how do i write off a current year old...

STAR AccountsFrequently Asked Questions

How do I deal with old cheques?

Each month any cheques that are over 6 months old should be investigated and corrective action taken. The Headteacher is required to authorise the Unreconciled Transaction report to verify these transactions are to be investigated and corrected. If there are any out-of-date cheques it is the Headteachers responsibility to ensure these had been cleared and do not appear on the report the following month. Failure to clear out-of-date cheques could mean that the accounts are not correctly stated.

This helpsheet will take you through the steps required to take corrective action for the most common causes of old cheques. If you cannot find the answer to your query please contact your Finance Support Officer for additional guidance.

Issues covered in this helpsheet:

1. How do I write back a cheque (current and prior year)?

2. My old cheque has a total of £0.00

3. I do not use cheque printing but a transaction is on the cheque run

4. There are 2 transactions in the cheque run that net to £0.00

5. The reversal entry does not have a cheque number

6. The old cheques are in my Petty Cash Account

7. A Petty Cash Top-Up was entered in error

8. The old cheque is marked as a direct debit


1. How do I write back a cheque (current or prior year)?

Cheque reversals can be entered via the ‘Cheque Run’ or ‘Transactions’ screens.

Within the Cheque Run screen click ‘Enter Reversals’.

Within the Transactions screen click ‘Reverse Transactions’.

Click ‘No’ to cancel the reversal, or ‘Yes’ to continue.

If ‘Yes’ is clicked enter a meaningful reason for the reversal being carried out, then click ‘OK’. Click ‘Cancel’ to stop the reversal.

Balancing transactions, using the original coding details, will be created by this process. Within the reversal transaction the invoice number will be shown as “R “ and the original invoice number, with the ‘Details’ amended to show “Reversal” and the voucher number of the transaction reversed at the start of the description, with the reversal reason added to the end, for example:

Please Note: The original transactions and reversal entries will automatically be reconciled to statement number ‘-2’ as part of this process.

2. My old cheque has a total of £0.00

Select the required cheque / paying-in slip number from the drop down list.

Click ‘Reverse’.


Any cheque that totals £0.00 should be reconciled within the accounts against the next bank statement. As the cheque totals £0.00 it will have no effect on the overall reconciled balance for that bank statement.

3. I do not use cheque printing but a transaction is on the cheque run:

Any transaction entered in Star Accounts without a cheque number automatically goes to the cheque run screen where it remains until a cheque number is assigned. These transactions appear at the top of the unreconciled transactions report:

These reversals can be entered via the ‘Cheque Run’ or ‘Transactions’ screens, by clicking the ‘Enter Reversals’ or ‘Reverse Transactions’ button.

Single Invoice Number: If the selected supplier has only one invoice number waiting to be assigned a cheque number the following message will appear:

You must ensure that both transactions are highlighted and the ‘Total Selected to Reconcile’ is zero before clicking the Reconcile button.

Select the required Supplier from the top of the drop down list (shown without a cheque number).

Click ‘Reverse’.


Click ‘Yes’ to reverse all transactions without a cheque number for the selected supplier, or ‘No’ to cancel.

Multiple Invoice Numbers: Due to the grouping of the transactions by Supplier Name there may be several invoice numbers waiting to be assigned a cheque number for the selected supplier.

To reverse only those transactions relating to a specific invoice number select the required invoice from the ‘Invoice Number’ drop down list then click ‘Reverse’.

Click ‘Yes’ to reverse the transactions relating to the selected invoice number (as shown), or ‘No’ to cancel.

When ‘Reverse’ is clicked if there are multiple invoice numbers for the selected supplier and no invoice has been selected from the drop down list the following message will appear:

If ‘Yes’ is clicked the following message will appear:

Click ‘Yes’ to reverse all transactions without a cheque number for the selected supplier, or ‘No’ to cancel.

Click ‘Yes’ to reverse all transactions listed for the selected supplier, or ‘No’ to cancel the process to select a specific invoice to reverse.


4. There are two transactions in the cheque run that net to £0.00

From the ‘Process’ tab select ‘Cheque Run’.

5.

The Reversal Transaction does not have a cheque number

Any item within the cheque run that has a grand total of £0.00 or less cannot be assigned a cheque number. If the reversal is a negative amount you cannot assign the original cheque number to the transaction from this screen.

To clear a negative reversal that has appeared on the cheque run screen please follow the instructions in Note 3 “I do not use cheque printing but a transaction is on the cheque run”.

If the reversal that has been cleared from the cheque run was required to make your accounts true, you will need to enter another transaction.

Remember: If you use cheque printing you must turn it off before entering the reversal to be able to assign the original cheque number so that it does not appear on the cheque run again. You should turn cheque printing back on once the transaction has been entered. You should then be left with a cheque totalling £0.00 that can be reconciled to the latest bank statement.

Ensure the ‘Next Cheque Number’ field contains a number, then highlight the two transactions and click ‘Remove Zero Payments’.

The two transactions will then disappear from both this screen and the Bank Reconciliation screen.

Please Note: You can only clear zero payments for one supplier at a time.


6. The Old Cheques are in my Petty Cash Account

All transactions processed via the petty cash account can be reconciled at the time they are entered as either money has been placed into or taken out of the petty cash tin.

If you have old cheques within the petty cash account you must investigate the reason the transaction is not reconciled – i.e.: Was the transaction entered incorrectly? Was the transaction processed twice? Was the transaction a top-up that was never cashed?

Old cheques within Petty Cash accounts can be reversed in the same way as described in Note 1 (How do I write back a cheque?). However, the required petty cash account should be selected in the ‘Bank Account’ drop down.

7. A Petty Cash Top-Up was entered in error

Please Note: This procedure should only be carried out if both sides of the journal are still unreconciled within Star Accounts (i.e. the debit and credit are shown in the LMS and Petty Cash accounts) and the original cheque was never cashed.

From the ‘Transactions’ tab select ‘Journal’. Click the ‘Petty Cash’ option.


Enter the details as required by a normal petty cash Journal, however, the ‘Amount’ required will need to be the reverse of the amounts shown on the Unreconciled Transactions Report.

Once all details have been entered click ‘Process Journal’.

Click ‘Yes’ to the above message. This transaction is being entered to reduce the cheque total to zero so the same cheque number must be used.

Once the journal has been processed the cheque total within the Bank Reconciliation screen will be £0.00 in both the LMS and Petty Cash Accounts. These can then be reconciled to the latest bank statement in both accounts.

8. The Old Cheque is marked as a Direct Debit

Transactions over 6 months old that were originally marked as a direct debit must also be written back to the accounts. The procedure for doing this is the same as entering a normal reversal transaction as per Note 1.

Direct Debits will also be shown within the list of ‘Cheque / Paying-In Slip Number’ – these will start with “DD”:

Enter the cheque number of the original top-up as shown on the Unreconciled Transactions Report.

how do i write off a current year old...

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