Managing Balance Discrepancies

Keeping your Rentec Direct account balanced helps you maintain accurate financial records and make informed business decisions. Use the Balance Sheet and Balance Discrepancies reports to identify missing transaction information, correct discrepancies, and verify that your account balances.

In This Article

1. Verify that strict account rules are enabled. 
2. Review the Balance Sheet report
3. Review the Balance Discrepancies report
4. Confirm Your Account is Balanced

1) Verify Strict Accounting Rules are Enabled

Strict accounting rules require transactions to have a category and bank account assigned. Enabling this setting helps prevent missing information in the future transactions and makes discrepancies easier to identify.

In your Rentec Direct account 

1. Click Settings
2. Under Financial, click Accounting Defaults
3. Set Use Strict Accounting Rules to Yes
4. Click Save Changes

System Note: Enabling strict accounting rules helps prevent future discrepancies but does not automatically correct existing transactions.

2) Review the Balance Sheet Report

The Balance Sheet report shows the financial status of your account as of a selected date. Review the report to determine whether your account balances. 

A balanced Balance Sheet follows this accounting equation:

Total Assets = Total Liabilities + Equity

In your Rentec Direct account

1. Click Reports
2. Under Accounting, click on Balance Sheet
3. Select the Report Date
4. Click on Submit
5. Compare Total Assets with Total Liabilities + Equity

If the totals match, the Balance Sheet is balanced for the selected date. If they don't match, continue to Step 3 to investigate discrepancies.

3) Review the Balance Discrepancies Report

The Balance Discrepancies report helps identify transactions that may be causing your account to be out of balance. When an issue is listed, you can click the issue to open the transaction andmake the necessary corrections.

In your Rentec Direct account

1. Click Reports
2. Under Accounting, click on Balance Discrepancies
3. Select the Report Period that corresponds with the date period on your Balance Sheet
4. Review the Issue column to identify missing or incorrect information
5. Click on the issue to open the transaction
6. Add or correct the information, such as the bank account or category, as indicated in the report
7. Use Page Back to return to the Balance Discrepancies report
8. Repeat these steps for each remaining discrepancy

Once You've corrected the listed issues, review the Balance Sheet again to confirm the account balances.

4. Confirm Your Account Is Balanced

After making corrections, return to the Balance Sheet report and run it again using the same report date.

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Click Reports
2. Under Accounting, click Balance Sheet
3. Select the same Report Date used in Step 2
4. Click Submit
5. Verify the Total Assets = Total Liabilities + Equity

If the totals still don't match, review the Balace Discrepancies report again and investigate any remaining issues.

Tips for Maintaining Accurate Accounting Records

• Organize your accounts: Create a Chart of Accounts for assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and equity to keep your financial records organized.
• Reconcile bank accounts monthly: Regular Bank Account Reconciliation helps to identify differences between your records and bank statements.
• Complete monthly trust account reconciliations: If you manage trust accounts, perform monthly Three-Way If you manage Trust Accounts add Monthly Three-Way Reconciliations to avoid negative financial impacts of any losses arising against your trust account.
• Keep reconciliation reports: Reconciliations processed through Rentec Direct are automatically stored in the Banks Notes & History. Be sure to save copies of all completed reconciliations for your records and future reference.