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View Full Version : Finding where a loan repayment shows on the company's account


highstream
Aug 13, 2012, 06:31 PM
I'm looking at a commercial property's monthly account statements and trying to figure out how a loan is being repaid. Specifically, whether it's being repaid by an individual separately to the company account and then disbursed to the (passive) partners, or whether the repayment is (improperly) being taken out of the company's revenues to be disbursed.

Example: Partner M has a Note that because of special arrangements is (supposedly) being repaid monthly to the company and then disbursed to the other partners. In the LLC's monthly statements, the disbursements are listed separately by principal and interest under Expense Distribution. They are also listed separately on the General Ledger (Cash), where each shows as a credit and debit. The only other place I see the note referenced is on the Balance Sheet as a liability, as it should be.

With my limited accounting knowledge, I've made two assumptions: 1) The Cash Ledger credit/debit double entries are just two sides of the same partner disbursement transactions, i.e. they are not record of M's note repayment itself; and 2) the monthly note repayment would likely be a lump sum and thus easy to spot. Since I'm not finding the latter, that leaves either me misinterpreting the cash ledger's double entries; the note repayments are being listed elsewhere that I haven't found yet, or that they are coming directly out of the LLC's revenues, hence not showing as a separate entry.

Any light anyone can shed on how a loan repayment such as I've described it should show on the monthly statements will be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

paraclete
Aug 13, 2012, 06:43 PM
The question is why are you researching the accounts of a company?

Entries in the books of account can have two sources
The entries in the cash book or ledger account for the bank accounts and the general journal where no cash has actually moved.

Since you have access to the ledger you should be able to identify the repayment transactions in the debtor Partner M's account and follow through from there. To trance it to the bank account and then determine whether there are transactions disbursing to or crediting the other Partners which appear related.

In accounting you should not make assumptions but rely entirely on facts this means you make an extract of relevant transactions and compare outcomes

highstream
Aug 13, 2012, 08:52 PM
Thanks for replying. I'm one of the partners.

I haven't found anything resembling what I'm looking for in any place but those I mentioned, which is why I asked, just in case someone might have an idea I hadn't thought of. Looking again at deposits in the Bank Reconciliation page, nothing even approximating what I'm looking for shows. Probably means it's not there.

My choice of the word "assumption" was not exactly what I meant, at least for credits and debits. Nonetheless, everyone with some knowledge starts with working assumptions and hypotheses and tests them against what they are seeing. Otherwise, an accounting statement, for example, is just an assortment of numbers. Assumptions aren't the problem, rather it's the inability to articulate one's assumptions and put them out there for evaluation too.

paraclete
Aug 13, 2012, 09:45 PM
I have suggest a place for you to start; the entries in the debtors loan account, these will lead to a source document either a journal or a cash book and from there you can find the other side of the entry. You could ask for explanations from your bookkeeper or accountant

highstream
Aug 13, 2012, 10:02 PM
I don't have direct access to anything but the LLC statements and cash projections. I will be raising it with the lawyer and accountant involved. Thanks for your thoughts.