General Banking Operations of Sonali Bank PLC.

Abstract

This report, ―General Banking Operations, Accounting Practices, and Financial Reporting of Sonali Bank PLC,‖ is prepared as a mandatory requirement for the completion of my Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree with a major in Accounting. My primary goal is to critically examine the day-to-day general banking operations and how they translate into formal accounting records and financial statements at Sonali Bank PLC over the past five years (2021 2025). The report begins by providing a comprehensive background on Sonali Bank PLC, highlighting its unique position as a major state-owned commercial bank in Bangladesh. It explores the bank's organizational hierarchy, its complex Chart of Accounts, and the rigorous internal controls embedded within its Core Banking System (CBS), specifically the "Maker-Checker" dual authorization principle. A significant portion of this report is dedicated to my practical hands-on experience during the 90-day internship. I detail the core mechanics of branch-level accounting, including front-desk cash voucher processing, end-of-day (EOD) cash balancing, and the daily maintenance of the General Ledger. Furthermore, I document the complex reconciliation processes involving the Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACPS) and the Inter-Branch Transit Account (IBTA), noting the practical challenges of suspense account management. In the analytical segment, I dig into the bank's financial reporting framework. The report evaluates Sonali Bank's compliance with the Bank Companies Act 1991, Bangladesh Bank’s strict provisioning circulars, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), with a special focus on the transition to IFRS 9. By analyzing key accounting figures—such as Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), Net Interest Margin (NIM), and the Cost-to-Income Ratio—the numbers reveal that while Sonali Bank maintains a massive and solid deposit base, its bottom-line profitability is heavily squeezed by mandatory loan loss provisions for legacy Non Performing Loans (NPLs) and high operating overheads. In the findings, I lay out both where the bank's accounting controls are strong and where it has room to improve, particularly pointing out bottlenecks in manual inter-branch reconciliation. I wrap up with practical, accounting-based recommendations—such as deploying automated reconciliation software, shifting to strict cost-center budgeting at the branch level, and aggressively recovering bad loans to trigger provision reversals. All in all, Sonali Bank PLC stands out as a structurally massive and vital institution, and by modernizing its accounting technology and strictly adhering to updated IFRS guidelines, it can significantly enhance its financial transparency and profitability.