Sage tb does not balance

Sage tb does not balance

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My new client has been doing his books in sage instant accounts plus version 14.

When I run a trial balance, it does not balance.

I have established that the trial balance is not picking up the correct balance for nominal code 1251, which he is using as a bank account.  If I run a nominal ledger report and use the balance for that account from there, the tb balances.

At least I know where the difference is (had a horrible half an hour worrying about the integrity of the whole thing), but does anyone have any ideas about how I can correct this?  I have read elsewhere about a similar problem in sage line 50 which can be fixed by moving the financial year date forward and then back again, but I can't do this as "this date is fixed once transactions have been posted".  Given that I am doing accounts for the year ended 30/4/11, I am not going to be able to do this adjustment for a very long time, if ever.  Any other ideas?

Replies (14)

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By UK Tax
16th Oct 2012 17:08

Check chart of accounts for errors

is NL 1251 included?

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By thacca
17th Oct 2012 09:58

I had this twice

both time the transactions were in excess of 50,000. If the customer is covered by sage support then they should be able to sort it out. Neither of my clients were. I journaled the difference to an account called "trial balance difference". I now just ignore this account. My clients only use Sage for sales ledger and VAT really so it doesnt effect them.

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By taxhound
16th Oct 2012 18:32

No...

Thanks UK Tax - I did look at this and it is not the problem.  1251 appears on the tb but with the wrong amount.

thacca - I have been looking at tbs through the year and the difference is different each month....  Unfortunately no sage support available.

Not sure what on earth is going on.

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Giraffe
By Luke
16th Oct 2012 18:54

Work out the change in a month

Can you work out what has happened by taking one month, and working out the change in the 'difference' b/f and c/f, then analysing all the account for a transaction or a few transactions which could reuslt in that difference.  Then investigating those transactions?

Probably a very long winded process though.

Good Luck

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Giraffe
By Luke
16th Oct 2012 18:55

.

I have only had this before when somone has posted a journal directly to the creditor or debtor control account though, never on a bank account.

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By johndon68
16th Oct 2012 19:39

TB does not balance

If the overall TB balances and there are no errors when you run Check Data then it is likely that you have 'Bucket Corruption'.

Go to File -> Maintenance and there should be an option at the bottom right to rebuild the monthly figures - try running that and then rerun the TB.

If that option is not there then there is nothing you can do in the program to correct the TB.  I could fix it if you send me a backup of the data.

John 

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By taxhound
22nd Oct 2012 18:56

Update

Having worked out which code was wrongly reported in the tb and corrected it in my own final accounts software, I have now finished the accounts and thought I would have to live with this difference forever.  But have just year ended in sage and the trial balance now balances.

Peculiar....

 

I hate sage.

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By johndon68
22nd Oct 2012 19:00

TB

It will now balance because the Year End routine rebuilds the nominal buckets thereby correcting them.

John

Thanks (1)
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By dannybard
22nd Oct 2012 20:36

Data error

This is caused by Sage shutting down part way through a journal or transaction...in other words it enters a one sided journal.

To fix, you need to send the back up to Sage....this is why taking daily backups is mandatory in Sage....then the day you spot a problem like this, you just roll back to the previous day....

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By johndon68
22nd Oct 2012 20:46

No it's not...

If there was a single sided journal then the TB still wouldn't balance after running the year end and would never balance until such time as another single sided journal was entered.  You don't need to send the data to Sage to correct it either :)

Given that the year end process cleared the problem, this was 'bucket corruption' which is different to having journals that don't balance.

John

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By Staceybooks
22nd Oct 2012 20:48

Usually a TB that doesnt balance in sage means corrupt data.  Sage can fix this or you can change the financial year and then back again although instant doesnt let you do that only line 50. Maybe time for an upgrade?

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Replying to johnjenkins:
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By johndon68
22nd Oct 2012 20:55

Problem already solved

Staceybooks wrote:
change the financial year and then back again

The OP has already stated that running the Year End has solved the problem...

John

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
22nd Oct 2012 20:54

Best solution is

to stop using Sage, it's cr@p.

Switch to Xero :)

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By Staceybooks
22nd Oct 2012 21:02

Sorry Im new to this and thought id leave a comment, didnt know this topic was closed, and yes xero is great!

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