Reconcile the bank statement with the books

When to use

The weekly reconciliation of bank statements against the books. Not for the full month-end pack — that is money.month-close, which consumes this run's result. Not for chasing customers who have not paid — that is money.chase-overdue-invoice; here an unpaid invoice is only a matched open item.

Before you start

• All company bank accounts are connected or their statements are exportable (CSV/MT940) for the period.
• Last week's reconciliation is closed or its open items are listed — start from those first.
• Nobody books into the week while it is being reconciled; freeze the period for the run.

What a run requires3

The trail7 steps

1. S1

   Export and load the statementsagent

   Export each account's statement for the period, load it into the money module, and note each account's closing balance as the bank states it.

   Done when every account has a statement and a bank closing balance recorded.

2. S2

   Match the obviousagent

   Match statement lines to ledger entries by amount and reference: customer payments, supplier payments, payroll, taxes, card transactions, transfers between own accounts.

   Done when every line is matched, or carries one tag: duplicate · timing · unknown.

3. S3

   Book what the bank knows and the books do notagent

   Draft entries for bank fees, interest, currency differences and any direct debit the books missed.

   Done when each drafted entry has account, amount, date, and the statement line it came from.

4. S4

   Decide the differencesownerneeds approval · owner

   Approval · S4 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Present every unmatched and drafted line: what it is, what the proposed correction is, what it does to VAT. The owner decides each: correct the books, correct the ledger entry, or park it with a reason and a date.

   Done when no line is left without a decision.

   ⛔ A difference "solved" by booking the balance difference to a suspense account without a reason is not solved — it is moved.

5. S5

   Apply the decisionsagent

   Post the approved corrections in the money module. If a correction touches a period whose VAT return is already filed, do not edit it — draft the correction in the current period and flag it for money.vat-return-lv.

   Done when every approved correction is posted and every parked item has an owner and a review date.

6. S6

   Prove the balancesagentneeds approval · ownerirreversible

   Approval · S6 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

   Irreversible · S6 — an agent never closes it alone

   Compare each account's books balance to the bank balance as of the same date. If any account does not agree, go back to S2 — do not accept a rounding difference above ⚠ verify the materiality the company has set (management.decision-record).

   Done when books balance = bank balance for every account, shown on one line per account.

   ⛔ Posting a correction into a filed VAT period is a declaration change, not a bookkeeping fix — route it through S5's flag instead.

7. S7

   Record and hand backagent

   File the reconciliation note: period, per-account balances, corrections posted, parked items. Add a task for each parked item (bc tasks add). Send the owner a three-line summary: accounts, agreed or not, what is parked.

   Done when the reconciliation note is filed, every parked item has a task, and the owner has the three-line summary.

Checks — how we know it worked

• For each account, read back both balances from their sources: the bank's closing balance from the statement, the books balance from the ledger — not from the reconciliation screen.
• Every statement line has exactly one ledger match — search the ledger by amount to catch a duplicate before trusting the match.
• No parked item is older than ⚠ verify the carry-over limit set in the company's month-close rules (internal recipe).
• The week's customer payments reconcile to the invoices they pay; a payment with no invoice is an S4 item, never a matched line.

If it goes wrong

What each step leaves behind

1. S1every account has a statement and a bank closing balance recorded.
2. S2every line is matched, or carries one tag: duplicate · timing · unknown.
3. S3each drafted entry has account, amount, date, and the statement line it came from.
4. S4no line is left without a decision.
5. S5every approved correction is posted and every parked item has an owner and a review date.
6. S6books balance = bank balance for every account, shown on one line per account.
7. S7the reconciliation note is filed, every parked item has a task, and the owner has the three-line summary.

Evidence to keep

Statement files for the period · per-account balance proof (bank vs books) · the corrections posted, with the S4 decision each came from · parked items with owners and dates · the reconciliation note id.

How this playbook improves

After every 8 runs ask: how long did the run take, and did it grow with transaction count or stay flat? How many parked items were created, and how many were still parked a month later? Were any corrections posted after a VAT return was filed? A new version changes the step that created the parking or the late corrections, and says so in its change note.