Record and track checks
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Record and track checks
Checks are considered funds in transit. That means you can accurately record them as deposits, but the amount won't appear on your bank statement till later. Accurate tracking of these funds is key...
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This is a horrible work around for not creating a traditional "reconciliation" procedure. It is extra steps creating journal entries and also requires subtracting the balance of the Money In Transit account from the Bank Account balance every time you want to know how much money you have available to spend.
So, if my bank account is linked to Wave, do I still need to do this with my checks/cash that are paid? I receive checks/cash for invoices and want to make sure I'm accurately reflecting what is done with that money once it's deposited. When I enter a check or cash payment for an invoice, it's marked paid and "cash on hand" right now. Should I be marking that "money in transit" instead?
Hi @tatiav. This depends on a few factors. Are you marking the invoice as paid through the invoice itself or applying the payment through the bank imported transaction? Let me know your workflow for this.
I think I got it figured out!
I'm marking it paid through the invoice and then it goes into "Money in Transit." Then I figured out that when the bank is synced I need to go and mark the official deposit as a transfer from "Money in Transit" to the account. That seems to work fine. Then I don't have these account with phantom $$ in them. Thank you!
Hey @tatiav, so glad to hear that you figured things out here!
I have to agree that this is a very complex solution to a simple problem. I am not trying to be critical as I like Wave, bit in other accounting packages users are given access to a bank register where they can enter checks paid. Then when the accounting package imports transactions from a bank they are either automatically reconciled vs the register or the user is given the option to manually tie the transactions. There is no need to set up phantom accounts as there is here and there are no unnecessary journaling entries.
Hi @edshanahan! Thanks for reaching out and sharing your ideas on this! We do appreciate seeing other possible ways this feature could work in Wave and help to improve your workflow
OK I get this, but what do I do with the transaction that my bank then transmits to Wave when the check clears, it messes up the balance if I just leave it after the journal entry. In other words, it deducts the amount again from the expense category i give it. Should I just delete the transaction when the check clears from the bank? Thank you...
Hey @rbtoab! Deleting the automatic transaction that clears from the bank is a pretty solid way to fix this, actually, yeah!
I like to have my checks recorded so as when I need to look up it up it is easy to find, recently I hired a new employee and hadn't had the direct deposit set up, now I have the automatic journal transaction for payraoll in one month, check cashed in another, therefore month end doesn't line up because of this. It all works out in the quarter and seems like an easy software fix to merge that check with the journal transaction, but that's probably why i don't write software. PITA, so for now I delete the paycheck from bank transactions and live with my OCD flare up.