Reconciliation

Reconciliation is how you prove your books are right. You take the ending balance printed on your bank statement and compare it with the balance your books show for the same account on the same date. If they match, every transaction is accounted for. If they don’t, the difference tells you something is missing, duplicated or classified wrongly.

1. 1Choose account and period
2. 2Enter the bank balance
3. 3Calculate the difference
4. 4Resolve any gap
5. 5Save the reconciliation

You reconcile one bank account and one statement period at a time, under Accounting → Reconciliation.

Before you start

• You need a role with access to Reconciliation. See Team and roles.
• Have the bank’s statement for the period in front of you: you need its ending date and ending balance.
• Make sure the period’s statements are in Bokapsys, mapped to accounts and posted. Statements still waiting for an account are not in your books yet; see Mapping statements.

Reconcile an account

1. In the Statement details card, choose the bank account or credit card in Select Account.
2. Enter the Statement End Date, the last date on the bank’s statement.
3. Enter the Actual Bank Statement Balance, the ending balance printed on the statement.
4. Click Calculate Difference. Bokapsys shows the Bank statement balance (what the bank says), the System Balance (what your books say, and how many statements it includes) and the Difference (Variance) between them.
5. Read any warnings that appear (see below) and fix what they point to before you continue.
6. If the account balances, you see Account is balanced. No adjustment needed. If not, work through the difference as described in the next section.
7. Click Save Reconciliation.

The reconciliation is added to Reconciliation History below the form, with the bank balance, system balance, difference and status.

When the balances don’t match

A difference is often just timing: payments you have recorded that the bank had not processed by the statement date. These are called in-transit or outstanding items.

1. In In-transit / outstanding statements, tick each statement that had not cleared the bank by the statement date. Or click Auto-detect to let Bokapsys suggest a set of statements that explains the difference.
2. The summary updates: Bank statement balance, the in-transit total, the Adjusted bank balance, the System balance and the Remaining difference.
3. If the in-transit items explain the whole difference, Bokapsys confirms the account is reconciled and no adjustment is needed.

If a difference remains, look for a missing fee or interest charge, a duplicate, or a statement in the wrong account, and correct it at its source. If you need to save the reconciliation before you have found the cause, tick Create an adjustment entry for the remaining difference? Bokapsys records the remaining difference in a reconciliation suspense account, clearly labelled as requiring investigation, so it is not forgotten.

Warnings to act on

Bokapsys warns you about two situations that would make the comparison misleading.

Statements with no Chart of Account yet. If any statements up to the end date have not been mapped to an account, Bokapsys tells you how many. Saving the reconciliation locks them, so map them in Mapping Statements first if they still need classifying.

Statements classified to a Cash account. A deposit or payment classified to a cash account is not posted, because it would count the same cash twice. That means it is missing from the System Balance. Bokapsys lists these statements and their total in red. Reclassify each one to what it really is (a deposit is usually income, a loan or money from the owner, never “Cash”), post it, and calculate again.

Credit cards

A credit card is reconciled the same way, but against its liability balance, which is the amount you owe the card company. Enter the balance owed from the card statement as the Actual Bank Statement Balance.

What saving does

When you save a reconciliation:

• Every statement for that account up to the end date is marked as reconciled and locked, so it cannot be edited, re-classified or deleted by accident. This is what keeps a reconciled period reconciled.
• If you chose to create an adjustment, it is recorded at the statement end date.
• You cannot save a second reconciliation for the same account and date.

Undo a reconciliation

To change a statement in a reconciled period, undo the reconciliation first.

1. In Reconciliation History, find the reconciliation.
2. Click Undo and confirm.

Bokapsys unlocks the statements and removes any adjustment the reconciliation created, so you can make corrections and reconcile again. If the adjustment was posted in a period that has since been closed, reopen the period first.

Payments received and sent

If you use invoicing or bills, Bokapsys lists Customer payments received (last 90 days) and Vendor payments sent (last 90 days) up to the statement end date. Check each against the bank statement: a payment listed here but missing from the bank is a likely cause of a difference.

Related

Mapping statementsMake sure every statement has an account before you reconcile.

Transfers and cashHow transfers between your own accounts are handled.

Posting settingsMake sure statements reach the ledger.

Year-End CloseClose the year once every account is reconciled.