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Q1 State the need for the preparation of bank reconciliation statement? Ans: Among other reasons, enlisted below are some of the most important reasons why it is important to prepare a bank reconciliation statement:
Accuracy
Each month, the passbook of the bank and the cash book of a firm, display a particular amount, which is the balance in the bank as on that date. However, due to delay in the recording time and period of the same in the respective books, there is a high possibility that on the day of comparison the balances in the two books would not match.
Hence, having prepared a bank reconciliation statement, one can determine the reasons and amounts by which the two balances differ. This analysis would further help the accountant in recording the missing amounts in each book. Hence, after the preparation of a bank reconciliation statement, the books of accounts would actually display a true and fair position of the firm.
Check on the Entries
In the process of preparing a bank reconciliation statement, an accountant will be able to point out all entries or amounts, recorded incorrectly in either of the books.
Thus, it is quite useful to prepare a bank reconciliation statement, which would help in eliminating any entries recorded erroneously.
Rectifying Incorrect Entries
In case an amount or entry has been recorded incorrectly in both, the passbook and the cash book, the accountant will be able to rectify those entries, so as to arrive at the amount of correct bank balance in the passbook and the cash book.
Updated Cash Book
Again, due to the irregularity in posting the amount of entries in the cash book and due to the delays in the recording of such amounts, it is quite possible that the cash book would fail to show the updated bank balance of the bank as on a particular date. When compared with the passbook, an accountant would be able to identify such entries and record them in the cash book instantly. This would help in reconciling the balances of both the cash book and the bank book instantly.
Detection of Delays
Due to the preparation of the bank reconciliation statement, it is possible to discover any amount of cheques that get deposited in the bank but have aren’t credited.
This difference would be evident because the amount of such deposits would appear in the cash book but not in the bank book, hence giving rise to a difference in the bank balance of both. Thus, cheques deposited but not yet collected can come to notice quickly.
Check on the Dishonest Behavior of Employees
Preparation of regular bank reconciliation statements has several benefits. It would act as a moral check on employees so that they do not indulge in the embezzlement of bank cheques, which would ultimately cause loss to the firm. This is so because even a low-value cheque can come in detection if it has been accepted but not deposited. In this way, a bank reconciliation statement serves a large purpose for a firm’s accounting cycle and people.
Q2 What is a bank overdraft? Ans: Overdrafts are where the bank account becomes negative and the business in effect has borrowed from the bank. This is shown in the cash book as a credit balance. In other words,when a firm withdraws more than its deposits from the bank, the situation will become bank overdraft and will be treated as liability of the business.
Q3 Briefly explain the statement ‘wrongly debited by the bank’ with the help of an example. Ans: Amount wrongly debited by the bank implies a situation when the bank wrongly debited a Pass Book. The following are the common mistakes that occur in the Pass Book when a bank wrongly debited in the Pass Book. Mistakes occur in case a person has more than one account in a bank. For example, a cheque of Rs. 2,000 issued from his Current Account was wrongly paid through his Savings Account.
Q4 State the causes of difference occurred due to time lag. Ans: i) Cheques issued by the bank but not yet presented for payment.
ii) Cheques paid into the bank but not yet collected.
iii) Direct debits made by the bank on behalf of the customer.
iv) Amounts directly deposited in the bank account.
v) Interest and dividends collected by the bank.
vi) Direct payments made by the bank on behalf of the customers.
vii) Cheques deposited/bills discounted dishonoured.Q5 Briefly explain the term ‘favourable balance as per cash book’. Ans: The favourable balance as per cash book means when the deposits made by the firm are more than its withdrawals in its bank account. The debit balance as per the cash book means the balance of deposits held at the bank. Such a balance will be a credit balance as per the passbook. The credit balance as per pass book also indicates the favourable balance as per cash book.
Q6 Enumerate the steps to ascertain the correct cash book balance. Ans: The following steps will be followed to ascertain the correct cash book balance
i) The first step is to put the balance of the pass book as the starting point Showing balance as per pass book.
ii) The cheques deposited but not yet collected are added.
iii) All the cheques issued but not yet presented for payment,amounts directly deposited in the bank account are deducted.
iv) All the items of charges such as interest on overdraft,payment by bank on standing instructions and debited by the bank in the pass book, but not entered in the cash book, bills and cheques,dishonoured etc are added.
v) All the credits given by the bank such as interest on dividends collected etc and direct deposits in the bank are deducted
vi) Adjustments for errors are made according to the principles of rectification of errors.
vii) Now, the net balance shown by the statement should be the same as shown by the cash book.