Q.A student preparing a Bank Reconciliation Statement starting from the Pass Book balance mechanically copied the SAME 'Add'/'Less' treatment used in a Cash-Book-starting statement for the identical set of reconciling items. Explain what error this causes, and state the correct rule.

Every 'Add' becomes a 'Less' and every 'Less' becomes an 'Add' when the starting point is switched from the Cash Book to the Pass Book — copying the same signs produces a balance that is wrong in both directions at once.

A Bank Reconciliation Statement starting from the Cash Book balance and one starting from the Pass Book balance are simply two different ROUTES to the SAME two numbers — one route explains 'how do I get from the Cash Book figure to the Pass Book figure', the other explains 'how do I get from the Pass Book figure to the Cash Book figure'. Since these are opposite directions of travel, every single item's treatment must also be opposite.

If a student mechanically keeps the same 'Add'/'Less' treatment while switching the starting balance, the reconciliation will not land on the correct other balance at all — each item's effect is applied in the SAME direction as before instead of being reversed, so the resulting statement fails to prove the two balances are consistent, and instead produces a meaningless third figure that matches neither the Cash Book nor the Pass Book. …

This IS the common mistake being tested — always sanity-check a Pass-Book-starting BRS by reasoning through at least one item from first principles (which side has already recorded it, and is therefore relat …