A bank reconciliation checks the balance ZyncLedger holds for one of your bank accounts against the balance on your bank statement, then ties off the two so they agree. You work down the account's transactions, tick each line that has cleared your statement, and watch the difference between the two balances fall to zero. When it agrees, you complete the reconciliation, which marks those lines as cleared and locks them so the settled history cannot drift. The bookkeeper or the accountant usually runs reconciliations, typically once a month when the statement arrives.
Reconciling does not create an accounting entry or move any balances. It is a checking and locking step: it records which of the account's lines have cleared the bank, and protects them from later edits. (The one exception is an optional bank charge you can add while reconciling, which does post; see Record bank charges while you reconcile below.)
Find bank reconciliations under Finance → Bank Reconciliations.
Before you start
- The account you reconcile must exist in your Chart of Accounts with an account type of Bank. Only Bank accounts can be reconciled here; Cash accounts cannot.
- Have your bank statement for the period to hand. You need its closing date and its closing balance, and you match against the transactions it lists.
- You need the Create Bank Reconciliation permission to start and work on a reconciliation, granted per user under Permissions. View Bank Reconciliation lets you open a completed one, and Undo Bank Reconciliation lets you reverse one. See Users, seats & permissions.
Reconcile an account
Start a new reconciliation
Open the bank reconciliations list and select New Bank Reconciliation. A short panel opens to set up the reconciliation.
Choose the bank account
Select the Bank Account (required). The list offers only accounts of type Bank. If a draft reconciliation already exists for that account, ZyncLedger tells you and lets you continue it rather than start a fresh one.
Set the reconcile date and closing balance
Fill in the two figures that come from your statement:
Field What it does Reconcile Date (required) The statement's closing date, the date you are reconciling up to. It must be later than the date of the account's last completed reconciliation. Opening Balance Filled in for you and not editable. It is the closing balance of the previous completed reconciliation for this account, so each reconciliation starts where the last one ended. Closing Balance (required) The closing balance shown on your bank statement. This is the figure you are working to match. Add a bank charge (optional)
If the statement shows a bank fee you have not recorded yet, you can enter it here. Fill in the Bank Charges Amount, and then the Bank Charges Account it should be charged to (required once the amount is above zero). Leave both blank if there is nothing to add. See Record bank charges while you reconcile below for what this posts.
Open the reconciliation
Select Start to open the reconciliation screen (or Continue if you are picking up an existing draft). This is where you match the lines.
Tick the lines that have cleared
The screen lists this account's transactions that have not yet been reconciled, split into two columns of debit and credit lines, each showing the date, transaction type, payment method, reference, any cheque details, and the amount. Work down your statement and tick the checkbox on every line that appears on it. Tick a column's header checkbox to select every line in that column at once. Use the search box above each column to find a line by amount, reference, cheque number, payment method, or transaction type.
Watch the difference reach zero
As you tick lines, the summary at the foot of the screen keeps a running total and shows the Difference between your ledger and the statement. When every line on the statement is ticked and nothing is missing, the Difference reads zero and turns green. A non-zero difference means a line is still unmatched, a figure is off, or the statement and your records disagree. You can still correct the Closing Date or Closing Balance here, or adjust the bank charge, if you entered a figure wrong at the start.
Complete or come back later
When the difference is zero and you are satisfied, select Complete Reconcile, then Confirm Complete. The reconciliation is marked Reconciled and its ticked lines are locked. If you are not finished, select Reconcile Later instead: your ticks and figures are saved as a Draft you can reopen and continue from the list.
What completing a reconciliation does
Completing a reconciliation marks each line you ticked as cleared against the bank. It does not post an accounting entry and does not change any balance: the amounts were already recorded when you entered the original receipts, payments, and transfers. Reconciliation only records that those lines have now cleared the bank, and it keeps them from being changed afterwards.
Reconciled lines are locked
Once a transaction's bank line has been cleared on a completed reconciliation, ZyncLedger will not let you change its amount or delete it. This applies to every document that touches the account: bank receipts, bank payments, fund transfers, customer receipts, supplier payments, journals, and any other entry against it. This is deliberate, so that history you have already tied off to the bank stays intact. To correct such a transaction, you first have to undo the reconciliation that cleared it (see Undo a reconciliation below).
Record bank charges while you reconcile
The Bank Charges Amount you can add while setting up a reconciliation is the one part that does post. When you complete a reconciliation that carries a charge, ZyncLedger records the fee as an expense against the Bank Charges Account you chose and reduces the bank account by the same amount, so a fee on your statement that you had not booked is captured in one step. This is a convenience for small bank fees. Leave the charge blank and the reconciliation posts nothing at all.
Undo a reconciliation
If you completed a reconciliation in error, or you need to edit a transaction it has locked, you can undo it. On the bank reconciliations list, select Undo Reconciliation, choose the Bank Account, and confirm. This undoes the account's most recent completed reconciliation: it releases the lines it had cleared (so they can be edited or deleted again) and reverses any bank charge it posted. Undoing needs the Undo Bank Reconciliation permission.
Undo works back from the latest
Undo always reverses the newest completed reconciliation for the account. To unlock a line cleared by an older reconciliation, undo the reconciliations after it first, in reverse order. Once undone, a reconciliation is marked Cancelled and stays on the list as a record.
Tips & gotchas
One draft per account at a time
Each bank account can have only one Draft reconciliation open at a time. If you start a new reconciliation for an account that already has a draft, ZyncLedger offers to continue the draft rather than create a second one, so pick up where you left off.
Each reconciliation carries on from the last
The Opening Balance of a reconciliation is the Closing Balance of the account's previous completed reconciliation, and the Reconcile Date must fall after it. So your reconciliations form an unbroken chain down the account, each starting where the last one finished. This is also why undoing works back from the most recent one.
A non-zero difference means something is unmatched
Aim to finish with the Difference at zero: that is the sign your records and the statement agree. Before completing, chase down a non-zero difference rather than overriding it. Common causes are a statement line you have not recorded yet (add the missing bank receipt, payment, or transfer, then return and tick it), a wrong closing balance, or an amount that differs between your entry and the bank.
Related
- Chart of Accounts is where the bank account you reconcile is set up.
- Bank Receipt and Bank Payment record the money in and out that a reconciliation later clears.
- Fund Transfer and Journal also produce bank lines you match here.
- Customer Receipt and Supplier Payment are locked once their bank line is reconciled.
- Ledger close is the other way past history is locked, by closing a period against edits.
