Suspense & Clearing Accounts
Items still open at the year end in accounts that should be empty — suspense, clearing and the catch-alls QuickBooks and Xero create — each listed with its age.
- General ledger alone
- Key analysis in Journal entries
How the result is read
Suspense and clearing accounts are where a bookkeeper parks what they cannot yet explain. At the year end they should be nil; a balance left in them is unexplained income, cash or expense, and the items behind it are what the auditor follows up. QuickBooks and Xero add their own catch-alls, which small-company ledgers routinely leave populated.
The worksheet, on the demo engagement
Suspense & Clearing Accounts, as the application draws it for Harrow Precision Engineering Ltd, the fictional demo engagement — one row per posting still open at the year end.
Illustration. A receipt parked in suspense in June and never cleared is the largest open item.
Result grid3 rows
| Account | Name | Why it is watched | Entry | Posted | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1499 | Undeposited Funds | Name: undeposited | DEP-2025-0412 | 2025-12-29 | -4,250.00 |
| 6990 | Ask My Accountant | Name: ask my accountant | JE-2025-0917 | 2025-11-14 | 3,180.00 |
| 2999 | Suspense | Suspense caption | JE-2025-0233 | 2025-06-02 | -12,400.00 |
In the application
Suspense & Clearing Accounts is filed under Journal entries, index letter B. "Run all analyses" runs it with every other analysis the ledger can answer. The worksheet states the population it tested on its face — or "Not applicable" with the reason when a column it depends on is empty — and the Excel workbook the engagement exports files it under B, beside an index of the source files with their SHA-256 fingerprints.
Read it with
Run your next audit file test without the Excel crash.
One free engagement to evaluate, valid 60 days. The ledger never leaves the machine.
- 20 minutes
- Runs on a fictional engagement
- No client data required