I have been using Peachtree Complete 2004 for about a year now. I have just been using it to record major expenses and income of a small business. I haven't recorded each and every transaction I have NEVER balanced the accounts against my business checking account. What would be the best way to get Peachtree and my checking account in balance so I can start to balance each month against my bank account?
The only way that you will be able to get the 2 in balance would be to go back and record the missing transactions so that Peachtree is complete picture of the activity in that account. Then you can run the account rec process for each month. Start with the earliest month you have the details for. Change your program to point to that accounting period and enter the missing transactions. You may need to use a dummy customer to post any sales that you don't have the details for. Do one month at a time. With tax time approaching, January 2005 is probably a good starting point unless you need to go back further than that.
I am a complete neophyte when it comes to accounting and GL transactions, but couldn't I just post the difference in the balance to some holding/overflow/balance account? I don't have all the details of the deposits and withdrawls from the account (ie. what customer...what was business and what was personal, etc.)
Without the details you won't be able to clear the transactions as they get posted to the bank account. You could create a dummy customer and a dummy vendor to post unknown deposits and checks. But I would use as much info from the bank statement and bank register as possible.
How are you completing your tax returns without this detail?
If it were me, with the end of the year approaching I would probably be looking at simply starting a new Peachtree company from scratch on Jan 1 '06. If you have customers & vendors in your current company, import them into the new company. Then enter beginning balances for each, as well as beginning balances for your bank accounts. After you've filed your taxes for 05, your accountant/tax professional should be able to provide you with the rest of your beginning balances (equity, retained earnings, fixed assets, accumulated depreciation, etc.) for you to enter into Peachtree.
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