Reconcile your bank account

A bank reconciliation checks your bank statement against your own records, line by line. When every line on the statement is matched to a receipt, payment, transfer or journal in Business Sensor, you know two things: your books have recorded everything the bank did, and the bank balance in your books is right.

Do it once a month for each bank account, as soon as the statement is available.

Before you start

• You need permission to post Journal Entries.
• Download the statement for one period (usually one month) from your internet banking. CSV, Excel (.xlsx) and OFX/QFX ("Money" / "Quicken" format) files all work. If you only have a printed statement, you can type the lines in instead.
• Have the statement's opening and closing balance to hand.
• Record the month's receipts, bill payments, expenses and transfers first. The fewer missing entries, the faster this goes.

Steps

1. Go to Accounting → Bank Reconciliation and click the bank account. Its card shows the balance in your books and when it was last reconciled.
2. Click New statement.
3. Choose Upload the bank file and pick the file, or choose Type the lines in.
4. For a CSV or Excel file, check Which column is which? Business Sensor guesses from the column headings. You need a Date column and either one Amount column (money out shown as minus) or separate Money in and Money out columns. Leave balance columns as not used.
5. Click Check the lines. Nothing is saved yet. Lines with a problem are shown in red and left out. Lines that are already on another statement are shown in yellow and left out unless you untick the box.
6. Check the period (From, To) and enter the Opening balance and Closing balance exactly as printed on the statement.
7. Click Save and match. Every line whose amount matches a transaction in your books within a few days is matched straight away.
8. Work through the To do list:
   • Match: pick the transaction(s) the line belongs to. Same-amount transactions near the date are listed first. Tick several if the bank shows them as one line, for example one deposit of three receipts. Use the search box to find older items, such as a cheque written last month.
   • Create journal: for things only the bank knows about, such as bank charges, interest, SMS alerts, stamp duty or a direct debit. Choose the other account (for example Bank Charges) and click Record and match. The journal is dated on the line's date.
   • No entry: only for lines that are not real money movements, such as a "balance brought forward" line or a bank error reversed on the same statement. You must say why.
9. When the Lines done bar is full and the statement adds up, click Finish reconciliation. The statement is locked.
10. Click Reconciliation statement to see, and print or save as PDF, the report for your files. It lists your book balance, deposits the bank has not shown yet, payments not yet presented, and the difference. The difference should be zero.

Tips

• The bank kept a fee from a deposit? Match the full receipt to the line. The line then shows the fee as "still to explain". Click Create journal to record the fee against Bank Charges.
• Match automatically can be run again at any time, for example after you record missing receipts. Widen dates within if your bank posts cheques slowly.
• Reconcile in order, month by month. A new statement should start with the previous statement's closing balance, and Business Sensor warns you if it doesn't.
• Click the arrow on a matched line to see which transactions it was matched to.
• A cheque you wrote that the bank hasn't paid yet is normal. It shows on the reconciliation statement as a payment not yet presented and will match on next month's statement.

Common problems

• "Finish reconciliation" is greyed out. The reasons are listed below the button:
  • The statement does not add up. The opening balance plus the lines doesn't equal the closing balance. Click Balances to correct a mistyped balance, or Add a missing line at the bottom of the list.
  • Lines are not matched yet. Match them, create a journal, or mark them No entry.
  • Matched to a transaction that has since been changed or deleted. See below.
• A line says "Check again". Someone edited or deleted the receipt, payment or transfer after it was matched, so the amounts no longer agree. Click Unmatch to fix, then match the line again.
• The difference on the reconciliation statement is not zero on my first reconciliation. Your books and the bank disagreed before this statement started, for example cheques from before then that the bank had not paid, or an opening balance that was never entered. The report shows the amount. Record it as a journal, or start from an earlier statement.
• I can't find the transaction to match. It may not be in your books yet. Record it on its own screen (Receipts, Pay Bills, Fund Transfer) and then click Match again. It may also already be matched on another statement, in which case it is shown greyed out.
• "Create journal" says it needs approval. Your company requires approval for journals. The journal is sent to an approver. When it is approved, come back and Match the line to it.
• All my amounts came in with the wrong sign. Some banks show money out as a positive number. Tick My bank shows money out as positive and click Check again.
• I need to change a reconciled statement. Click Reopen and say why. The reason is kept on the statement. Finish it again when you are done.
• Dates look wrong (e.g. 3 October instead of 10 March). Dates are read day-first (31/12/2025). If your bank exports month-first dates, export the file as Excel instead, or change the date format in your spreadsheet before uploading.