Settle differences in bank reconciliation

To ensure your accounts are accurate, you should reconcile your bank transactions against your bank statements. You should reconcile your bank account each time you receive a statement.

As you reconcile your bank transactions against your statement, the difference between your statement end balance and the reconciled balance reduces. Once you have matched all of your transactions, the difference should be zero.

If the difference is not zero, there are some things you need to verify.

Step 1: Ensure the bank account is correct for the statement you're reconciling

If the bank account is not correct, transactions will not match those on your statement. The bank account appears at the top of the Bank Reconciliation page.

If the account is incorrect, click Cancel, click the correct account, and start the reconciliation again.

Step 2: Verify the statement date matches your bank statement

Only transactions up to the statement date that have yet to be reconciled appear on the Bank Reconciliation page. If the statement end date is too early, some transactions may be missing. If it is too late, some extra transactions may be included.

If the statement date is incorrect, change it and click Apply.

Reconcile the additional transactions as necessary and check the difference is now zero.

Step 3: Verify the statement end balance date matches your bank statement

If the statement end balance you entered does not match the end balance on your statement to the bank, you cannot reconcile the difference to zero.

If the statement end balance is not correct, enter the correct value in Statement End Balance, click Apply, and check the difference is now zero.

Step 4: Verify you have matched the correct transactions for the correct values

When you reconcile your bank statement, you must match the transactions exactly as they appear on your bank statement. If you have grouped some transactions together (for example, you made two or more payments to the same vendor but when entering them you put them in as an other payment as a lump sum), you must make sure you select the correct transaction.

If you have included a transaction in error, clear the Reconciled check box for the relevant transaction.

If required, you can unreconcile all transactions and start the reconciliation again. To do this, on the Interest and Charges menu, click Unreconcile All Entries.

Step 5: Ensure you have entered any bank interest or charges correctly

To enter interest or charges

  1. Click Interest and Charges.
  2. Enter information and click Save.

To change interest and charges

  1. Clear the Reconciled check box next to the interest or charge.
  2. On the Finish menu, click Save for later.
    Note:

    You cannot change a bank reconciled transaction, so you must clear the reconciled check box before you save the reconciliation.

  3. Edit or delete the transaction as follows:
    • To edit the transaction, click the transaction, edit details as required, and then click Save.
    • To delete the transaction, select the check box and then click Delete.

You can now access the saved reconciliation from Reconcile and check the difference is zero.

Step 6: Check for missing transactions that appear on your bank statement but not on the Bank Reconciliation page

The Bank Reconciliation page includes transactions for this bank account up to your statement end date that have not already been reconciled.

If you have completed the previous steps and both the bank account and end balance are correct, check you have entered the transaction.

If required, on the (WARNING: if you click on Finish the reconciliation is complete and cannot be undone!) Finish menu, click Save for later. Alternatively, you can cancel the reconciliation and start it again.

Step 7: Have you previously started a reconciliation and saved it for later?

If you previously started a reconciliation and then saved it for later, you must check the statement date and end balance are still correct. If they are not correct, change them as required, and then click Apply.

If you have entered any additional transactions, or deleted any, since you started the reconciliation, this changes the transactions available to reconcile. You should check the reconciled transactions still match your statement.

After you have checked all of the information in this article, the difference should be zero. If the difference is not zero, you may want to unreconcile all transactions and start the process again. To do this, on the Interest and Charges menu, click Unreconcile All Entries.

Step 8: Is this your first reconciliation?

If this is your first reconciliation, it may be possible that you entered the incorrect opening balance.

The opening balance that you entered for the bank account is correct. Ensure that you compare the opening balance of your bank account to the bank balance to ensure that they are the same. You can check this by going to the Settings menu, under Opening Balances, click Bank Opening Balances.

If you notice that the opening balance is incorrect, update the balance in the debit/credit field for the relevant bank account and click Save. You can now go back to the reconciliation screen and verify that the difference is now zero.