FENXT bank recs are my nemesis

Susan Trippe

I'm feeling really stupid because I can't seem to get the bank rec in FENXT to work for my large operating account. I don't have any trouble with the smaller accounts…just the large one (where I really need it to work). I'm having to do this bank rec manually in excel…what a pain!!! I do use Yodlee to automatically clear checks, and it works ok with a few drawbacks. It won't allow you to click more that one transaction on both sides when you're matching. For example, if you booked something as 3 separate items, and it hit the bank as 12 separate items, you can't match the 3 items to the 12 items. It requires one side of the “match” to be a single item. I've also noticed that it clears checks using the wrong date sometimes, and occasionally the date it uses is in a different accounting period than the date the bank actually cleared the check. It requires a lot of manual work on my part. I find the format of the reconciliation very confusing also…who does a separate rec for bank to books and bank to register? What's the purpose of the bank register, and why isn't it ALWAYS the same as your general ledger? That makes no sense.,,and you sometimes have to create “Do Not Post” entries to the bank register to force it to reconcile…huh? I've been doing large bank recs for 30 years, and I've never seen this. Maybe I'm the stupid one…I'm certainly feeling that way. I attended a Blackbaud webinar, but it didn't help much because they rushed through and used simple examples that are nothing like the large account I'm struggling with. This is definitely an area where I'd like to see improvement in FENXT. The current method is really costing me a lot of time. Ok, now I guess I need to get back to it, since it will take me the rest of the day to figure this thing out.

Paul Wu

@Susan Trippe
We've been using the database bank rec and your comments reminds me to check on the FE NXT bank rec process. I recall attending a webinar as well and thought it a bit basic. Mind you we have approached our bank recs differently as a hold over from the previous accountant and it ‘works’ with how we clear cheques, electronically via a download from the bank. The deposits are an entirely different matter which I'm trying to figure out an elegant way to record. I'm embarrassed to say that I keep a separate excel sheet to see my actual banking activity for my 3 accounts. The goal is to have it in FENXT, but we are just not there yet.

And we actually do a summary bank rec before we complete the bank rec, talk about duplication of work. ?

Sannyasin Siddhanathaswami

@Susan Trippe
Aloha Susan!

Yeah. Unfortunately, we tried so hard to get the NXT bank reconciliation to work for us, and eventually gave up. The Blackbaud developers said at that time, that they were going to do another round of fixes some day (including not being able to match multiples on one side to a single item).

Bank reconciliation is one of the handful of things I do in Database mode. I still use the electronic reconciliation option in Database mode. I download an “.qif” or “.ofx” file from our bank, reconcile electronically, then export an exception list to Excel. I then manually check off whats remaining in the spreadsheet and in Database mode. It's actually fairly simple, totally logical, and works. I usually have less than 15 transactions to deal with manually.

For sure, you are not stupid. I'm not entirely sure what the NXT one designed for, maybe for really simple bank accounts?

Jane Garoutte

@Susan Trippe
Hi Susan,

I only started with Blackbaud last October and I did attempt to use the FENXT bank recs, but as you note, it does not work the way accountants and bookkeepers need it to. I cannot spend time reconciling twice, so I use the database reconciliation feature. I reconcile each bank account to the penny and don't use the bank transaction feed. I did set it up for the only account that was available through Yodlee. Thank goodness it wasn't by main account because I would be pulling out my hair. This process is finally making sense, though I am still having trouble with due to/froms between funds. That's another story all together. I recommend you stop making yourself crazy by trying to use the bank rec feature in FENXT. It is not ready for prime time.

Jane