Closing out a GL account that has outstanding checks from previous years.

Question

We closed out a bank account recently and are not sure how to close out the GL in Timberline. Mainly because there are several checks from previous years that have not cleared. If we void these checks, won't that throw GL out? Should we just 'clear' the checks in CM? That doesn't seem correct either. If we just make a GL entry to this account for the balance, will that close the account out? Even though there are outstanding checks? Thanks!

Art Minds · Accepted Answer

We need some clarity about the underlying facts to provide a suggested resolution to your question. When you say "We closed out a bank account recently" do you mean that you closed the account at the bank and either withdrew the remaining balance by check or transferred it to another account? If that is your situation, have you been using "Reconcile Bank Account" in Cash Management on a monthly basis and reconciled the account to the most recent monthly bank statement? Did you leave a balance in the account to allow for the clearing/payment of the checks you mentioned as being "outstanding" from previous years? If not, then you should "void" those outstanding checks that you do not reasonably expect to "clear the bank". If the checks were issued through AP, then you can void the checks in AP, choosing to use a current accounting date rather than the original accounting date. 
 
The bank account register balance in CM should agree with your GL account balance if you've been reconciling the account to GL from within CM's reconcile process. You can then bring the account to a zero balance by either writing a check in AP from that account to deposit into another account, or use the CM Transfer feature to move the balance to another bank account already setup in CM, bringing both the CM Bank Account balance and the GL account balance to zero. 
 
If you still have unanswered questions, or my comments didn't address your issues, please clarify. 
 
--Art Minds

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Closing out a GL account that has outstanding checks from previous years.

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