Suspense Account: The Complete Guide + Examples

Suspense Account: The Complete Guide + Examples

what is a suspense account

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What is suspense account with example?

Suspense Accounts in Business

For example, if a customer of a business makes a payment but writes down their account number incorrectly, that money may be parked in a suspense account until the error is corrected and the payment can be properly credited.

The servicer must also explain what the borrower needs to do in order to have that money applied to their mortgage payment. In investing, suspense accounts are used by brokerage firms to hold clients’ money until it can be reinvested. Mortgage servicers can use a suspense account when a borrower falls short on a monthly payment or breaks up their monthly payment into partial amounts.

Suspense account

Create, review, and approve journals, then electronically certify, post them to and store them with all supporting documentation. Automatically create, populate, and post journals to your ERP based on your rules. Drive visibility, accountability, and control across every accounting checklist. Get up and running with free payroll setup, and enjoy free expert support. A promissory note is a financial instrument that contains a written promise by one party to pay another party a definite sum of money.

  • A suspense account is a general ledger account in which amounts are temporarily recorded.
  • Because the chart of accounts is tailored for your business, you might not have the same suspense accounts as another business would.
  • In any case, every effort should be made to eliminate all unidentified transactions held in the suspense account by the end of the fiscal year, otherwise the annual financial statements will be inaccurate.
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Suspense records are used to track and hold money in a suspense account. A unique suspense number is generated with each suspense record for identification purposes. Suspense records are written to the suspense account for a company’s general ledger. These records temporarily hold money until an activity generates a process to disperse or apply the money. In some instances, the borrower divides their monthly payment in two, thereby making a partial payment. Here, the mortgage servicer can use suspense account transactions to deposit the first half of the payment.

Example of a Suspense Account

Company Stock Account means the account established and maintained in the name of each Participant or Beneficiary to reflect his share of the Trust Fund invested in Company Stock. Stock Account means the account maintained on behalf of the Participant by the Custodian for the purpose of holding Stock acquired under the Plan. ESOP Account means a Participant’s account to which are credited Matching Contributions made to the Plan after March 31, 1989, and earnings and losses thereon.

what is a suspense account

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Departmental Accounts

After getting enough funds to pay in full, the servicer will put the total suspense account balance into the appropriate account. Because the chart of accounts is tailored for your business, you might not have the same suspense accounts as another business would. A suspense account can be placed at any point in the chart of accounts. For example, you could have a payroll suspense account, tax suspense account, inventory suspense account and more. Your chart of accounts can have as many suspense accounts as you need, but at a minimum, you need at least one for each major account on your general ledger.

An accountant uses a suspense account to code all or part of one side of the transaction when she doesn’t know where it goes. This prevents unknown transactions from being placed into the wrong areas of the general ledger. For example, your accountant would use the payroll suspense account for unknown pay-related distributions. She wouldn’t place an unknown asset transaction into the payroll suspense account, she would put it into a suspense account related to assets.

What Is the Difference Between a Suspense Account and a Clearing Account?

It can sometimes happen that the transactions might have missing information, or incorrect data have been entered on record. But a company must record every transaction, and in such circumstances, Suspense Account is used. Later, when they receive more information, they can transfer the entry from the suspense account suspense account to the correct account. The suspense account may be used when other issues occur with a payment, such as incorrect information or a technical problem with the transaction. If the payment is unclassified, meaning it does not have a specific account where it belongs, it may go into the suspense account.

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