How can I be sure the cash account balances reported on my SAFE report are accurate?
A It is important to understand that the cash balance on your monthly SAFE report will almost always be different from the cash balance on your bank statement. This is because the bank has made some adjustments you may not be aware of and you have made some entries the bank will not be aware of until processed by the bank. For example, you may have written recent checks that have not cleared the bank or submitted a recent deposit that has not yet been recorded by the bank. Conversely, the bank may have added monthly interest, deducted an EFT (electronic fund transfer) of food service revenue, or your deposit may have included a check with non-sufficient funds (i.e., a check that bounced). The bank reconciliation identifies the items that must be recognized in order to arrive at the actual cash balance. When all reconciling items are accounted for, the reconciled bank balance should agree with the schools cash balance recorded in the SAFE report and the checkbook register. Although the
