Queensland’s Logan City Council has created a credit card reconciliation system to improve its accounting and recording process for credit card purchases. The Quickrec system was developed using the ‘user friendly’ MS Access application. This provides easy maintenance and will allow for further development in the future.
Credit card transactions are entered into the database, detailing the transaction description, amount and expense allocation code. Users are then able to perform a simple reconciliation to the bank’s credit card statement each month. Reconciliation and transaction reports are available for the user to verify their purchases. Transactions can also be processed into the financial system to record credit card purchase commitments, and processing into the accounts payable system for invoice payment. Previously there was no method of accounting for credit card commitments for each month.
Council’s employee skills were used in developing the system, to create a better understanding of transaction processing requirements and record keeping procedures. Skills in MS Access have also been developed and improved across Council. Improvements to financial management include easier reporting, as credit card transactions are recorded in a centralised database, and consistency in records and reconciling statements across Council. Processing time by accounts payable staff has also been reduced from two to three days to two hours, as well as improvements in transaction descriptions, as a more detailed narration of the purchase can be entered into the Quickrec system.
For further information contact Tony Scoles, Financial Systems Coordinator at Logan City Council, on (07) 3826 5636.
