OK so after many years of keeping this largely to myself, I have to ask - what is the point of a bank feed? We have numerous clients where the accounting records consist of nothing more than what ends up on the bank statement. The bank balance is miraculously reconciled to the statement each month. Some clients enter some, but not all transactions, so that leads to transactions being matched. Other clients do a pretty good job of using the memo line to describe a transaction. What if we end up accepting the bank feed entry? Does the thoughtfully-written memo disappear into the ether?
My employer thinks I have a closed mind over this (and other) topic. He wishes to be more than a tax shop and to sell added value services to clients. I have tried to explain to him that I do not understand why relying on the bank feed facilitates that (which is what provoked the closed mind comment, I think). It seems to me that if a client desires quality information, it is just as easy to get into a regular pattern of posting to the accounting records and doing a proper reconciliation.
I am working through the QBO certification, in the hope it will give me a better understanding of the software. So maybe I just haven't learnt why bank feeds are important. Can anyone enlighten me, please? I should mention that I learned accounting at high school in Scotland using pen and paper and the first few years of my working life were with manual systems.