Uses of Suspense Account Trial Balance With Examples

It is possible to also have a liability suspense account, to contain accounts payable whose disposition is still being decided. If so, the liability suspense account is classified as a current liability. All suspense account items should be eliminated by the end of the fiscal year.

The suspense account is used because the appropriate general ledger account could not be determined at the time that the transaction was recorded. A trial balance is the closing balance of an account that you calculate at the end of the accounting period. When debits and credits don’t match, hold the difference in a suspense account until you correct it. Eventually, you allocate entries in the suspense account to a permanent account. There is no standard amount of time for clearing out a suspense account.

Suspense Account – What is a suspense account?

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. While other trial balance errors do exist (e.g., error of omission, commission, principle, original entry, https://www.vizaca.com/bookkeeping-for-startups-financial-planning-to-push-your-business/ reversal of entries), they do not affect the suspense account. The suspense account can have a debit or a credit balance, depending on which side the trial balance is short. It can be a repository for monetary transactions (cash receipts, cash disbursements and journal entries) entered with invalid account numbers.

• The bookkeeper is unable to balance the company’s trial balance, with the credit column exceeding the debit side by $500.
• To close the suspense account, credit the suspense account and debit the supplies account for the purchasing department.
• In order to complete the assignment by the deadline, the accountant recorded the „mystery“ amount in the general ledger Suspense account.
• This closes the suspense account and moves the payment to the correct account.
• Suspense accounts, however, are more typically used when there is some question about the transaction that needs to be resolved.
• Suspense accounts in a company’s general ledger typically contain entries where there are uncertainties or discrepancies that need to be resolved.

The suspense account can hold the difference that led to the trial balance not balancing until the discrepancy is rectified. No, unlike mortgage escrow accounts, the money in a mortgage suspense account doesn’t earn any interest for the borrower. 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. If you don’t know who made the payment, look at your outstanding customer invoices and find which one matches the payment amount.

Assets not yet received

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. For example, payments may be received with invalid or unclear account information.

Businesses may decide to clear their suspense accounts quarterly, while smaller companies may do so more often. BlackLine is a high-growth, SaaS business that is transforming and modernizing the way finance and accounting departments operate. Our cloud software automates critical finance and accounting processes. We empower companies of all sizes across all industries to improve the integrity of their financial reporting, achieve efficiencies and enhance real-time visibility into their operations.