TODAY we send the statements of accounts to clients. This process is carried out in the last quarter of each year, upon the request of the external auditor, by sending the status of each client's accounts with the bank until the end of October. The status is appended by a letter to be signed by the client to confirm the correctness of the balances included in it, as well as an envelope carrying the external auditor's name and address, the client inserts the signed letter in this envelope, which is sent to the external auditor who counts the number of the clients who have sent the envelope and its attachment to him. He also verifies that their signatures approve on the validity of their balances known as (bien trouvee). If any of the clients has an objection on the correctness of his/her until convinced that the account balances are correct or necessary settlements are carried out in case of errors in the account balance. This procedure is taken upon the request of the external auditor so that the latter is able to verify the validity of the bank's obligations towards its clients through the items of deposits and current accounts, which are considered the largest figures in all the banks' balance sheets. This statement of account differs from the periodic statement of account, which is sent by the bank to its clients upon their request so they can verify the validity of their account balances at the bank. Some clients demand that the bank holds his/her own statement of account until he/she comes to the bank and takes it personally. Some banks do not currently accept the client's request to hold the statement of account till he/she shows up. The statement of account generally contains the name and account number of the client, the type of the account, the type of the currency, the period contained in the account statement, the balance at the beginning and the end of that period between which are the debtor and creditor transactions that have been carried out on this account. The client, whether a natural or legal person, compares the statement of account data to the data available to him through documents he/she keeps or records, in which those transactions are registered in a timely manner. If they are found correct, he/she keeps the statement of account in a file for this purpose. But if they were found incorrect, he/she reviews the debtor and creditor transactions to arrive at the reasons of the difference between these transactions and the ones he/she keeps. According to that he/she contacts the bank and settles those items. One should not think that the bank only sends its clients statements of accounts without being itself a client of another bank. The bank, any bank, keeps its accounts with other banks at home and abroad. Thus, it receives from those banks statements of accounts similar to those received by the clients from the bank, and accordingly it reviews the balance included in the statement of account which can never be identical due to the multiple transactions included in the statement of account because of the multiple mutual constraints between the two banks. The bank, which receives the statement of account, prepares the reconciliation list so that it starts with the balance as it is stated in its own records, and ends up with the balance as it is stated in the account statement sent by the bank. In between there are the transactions, which the bank has credited or debited to the other bank, or the other bank has credited or debited transactions without being disclosed in the records of the bank which received the statement of account. At the end, through communication between the two banks, the two balances are matched. Through modern communication technologies and the SWIFT system, the balances became known among the banks on daily basis. In addition to issuing their instructions electronically to the bank to make transfers, open documentary credits and issuing letters of guarantee. The clients, by participating in e-bank services, can also be sure of their accounts in the bank at any time they wish. The ATM user can inquire about the balance of his/her account, and also he/she gets the balance of his/her account at the bank immediately after each cash withdrawal from that machine. The communication and the information technology (revolution) have created another (revolution) in the dealings of the individuals with the banks, as well as the dealings of the banks with other banks!
