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Bank reconciliation in plain words

What a statement proves, how matching works, and what to do when the two records disagree.

Two records of one money

The books say what the society did with its money. The bank statement says what the bank saw. They are two records of the same money, kept by two hands.

Reconciliation is the proof that the two records agree, line by line, for one stretch of time.

Bring the statement in

The Bank page takes the statement file the bank gives: a CSV, a QIF or an OFX file. The app reads its lines, its dates and its opening and closing balances.

A file imports once, outright. If the file names its account, the name must match the account on the screen, or the import stops.

Matching, line by line

Each statement line is matched to the entry line that made it. The app offers its best guesses first — the amount, a reference the bank carried, the name, the date — and you confirm each match.

One entry can be split across lines, and one line can gather more than one entry. Nothing matches itself.

Lines the books do not hold

A bank fee or interest often stands on the statement before it stands in the books. Each has a one-tap record on its line, which writes the entry and its match together.

Any other line can be recorded from the statement, with its date and amount already filled in.

Finishing the proof

Finishing checks three things. The opening agrees with what came before. Every line is matched. The lines reach the closing balance.

The proof names what the books hold that no statement has taken yet: the outstanding lines, each by name. A proof can go stale if an entry it matched is cancelled. It is then proven again.