Why a bank account doesn't reconcile
This explains what to do if your statement end balance and reconciled balance don't match, and the difference is not zero.
Differences can happen for a few reasons. They’re usually easy to find and correct, even if you’ve got lots of transactions on your statement.
What to look for
When you reconcile you are confirming that transactions in Accounting match your bank statement. If everything matches, the total of all reconciled transactions, added to the starting balance will match the closing balance. To confirm this the difference will zero.
When the difference is not zero, this can be because:
-
The statement end date is not correct
-
The statement end balance is not correct
-
Some transactions have the wrong date
-
The starting balance does not match the opening balance on your bank statement.
-
A previous reconciliation was saved with a difference
-
A previous reconciliation was saved with the wrong date
Check the statement end date is matches the closing date on your bank statement.
Why this is important
On the reconciliation page we only show transactions up the statement end date. This defaults to today's date.
We recommend that you change the statement end date to match the last date on your bank statement, so you only see the relevant transactions.
What to do
Change the statement date and choose Apply
If transactions are still missing, this may be because the date of the transaction in Accounting is different to the date on your bank statement. Use the Activity tab to look for any transactions that you may have entered with the wrong date.
Then, change the statement date to include these in the reconciliation.
Check the statement balance matches the closing balance on your bank statement.
Why do this
The purpose of the reconciliation is for the statement end balance to match the reconciled balance. As you reconcile, we update the reconciled balance to included reconciled transactions. If the statement end balance is not correct, the reconciled balance will also be incorrect.
What to do
If the balances are different, enter the correct balance choose Apply.
Reconcile all transactions and check that the difference is now zero. If so, you are ready to Finish the reconciliation.
If they still don’t match, you either have missing transactions or duplicates. The best way to find the differences is with the Detailed Nominal Activity for your bank account, you can find this in Reporting.
You can then add any missing transactions or reverse any duplicates as appropriate.
Once you’ve corrected the differences, include the changes in your bank reconciliation and you should have a successful reconciliation.
Related articles
Check that the starting balance matches the opening balance on you bank statement
Why do this
Your starting balance is the total of all your reconciled transactions prior to the date you’re reconciling. Every time you reconcile new transactions or delete a previously reconciled transaction, the starting balance updates. If you reconcile earlier or later transactions, the starting balance will not match.
What to do
Check for transactions that you have reconciled incorrectly or deleted.
Check previous reconciliations from the Reconciliations tab. Make sure the end date from your last reconciliation and the starting date for your new reconciliation are consecutive days. If there is a gap, you may have transactions that have not yet been reconciled.
Check for missing transactions or duplicates. The best way to find the differences is with the Detailed Nominal Activity for your bank account. You can find this in Reporting.
Related articles
If you’ve reconciled the correct transactions for that period, this isn’t a problem.
Any differences are not carried over to the next period.
When you reconcile the next period, make sure you enter the correct Statement end balance and check your Reconciled balance matches your bank balance before you complete your reconciliation.
If you missed a transaction that should have been included, you can include the transaction on the next reconciliation or create an additional reconciliation for the same period.
Related articles
Check that all the reconciled transactions match your bank statement and have the correct date. Any unreconciled transactions are included in the next bank reconciliation.
Delete any transactions that have been incorrectly reconciled and enter them again. The value of the deleted transaction is removed from the starting balance. The new transaction is ready to reconcile again.
Related articles
You can only edit certain fields on reconciled transactions. This includes the reference, ledger account and description.
You can change the date s long as it falls with the period of the reconciliation.
To change the amount, bank account or the date to outside the reconciliation period, delete the transaction and re-enter it.
The value of the deleted transaction is removed from the starting balance. The new transaction is ready to reconcile again. We recommend that you reconcile the new transaction straight away to make sure you balances are correct.
We will always show you a pop up message before editing or deleting a bank reconciled transaction, so you can decide if you would like to proceed before it is deleted.
