Warning on Sage

[Mitcher]

Hi

I've got a warning when I check my Sage records that my Aged Debtors account differs from my Debtors' Control by -£2,500.00. I can't find my 'Debtors' Control' account to compare it to my Aged Debtors' list; any ideas?

I've got an idea as to what that amount relate to. The person whose job I've taken over had entered an invoice incorrectly on Sage (we raise our own invoices) and payment was therefore incorrectly assigned. Basically, I could see that two invoice numbers, and their amounts, were transposed, and would have left it, assigning payment to the invoice that 'fitted'. But, I told the Accountant when she visited, and she did a few things - really quickly! - and 'linked' payments to one invoice. It made sense at the time, but since then I've had two payments, total value of £2,500.00 (I think; I haven't checked it as I only remembered it when I got home!), sitting as credits that I can't assign to any invoice! Neither can I delete the 'payments' as they're linked to another action.

Does that make sense? As you can probably guess, I only know the very basics of Sage, so any help needs to be VERY simple!

Hope someone can help.

Mitcher

 

[johndon68]

The Debtors Control account is, by default nominal code 1100.

When you get a warning like this, the most likely reason is that a journal entry has been posted directly to the Debtors Control Account which then results in the balance on the account not matching the total Customer Outstanding Balances.

The first thing I would do is check the activity for code 1100 to see if there is journal for the amount in question.

HTH

John

 

[fatima]

Hi, I'm new to this too (the forum!). In my experience with Sage the bank accounts are the most essential part to get right - if you get all the correct debtors and creditors through your bank correctly then there can't be much wrong with your book keeping. However, Accountants don't tend to think that way so I understand how you managed to get into the situation you described! I think that if what the accountant did is fine with your Sage bank account balances and reconciliations then you can get rid of the £2,500 credit with an 'invoice' to the mispostings account. If your bank account needs the transaction you put in and not the Accountants' then you need to reverse the Accountants one with a journal. Hope this helps!?

 

[Richard231]

Hi, I'm new to this too (the forum!). In my experience with Sage the bank accounts are the most essential part to get right - if you get all the correct debtors and creditors through your bank correctly then there can't be much wrong with your book keeping. However, Accountants don't tend to think that way so I understand how you managed to get into the situation you described! I think that if what the accountant did is fine with your Sage bank account balances and reconciliations then you can get rid of the £2,500 credit with an 'invoice' to the mispostings account. If your bank account needs the transaction you put in and not the Accountants' then you need to reverse the Accountants one with a journal. Hope this helps!?

Yeah, I know that I'm biased as an accountant, but this wouldn't work!!
The invoice which you raise will show in your Debtors Control Account as well as the list of debtors. If you think it through, your Debtors Control Account will still be £2,500 different, but now you will also have a balance of £2,500 in your Mispostings account!

The first posting from 'JohnDon68' is correct - sorry for the looooong response, but it should be pretty comprehensive...

In the Nominal Ledger, highlight 'Debtors Control Account 1100' and select 'Activity' (top of screen). If you then click on the button which says (I think) 'Type' it will list all of the transaction by what they were. These will mainly be SI (Sales Invoices), SC (sales Credits), SR (Sales Payments), but there will also be a JD or JC in there somewhere. This is the journal entry that JohnDon68 was talking about. If you write down the date of the journal, you will be able to reverse it. Come out of the activity screen onto the Nominal Ledger screen. Click on 'Reversals' at the top of the page. In the pop-up screen leave the transaction numbers as they are, but put it the date of the journal and press ok (no need to save/print the journals when it asks you to). This will bring up a list of all of the journals inputted with your date. highlight the one which you saw in the Debtors Control Account ledger, and the corresponding entry (note which nominal code it was sent to and any narrative), then click 'reverse'. Check that your Debtors Control Account balance matches that of the debtors list (go to Customers/reports/aged debtors/summary to get a list of all outstanding debtor balances).


The chances are (from what I understand of your posting) that the journal would have been a credit to the Debtors Control Ledger to 'control' (reverse) the duplicated invoice. What should have happened is that a sales credit note had been raised (customers/credits - input the same details as on the invoice which is being contra'd) or the invoice should have been deleted (note the transaction number of the invoice, go to file/maintenance/corrections, search for the transaction number , select and delete).

If when you try to do any of these it warns you that 'the transaction was in a prior year, then your accountant made the amendment to correct the sage balances in relation to the year-end accounts. What I have described is still the correct procedure, but you may want to let your accountant know what you have done. They may want to run a 'Trial Balance' with the brought forward balances to check that it is correct.

If you do not get this warning, then the accountant made the journal in your current year (did they visit you to do management accounts, or do they do your VAT returns?), after you do it everything will be hunky-doory and there will be no need to check the brought forward balances as you will not have touched them.

Good luck - let us know how you get on!!