UK where to start imbalances everywhere

[shezad iqbal]

Hi,

I'm a week into a management accountant position for a ltd company (with a charity division). now the previous 3 accountants were temps and have the accounts in a right mess to be honest. PL is overall in a debit balance, balance sheet doesn't balance (sage 200). Every GL I've had the pleasure of delving into doesn't seem right either.

I wanted to know what would be the best approach the tackle this? Every previous employer has had there accounts in check so to say and given me a great handover.

 

[Fidget]

I'm not sure that there is a best approach, but it sounds like you're going to have to find a point in time when things did balance, and then go from there. Bank statements will be good for seeing money coming in, money going out. Supplier statements will help if they exist, as will the debtors ledger.

Best of luck! Sometimes you've got to just get the sleeves rolled up and dive in because there's no quick fixes and at the end of it likely have some balances that just need written off because there's nothing else you can do - the line in the sand sort of thing.

 

[Steve-LevelUp]

Fidget has the right approach. Start with the following.
1. Review the bank recs - get them up to date if they are not up to date.
2. Review AP - the payments should all be in line and you can check the entries (vendors you haven't paid will certainly have let you know by now)
3. Review AR - this will confirm that invoices are being issued and you can see what cash is coming in.
4. Ensure both of the above match (subledger to GL)
5. Review the balance sheet entries first, and build out a schedule for each balance sheet (eg, deposit account should have an excel worksheet that lists out the deposits, line by line, matching to the GL)
6. then tackle the expenses, via a revenue trend.
7. through this exercise, you should be able to identify where the error is. It would be very surprising for Sage to have a problem/error in standard double entry accounting.

Good luck!