Sales Aged Balance & Debtors Control A/C?

[Rachelmt]

CAn someone please help, I have just opened my sage to a message saying sales aged balance disagrees with the debtors control account by -1856.02, what does this mean and what do I have to do to correct it? Any help would be most grateful
Thanks :|

 

[johndon68]

There are a couple of reasons:

1. Data Corruption although this should would show up as errors if you run Check Data.
2. One or more journal entries have been made directly to the Debtors Control nominal code - running an Activity on that account would show journals.

John

 

[Rachelmt]

Thanks for your help how would i go about correcting the error?

 

[johndon68]

It depends - do you get any errors when you run Check Data?

John

 

[Rachelmt]

No just a warning about the debtors thing and comments where I had posted the wrong date - I have deleted this postings and corrected them but the comments are still coming up

 

[johndon68]

OK, comments can be ignored - they will stay there until the incorrect date is in the past.

If there are no errors (and assuming that there have never been errors) then the likely cause is a journal to the Debtors Control Account. Journals should never be entered directly to this account as it causes exactly the problem you have, the debtors control account should always balance to the customer outstanding balances.

To correct it, you need to identify any journals but you also need to identify why the journals were made. In my experience, the journals often come about as a result of year end adjustments from your accountant with no appreciation that any such journals will product this error.

So, to summarise:

1. In Nominal Ledger -> Reports, run the Day Books: Nominal Ledger report for the Debtors Control account with a date range of 01/01/1980 - 31/12/2099 as this report will only show journal entries.

2. If there are journals on the account, you need to find out why they were entered and you may need to speak to your accountant.

3. If there are no journals then it would suggest that, at some point in time, you have had data corruption that has been fixed.

John

 

[Rachelmt]

Thank you for your help that has explained it for me, I was uploading some openinig balances that he had sent me and I told him they didnt balance and he said thats ok but it to debtors until I can sort them out so this would be why I have this message??

Do the comments never go then until that end of year has closed?

Really appreciate your help thanks

 

[johndon68]

Thank you for your help that has explained it for me, I was uploading some openinig balances that he had sent me and I told him they didnt balance and he said thats ok but it to debtors until I can sort them out so this would be why I have this message??

You have the message as the journal entry does not affect the customer accounts. As an example, if I post a single customer invoice for a gross of £100, then £100 will be sitting on the Debtors Control account so the balance on the customer account matches that on the Debtors Control. if I then post a journal to Debtors Control for £10 I'd then get the warning as the balance on Debtors Control no longer matches that on the customer accounts.

Do the comments never go then until that end of year has closed?

The comments will stay there until such time as the date they have on them is in the past so, for example, if you entered a transaction dated 31/12/2011, the comment would stay there until 31st December at which point they will disappear.

John

 

[Jenni384]

was uploading some openinig balances that he had sent me and I told him they didnt balance and he said thats ok but it to debtors until I can sort them out so this would be why I have this message??

I would journal it from the debtors control to sundry debtors so he can see it clearly, and so your debtors control and customer ledgers agree with each other.

 

[kevob]

OK, comments can be ignored - they will stay there until the incorrect date is in the past.

If there are no errors (and assuming that there have never been errors) then the likely cause is a journal to the Debtors Control Account. Journals should never be entered directly to this account as it causes exactly the problem you have, the debtors control account should always balance to the customer outstanding balances.

To correct it, you need to identify any journals but you also need to identify why the journals were made. In my experience, the journals often come about as a result of year end adjustments from your accountant with no appreciation that any such journals will product this error.

So, to summarise:

1. In Nominal Ledger -> Reports, run the Day Books: Nominal Ledger report for the Debtors Control account with a date range of 01/01/1980 - 31/12/2099 as this report will only show journal entries.

2. If there are journals on the account, you need to find out why they were entered and you may need to speak to your accountant.

3. If there are no journals then it would suggest that, at some point in time, you have had data corruption that has been fixed.

John

Hi we have a similar problem but different in that we have had some corruption. sage hung on the network then when restarted kept getting errors saying data was corrupt restore backup. Tried this seemed ok then hung again but when tried to check data that hung!. Tried johns suggestions ie clear audit trail, rebuild and compress - we now have a warning relating to the last transaction that was input where the invoice is showing as been paid but no bank payment and the transaction number for the payment has disapeared hence we are getting the sales aged balance disagrees with debtors control
Any ideas?
any help would be hugely appreciated

 

[kevob]

OK, comments can be ignored - they will stay there until the incorrect date is in the past.

If there are no errors (and assuming that there have never been errors) then the likely cause is a journal to the Debtors Control Account. Journals should never be entered directly to this account as it causes exactly the problem you have, the debtors control account should always balance to the customer outstanding balances.

To correct it, you need to identify any journals but you also need to identify why the journals were made. In my experience, the journals often come about as a result of year end adjustments from your accountant with no appreciation that any such journals will product this error.

So, to summarise:

1. In Nominal Ledger -> Reports, run the Day Books: Nominal Ledger report for the Debtors Control account with a date range of 01/01/1980 - 31/12/2099 as this report will only show journal entries.

2. If there are journals on the account, you need to find out why they were entered and you may need to speak to your accountant.

3. If there are no journals then it would suggest that, at some point in time, you have had data corruption that has been fixed.

John

Hi we have a similar problem but different in that we have had some corruption. sage hung on the network then when restarted kept getting errors saying data was corrupt restore backup. Tried this seemed ok then hung again but when tried to check data that hung!. Tried johns suggestions ie clear audit trail, rebuild and compress - we now have a warning relating to the last transaction that was input where the invoice is showing as been paid but no bank payment and the transaction number for the payment has disapeared hence we are getting the sales aged balance disagrees with debtors control
Any ideas?
any help would be hugely appreciated

 

[johndon68]

Kevob - I've replied to your post over on SageForum...

John