Suspense account Wikipedia

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• A trial balance is a worksheet with totals of all accounts in the general ledger.
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• Without accurate information, organizations risk making poor business decisions, paying too much, issuing inaccurate financial statements, and other errors.
• For example, payments may be received with invalid or unclear account information.
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The rules that mortgage servicers must follow are spelled out by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which enforces the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. For example, the periodic account statements that servicers are responsible for providing to borrowers must indicate any payments that have been put into a suspense account and the total amount of money in that account. The servicer must also explain what the borrower needs to do in order to have that money applied to their mortgage payment.

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A suspense account is an account where you record unclassified transactions. The account temporarily holds entries while you decide how you will classify them. A suspense account can also hold information about discrepancies as you gather more data.

Example #2: You’re not sure how to classify a transaction

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Let’s suppose a company receives a cash sum of $500 but it cannot figure out who the money is from or what it is for. The salary account will be increased by $6,000 and the Suspense account will be decreased by $6,000, as a result, the suspense account will be zero and closed. In reality, under a double-entry bookkeeping method, every kind of error is bound to be identified sooner or later. A suspense account is also known as a difference in book account or an error account.

Example #2 – Partial Payment

Therefore, it is vital to have a process in place to clear out the suspense account on regular basis so that all of the suspense account entries are moved into their designated accounts to zero out the suspense balance. There are several errors that may be revealed by the trial balance which involve the suspense account. The suspense account can have a debit or a credit balance, depending on which side the trial balance is short. However, due to the accounting year’s end, the preparation of the trading and profit and loss account, as well as the balance sheet, cannot be delayed.

Therefore, transactions in the suspense account should be cleared regularly and as soon as possible. Likewise, if the trial balance shows debits are larger than credits, the difference should be entered as a credit because the amount will be cleared once the difference has been reconciled. A partial payment occurs when a customer does not pay the full amount owed for a transaction. Partial payments can come in many different forms, such as a deposit on a real estate transaction or an upfront payment for a service order. Payments may be received that do not clearly correspond to an invoice.

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Until they withdraw, the remittance stays in a suspense account, earning the financial institute or the BB enabler float/interest on that money. When customer withdrawal is completed, the money moves from the suspense account to the account of the agent who facilitated the cash withdrawal. It can be a repository for monetary transactions (cash receipts, cash disbursements and journal entries) entered with invalid account numbers. If one of these conditions applies, the transaction should be directed to a suspense account. When the trial balance shows credits exceeding debits, the difference should be recorded as a debit to reflect the temporary nature of those funds.

• A business can use a suspense account to record payments it has received but that can’t be properly accounted for until certain missing information (such as an invoice number) is obtained.
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• If the credits in the trial balance are larger than debits, record the difference as a debit.
• Most businesses clear out their suspense accounts monthly or quarterly.
• There are several errors that may be revealed by the trial balance which involve the suspense account.
• Our team of reviewers are established professionals with decades of experience in areas of personal finance and hold many advanced degrees and certifications.

Similarly, when a correct account is credited, the Suspense account is debited. When all the rectified entries are recorded into a suspense account, it should not be left with any balance. If the suspense account is showing a balance, it means that some errors still exist. If the Suspense Account shows a debit balance, it is taken to the asset side of the Balance Sheet, whereas if it shows a credit balance, it is taken to the liability side of the Balance Sheet. Suspense accounts are important in accounting because they help filter out transactions that cannot be identified at the time of recording. These accounts work as a temporary location to store unknown transactions, and once the amount is determined correctly, it can be moved to the regular ledger account.