In this article, we explain how to choose the proper Bank Reconciliation field to represent dollar values.

NOTE:  Please review 'Debit versus Credit'

Overview

Bank Reconciliation requires certain fields be mapped for any imported data: 'Date', 'Check Number', and 'Amount'.  However, 'Amount' really refers to a category of fields that can be mapped for this purpose.  These fields are:

1.Amount

2.Amount_Reverse_Sign

3.Amount and Sign

4.Debit and Credit (always mapped as a pair)

In making the selection, the main criteria is: Do these values have the correct sign? In other words, if all the transactions have positive amount values, do all of them increase the account balance? If some decrease the balance, are they negative values? If the answer to both is yes, 'Amount' is probably the right choice. If no, you should explore the other options.

Amount

Choose 'Amount' when data in a file is both positive and negative.

However, the following must be true about the data:

✓Positive number increases the account balance

✓Negative number decreases the account balance

For example, if you are mapping bank data, debit transactions (voided checks and deposits) must be negative and credit transactions must be positive.

  If this is true, map the field as 'Amount'.

Amount_Reverse_Sign

Amount_Reverse_Sign is exactly the opposite of Amount: it will reverse the sign of the data when it is imported. This can be necessary if the transactions that should increase an account balance are negative values in the file and vice-versa.

For example, if you are mapping bank data, debit transactions (voided checks and deposits) should be negative and credit transactions should be positive.  If they are reversed, map this field to correct the sign instead of having to manually edit the data outside of Bank Reconciliation and then import it.

Sign

The 'Amount' field includes both the value of the transaction (how much money) as well as the sign of the data (positive or negative).  In some situations, the source data will provide you with amounts that are both debits and credits ("absolute"), but a second field will tell you the "sign" of the data, i.e., whether it is a debit or credit.  For example, a data file might look like the following:

Amount    Sign

67.22        credit

41.14        credit

99.18        debit

56.10        debit

In this example, map the first column as 'Amount' and map the second column as 'Sign'.

In the second column, the word "credit" identifies a transaction that was a payment out, such as a check, and it should be treated as a credit transaction.  The "debit" identifies a payment received.  See 'Debit versus Credit' for more information.

By default, Bank Reconciliation uses "debit" and "credit" as the text identifying those respective transactions.

Debit and Credit

Debit and Credit are used when the source data splits the amounts into two separate fields, one for debit transactions and one for credit transactions.  This effectively splits the data into what should be positive values and negative values.

By default, Bank Reconciliation interprets the text "debit" and "credit" as referring to those respective transactions.  See 'Changing Debit and Credit Text' to enter text identifiers specific to your data.