Sample of Student Work

Amber

Anyone who uses a checking account is familiar with a bank statement.  They are a very important part of life.  Without them you couldn't be sure if there is money in your acount to cover the checks you have written.

The purpose of a bank statement is to let people know how much money the bank says that account has.  This allows the account holder to compare their checkbook balance to the statement and make sure either party hasn't made an error.  Also, they can see if there are any charges, such as service charges, that the client might not know about.

You can find many useful things on a bank statement.  They are:

As you can see, it is very important to make sure your bank statement balance and checkbook balance agree.  There are three easy steps to reconciling your bank statement.  The first is adjusting your checkbook balance.  All you need to do is add any new charges, such as service charges to your balance.  The second is adjusting the bank's balance.  To do this, just add any outstanding deposits or deposits not on the bank statement to the bank's balance.  Then you subtract any outstanding checks from the bank's balance.  Your last step is to make sure yours and the bank's balances match.  If the balances don't match you need to go back and find the mistake.  Don't forget that the mistake could be the bank's.  By following these steps, you can easily reconcile a bank statement.

Hopefully, you understand a bank statement a little better and use it.  It should keep you from writing bad checks and making other money mistakes.

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