Differences can arise between the sales ledger and nominal ledger for the following reasons:
The Debtors Reconciliation Enquiry only shows the balance of the nominal accounts you have specified as debtors control accounts in the Reconciliation Enquiry Settings. The Sales Ledger includes all transactions.
If you have not included all the debtors control accounts, the sales ledger and nominal ledger figures will not match.
Sales ledger transactions are posted to the debtors control account automatically. Several debtors control accounts may be used depending on:
If you have not created the required debtors control accounts, the sales ledger transactions will post to the suspense account. Therefore that sales ledger and nominal ledger will not match.
Once you have closed a period, any transactions dated in the closed period, are posted to the next open period. This can create differences between the sales and nominal ledger as the transactions are reported in different periods.
For example, you enter an invoice on February 4th that is dated January 29th. The nominal ledger period for January is closed. The transaction is posted to the nominal ledger in February but will appear in the sales ledger balance for January.
Currency adjustment transactions are posted according to their allocation date and not the transaction dates. For example, if you enter a receipt dated in February, but the allocation to the invoice is dated in March, any currency adjustment transactions will be posted to March. This will create a difference between the sales and nominal ledgers.
Differences can arise between the purchase ledger and nominal ledger for the following reasons:
The Creditors Reconciliation Enquiry only shows the balance of the nominal accounts you have specified as creditors control accounts in the Reconciliation Enquiry Settings. The Purchase Ledger includes all transactions.
If you have not included all the creditors control accounts, the purchase ledger and nominal ledger figures will not match.
Purchase ledger transactions are posted to the creditors control account automatically. Several creditors control accounts may be used depending on:
If you have not created the required creditors control accounts, the purchase ledger transactions will post to the suspense account. Therefore that purchase ledger and nominal ledger will not match.
Once you have closed a period, any transactions dated in the closed period, are posted to the next open period. This can create differences between the purchase and nominal ledger as the transactions are reported in different periods.
For example, you enter a credit note on February 4th that is dated January 29th. The nominal ledger period for January is closed. The transaction is posted to the nominal ledger in February but will appear in the purchase ledger balance for January.
Currency adjustment transactions are posted according to their allocation date and not the transaction dates. For example, if you enter a receipt dated in February, but the allocation to the invoice is dated in March, any currency adjustment transactions will be posted to March. This will create a difference between the purchase and nominal ledgers.
Note: This should be done on a copy of your live data.
Check the Reconciliation Settings in the Nominal Ledger.
| Reconciling sales | Select all the debtors control nominal accounts in the Reconciliation Enquiry settings. |
| Reconciling purchases | Select all the creditors control nominal accounts in the Reconciliation Enquiry settings. |
Check which control nominal accounts are included in the View Closed Period Balances window.
| Reconciling sales | The Nominal Control Total shown on the View Closed Period Balances depend on the default nominal account settings for the Debtors Control account. |
| Reconciling purchases | The Nominal Control Total shown on the View Closed Period Balances depend on the default nominal account settings for the Creditors Control account. |
Open all periods for the year.
This makes sure that any waiting postings are posted to the correct period.
Update the waiting postings in the nominal ledger.
This makes sure all transactions entered in the sales or purchase ledger are also posted to the nominal ledger.
Check the suspense account as follows:
| Reconciling sales | Check the suspense account for any transactions that should be posted to the debtors control nominal account. Journal out any sales ledger transactions. Make sure these are dated in the same period as the original transactions posted to the suspense account. |
| Reconciling purchases | Check the suspense account for any transactions that should be posted to the creditors control nominal account. Journal out any purchase ledger transactions. Make sure they are dated in the same period as the original transactions posted to the suspense account. |
This makes sure that the Closed Period Balances are updated correctly.
Now close the periods that were closed before, to update the close period balances.
Use View Closed Period Balances to find out when the sales or purchase ledger and nominal ledger last matched.
If the ledgers matched in the past, start with period directly after the balanced period and work forwards.
If the ledgers have never matched, start with the most recent period and work backwards.
Select the period required in the reconciliation enquiry window:
| Reconciling sales | Open the Debtors Reconciliation Enquiry and select the period you require. |
| Reconciling purchases | Open the Creditors Reconciliation Enquiry and select the period you require. |
Produce a retrospective report for the end of the period you require.
| Reconciling sales | Produce a retrospective aged debt report. |
| Reconciling purchases | Produce a retrospective aged creditors report. |
Check the enquiry and report.
| Reconciling sales | Check the Debtors Reconciliation Enquiry and aged debt report. |
| Reconciling purchases | Check the Creditors Reconciliation Enquiry and aged credit report. |
Check for:
These transactions have a reference of Revalue in the nominal ledger.
There may be many transactions, with any of the listed situations, that can account for the difference between the sales or purchase ledger and nominal ledger.
When your Aged Debtors or Creditors nominal code balance does not reconcile with and Aged Debtor or Creditors report, the problem is often linked to allocation dates on some transactions.
The allocation date is the date used to tie two transactions together, so for example, you may get discrepancies if a sales invoice is dated after the report date, but has been allocated to a payment on or before the report date.
You can download reports to identify any of these transactions. These reports have been designed to help with reconciling the Debtors' Control and Creditors' Control default nominal accounts with an Aged Debtors or Creditors report.
To download and use these reports, see Article: Sage 200 - Aged Reconciliation Reports.