CU*BASE Suspense, Clearing and Settlement Accounting: Overview

In accounting for several processes, you will need to use more than one G/L account number to show the true history of the accounting activity. You also will need to reconcile key G/L accounts against third-party statements of accounting activity, such as monthly bank statements. How you configure your Chart of Accounts in CU*BASE can be very important to the effectiveness of this process.

  • A Settlement Account is the G/L account representing the credit union's interaction with a third party, such as a bank or Federal Reserve account. It is used so that the G/L history will match the activity at the third party (bank) to make it easier to reconcile the credit union's bank statement. The final outcome of this account is generally a net change not equal to zero.

  • A Clearing Account is the G/L account representing the activity of funds moving from or to a third party to the credit union member accounts. This account shows the offset to both the settlement account and the member account, to represent a total picture of the activity. The final outcome of this account is always equal to zero (that is, the credit union is a pass-through).

  • A Suspense Account is the G/L account representing transactions between a third party and the credit union member which require credit union action to determine their final resolution. The final outcome of this account is always equal to zero (that is, the credit union is a pass-through).

  • A Member Account is the G/L account representing the total of all member accounts (such as individual share draft accounts). The final outcome of this account is generally a net change not equal to zero.

Required Suspense Accounts

CU*BASE uses a series of 870.xx G/L accounts to track exceptions, errors, and unknown entries generated by the CU*BASE system. They are divided by data processing processes such as teller activity, lending, ATM processing, etc.

The default account numbers used for each process are listed below. These accounts are hard-coded into the system and are used automatically by the corresponding CU*BASE process for suspense items.

· 870-01 — DP exceptions, teller processing

· 870-02 — DP exceptions, share drafts from bank processing

· 870-03 — DP exceptions, loan department processing

· 870-04 — DP exceptions, direct deposit/direct post processing

· 870-05 — DP exceptions, payroll deduction processing

· 870-06 — DP exceptions, social security processing

· 870-07 — DP exceptions, journal transfer processing

· 870-08 — DP exceptions, error correction processing

· 870-09 — DP exceptions, inactive account processing

· 870-10 — DP exceptions, CD account processing

· 870-11 — DP exceptions, ACH processing

· 870-12 — DP exceptions, BCA processing

· 870-13 — DP exceptions, ATM processing

· 870-45 — Return Items in Transit

· 870-96 — DP exceptions, audio response processing

· 870-97 — DP exceptions, automatic CD processing

· 870-98 — DP exceptions, automatic transfer processing

· 870-99 — DP exceptions, automatic system processing (such as dividends)

 

In addition to the above list, one additional account number is recommended to handle DP exceptions which are generated manually, such as error corrections.

· 870-00 — DP exceptions

It is not recommended that you use these suspense G/Ls in your day-to-day accounting for clearing purposes. These accounts should track only suspense issues and in most cases will be balanced to zero by each end of month. Instead, use a clearing account.