Statistics presented by the ACFE 2018 Report to the Nations Global Study on Fraud and Abuse indicated that U.S. businesses lose on average 5% of their gross revenue to fraud. Furthermore, small businesses and private companies rank higher in occupational fraud than large corporations. This is a result of the lack of internal controls, proper tools, and training needed to prevent frauds from happening. Ultimately, a company can suffer a median loss as high as $160,000.
To keep your books in order and financial accounts clear from any discrepancies, businesses of all sizes are highly encouraged to conduct regular bank reconciliation. In short, it is a process during which you compare your internal record of balances and transactions with a monthly bank statement to determine whether they match. Note that some minor differences are expected, due to items that still haven’t cleared the bank. However, you are still expected to explain the reason behind these variations and provide proof that they will be cleared by the end of the following period.
The main challenge lies in the complexity of the entire process. Multiple transactions are difficult to track down, and once you do it, you face a new problem – the long list of unnecessary expenses that could have been avoided if only every single transaction was monitored.
A regular review of the company’s accounts aids in identifying potential issues before they cause any damages to the business. Bank reconciliation helps you catch fraudulent behavior, such as illegitimate checks, unauthorized withdrawals, missing deposits, etc.
It can also prevent possible administrative problems and account mismanagement. At all times, be prepared to change the accounting processes you use and substitute the record system for a more optimal one. As a result, you will avoid bounced checks and additional bank fees for insufficient funds. You will also have a greater knowledge of your account balance, outstanding checks, and bounced payments.
More often than not, businesses make a multitude of deposits and write numerous checks, so a reconciliation process takes a lot of time to complete. As already stated, certain amounts may appear in a company’s bank account, but might still not be in the official bank statement. For instance, checks you write towards the end of the month will immediately be deducted on your books, but will not clear the bank account for a few weeks.
For a reconciliation to go by smoothly and to prevent a business from suffering severe consequences due to mismatched balances, a small business has to go through the following:
The above listed has been severely simplified. In reality, it consumes a lot of your time and energy. Instead of suffering the consequences of improper bank reconciliation, a business owner is advised to hire a professional third party to complete it for them.
But can this all be simplified even further for a business owner so they can do it on their own?
Though there are several methods professionals resort to when looking to streamline and economize bank reconciliation, not one showed as an all-round solution. For this reason, a team behind UniCard attempted to design a solution that will reduce the time spend on bank reconciliation, as well as minimize unplanned monthly transactions and costs.
Our main goal was to provide businesses with a secure money transfer. We also partner with third parties which perform banking and processing, so you can enjoy payment terms and operation preferences that best suit your needs.
The result – UniCard, a prepaid, reloadable card that can be used for daily transactions like any other MasterCard. However, what makes it a preferable option is the fact that it comes without credit facility or interest accrued on the prepaid funds. In the long run, cardholders will enjoy significant savings.
With UniCard you can track all of your business transactions in one place. This means no more fragmented amounts to collect from all over your books for an official monthly statement. Finally, the entire process can be automated and centralized on a single card, since you will eliminate the need for paper checks and cash transactions.
Owing to a special employee expenses card program, all staff expenses can be tracked in real-time in a mobile application. Also, because an employer is the one who funds individual cards, the amount of unplanned and unwanted expenses is minimized.
UniCard is also an ideal opportunity for businesses involved in overseas trading to simplify all the administrative workload that comes with forex. Up to 15 currencies can be loaded to the card and you can also lock exchange rates of any currencies you choose. Aside from international transactions, UniCard can be used to handle all business travel expenditures.
Bank reconciliation is best to be done on a monthly basis, especially in the case of higher-volume businesses. You will have to drain your resources if you want to make sure it is properly completed. To avoid this scenario, many resort to alternative solutions like UniCard, which unifies your otherwise fragmented transactions on one card.
Intrigued? Find out what else UniCard can do for you and minimize both stress and costs that come with bank reconciliation.
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