Bank account reconciliation
Comparing the statement balance to the general ledger balance, and evidencing every difference between them.
What a reconciliation establishes
A bank account reconciliation compares two independent records of the same account for the same period: the statement balance reported by the financial institution, and the general ledger balance recorded in the books. The gap between them is the difference (variance).
A difference is not evidence that the bookkeeping is incorrect. Most differences are ordinary timing items. The purpose of a reconciliation is to account for each one, in exact cents, with a source document behind it.
Reconciling items
A reconciling item is a difference with a known explanation. Common categories include:
- Outstanding transactions — recorded in the ledger but not yet cleared by the institution.
- Deposits in transit — received and recorded, not yet shown on the statement.
- Bank charges and interest — applied by the institution and not yet entered in the ledger.
- Unmatched transactions — present on one record with no counterpart on the other.
- Possible duplicates — similar entries within a short window, flagged as candidates for review rather than confirmed duplicates.
Anything that cannot be explained from the documents supplied is reported as a potential discrepancy that requires review — never as a conclusion.
Steps in a reconciliation
- Establish the period and confirm both records cover it.
- Record the statement balance and the general ledger balance.
- Match transactions on date, amount and description.
- Classify each unmatched item as a reconciling item or a potential discrepancy.
- Confirm the explained differences account for the variance to the exact cent.
- Retain the supporting evidence and source document reference for each item.
How FixLedger performs this review
The comparison is deterministic — exact-cent arithmetic, not a model estimate. Each finding carries a review status, a confidence level describing how certain the match is, and a reference back to the source document line it came from. Nothing in your books is changed, and no accounting software or bank account is connected. If only one document is supplied, the report states plainly that no comparison was performed.