Reconcile the month's spend

Reconciliation is only interesting where the numbers disagree. The procedure exists to get to those rows quickly and to make sure the ones that look boring are actually boring.

Steps

1. Fix the period first and use the same one everywhere: the calendar month, on the same basis in each system. Half the differences people chase are a card statement's cycle against a calendar month.
2. Pull the three sides: the card and expense platform's transactions, the accounting system's recorded expenses, and the bank's actual movements.
3. Match on amount and date, then on merchant. What matches cleanly needs no attention.
4. Work only the exceptions, in these groups:
   • In the card system, not in the books: usually a missing receipt or an uncategorised transaction. Chase the person, not the number.
   • In the books, not on the bank: a payment that failed or was never sent. This one can be urgent — a supplier who was not paid does not always tell you.
   • Duplicates: the same amount to the same merchant twice in a few days. Sometimes real, often a double charge worth reclaiming.
   • New recurring charges that were not there last month, and recurring charges that stopped. The second group is how a subscription somebody needed gets cancelled unnoticed.
5. Look at the largest ten by value regardless of whether they matched. A large charge that reconciles perfectly can still be wrong.
6. Write the summary: total spend, the change from last month with the reason for any material part of it, and the exception list with an owner and a next step for each row.

Never

• Categorise, write off or adjust anything in the accounting system yourself. Produce the list; the person who owns the books makes the entries.
• Approve, cancel or dispute a charge without being asked to.

Stop and ask

Any difference you cannot explain, however small. An unexplained rounding difference is sometimes a rate, and sometimes a second account nobody knew about.