PAYG and deductions accounts. Run the General Ledger detail report and filter by those liability accounts, run the Liabilities Payment Register and check off the payments made against the payroll transactions recorded.

This will depend on how the PAYG and deduction payments were recorded in the software though. If they were recorded incorrectly the software may be wrong but the payment was correct. To check if the PAYG payments were correct I'd reconcile the BAS with the AccountRight reports. Hopefully you've got hard copies or can get hard copies of the actual BAS lodgements, run the Payroll Activity and Register reports for that period and check the PAYG amounts against the BAS amounts.

Run the Company Data Auditor to check for transactions causing out of balance issues. This help article, Receivables, payables or inventory out of balance, has detailed information to work out why your receivables is out of balance.

Please let me know how you get on with this.

If my response has answered your enquiry please click "Accept as Solution" to assist other users find this information.
- LC500
  Experienced Cover User
  4 years ago
  Thank you for your reply Tracey, I realised afterwards that my question was far too broad. Anyway I know that my accountant does provide adjusting entries but if my memory is correct its only because my previous book keepers have requested it, he certainly has told me its not necessary.
  Thanks for the PAYG reconciliation tips i will have a look altough i think most of the errors have occured many years ago.
  I did use the company auditor and that showed up many of the issues but not always solutions unfortunately. For example how would I find an error in trade debtors balance? MYOB has made 4 suggestions which dont appear to be the solution even if I reversed them. I have attached the report.
  Trade debtors 20-21.pdf372 KB
  - Tracey_H
    Former Staff
    4 years ago
    Hi LC500
    
    I agree with your previous bookkeepers and if adjustment journals weren't provided by the accountant I asked for them too. I know some accountants don't think they're necessary and I don't want to disagree with your accountant. But, without them your file isn't accurate because not only are they for EOY adjustments like depreciation, they also correct any data entry errors. My question to my employers was 'Do you want your accountant to have the only correct financial record of your business?', just my opinion though.
    
    So anyway, to resolve your receivables out of balance run the Receivables Reconciliation report, Reports>>Sales>>Receivables, for prior dates until you find when the out of balance occurred. So keep going back in dates until you get to nil out of balance, then move forward in small date periods until you find the date it occurred, You can then find the transaction that caused the issue.
    
    Please let me know how you go.
    
    If my response has answered your enquiry please click "Accept as Solution" to assist other users find this information.

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Multiple account balances incorrect

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