Open topic with navigation

Monthly Reconciliations

Direct Posting

Keystone provides three sets of reconciliation reports for direct posting from Keystone to QuickBooks. They are available on the Reports screen at:

If your affiliate is not using direct posting from Keystone to QuickBooks, these reports will not show up on your report list.

Each of these reports have a Detail and Summary (Default) option and a Period Selection option (Default: Last Month). You can use the Period Selection to select Keystone Payment dates.

Each Summary report has four sections:

In the following list Posted refers to when Keystone Direct Posting was done to QuickBooks; Period refers to the selected monthly period (usually the previous month); and Paid refers to when the donations or homeowner payments were made.

If there is a difference in the data between Keystone and QuickBooks, that difference is shown in red. Ideally, you have posted payments in the same month they were made and there are no entries in the Posted within period - Paid prior period and Posted succeeding period - Paid within Period sections of the report. If there are payments within these sections, they may be mixed in with payments in postings that belong to other periods. If this is the case, and the QuickBooks posting is not the same as the Keystone total, the QuickBooks’ posting is highlighted in yellow to indicate it includes payments from other periods.

Also, QuickBooks has a Creation Date and Modification Date for each transaction. Good accounting practice dictates that once something is posted it should not be modified. This is true for both Keystone and QuickBooks. If a change needs to be made, it should be made as a separate entry with a note as to why the change is being made. Keystone checks the QuickBooks transaction Creation Date and Modified Date. If they are different, the QuickBooks amount is shown in red to indicate that the transaction was modified after the posting.

Each Detail report allows you to get more details on selected problem areas to isolate the source of these problems.

Manual or Direct Posting

You will need to manually enter non-posting entries into both QuickBooks and Keystone (e.g., new mortgages). Also, you will need to enter escrow disbursements into both programs.

At the close of the month, you should clear the Homeowner Payment Clearing account in your accounting books to the appropriate asset, liability, and income accounts, and compare balances with Keystone to ensure the accuracy of records and identify any discrepancies.

You should first reconcile your accounts with your bank statements to ensure deposits and payments are accurately recorded.

To perform monthly reconciliation
  1. Compare the balance of the Homeowner Payment Clearing account with homeowner payments in Keystone.
    The Homeowner Payment Clearing account balance from the balance sheet and the totals from the Closing Fee Payments Detail and Mortgage Payments Detail reports in Keystone should coincide. Identify and correct any discrepancies.
  2. Clear the Homeowner Payment Clearing account.
    Funds received during the month into the Homeowner Payment Clearing account must be transferred to the appropriate balance sheet and income accounts. Homeowner payments shown in the Closing Fee Payments Detail and Mortgage Payments Detail reports in Keystone represent all activity for the month. The clearing of the account would involve:
    1. Total closing fees are transferred to your affiliate account for closing fees, according to your affiliate's policy and the purposes of these fees.
    2. Mortgage principal subtotal is applied against your affiliate's mortgage receivables account(s).
    3. Escrow subtotal is transferred to your affiliate's homeowner escrow liability account.
    4. Late fee subtotal is recorded as late fee income.

    In certain instances, there may be other amounts or non-standard payments requiring additional clearing transactions. The balance of the clearing account should be brought to zero.

  3. Verify that the Homeowner Payment Clearing account balance is now zero.
  4. Compare the mortgage and escrow balances as shown on the balance sheet of your affiliate accounts with the Mortgage, Escrow, and Other Debt Balances report from Keystone. Identify any discrepancies.

    5. Keystone does not include mortgages in the balance reports if the Balance As Of date is earlier than the First Full Payment Date for the mortgage because these mortgages are too new to include here. New mortgages originated and entered into your affiliate's books, but for which a payment is not yet due, may be one source of discrepancies.

    If the escrow balance does not match, a likely source of the problem are the bills entered into QuickBooks in the month you are reconciling, but paid in the following month. Keystone disbursements are entered into the homeowner account when the disbursement check is created.

  5. Compare contribution income from the income statement or transaction detail reports for your affiliate books with the Donations by Donor Type - Detail report in Keystone.
    Other useful reports are the Donation Detail/Summary report and the Fundraising Activity Detail/Summary report. Identify any discrepancies and correct as necessary.
  6. Clear the donation clearing account to the appropriate income accounts and ensure the clearing account is zero.
  7. Document the reconciliation.
    Annotated and signed copies of the income and balance sheets and Keystone reports described above may be stapled together and filed as evidence of the reconciliation. You may wish to include reconciliation worksheets such as those shown in the Reconciliation Worksheet section.