Bank Reconciliation

Bank reconciliation is the process of matching transactions from your bank statement against entries in your general ledger. This ensures that your books accurately reflect your actual bank activity and helps you catch discrepancies early.

Why Reconcile

Confirm that every bank transaction has a corresponding entry in your books.
Identify missing entries, duplicates, or errors.
Detect unauthorized transactions or bank fees you may have missed.
Maintain accurate cash balances for reporting.

Accessing Bank Reconciliation

Open Reconcile in the Accounting workspace sidebar. Select the bank account, then choose the period — a month close or a custom date range. The scope header shows the entity, the account, and an unreconciled badge with how many bank transactions still need work for this client.

The Worksheet Flow

Bank reconciliation in Kraal is a statement-style worksheet: you tie the statement ending balance to the book balance, then work the differences down to zero.

1. Enter the statement ending balance

Enter the ending balance from the bank statement and click Save statement balance. The saved balance is shared for that account and statement date, so every reviewer ties out against the same control total.

2. Preview the worksheet

Click Preview dry run. Preview loads the worksheet without posting anything:

Bank side — the statement ending balance, plus deposits in transit, less outstanding checks, giving the adjusted bank balance.
Book side — the book balance at the statement date and the adjusted book balance.
Difference — the remaining gap between the two sides. A fully reconciled worksheet shows a zero difference.

Outstanding deposits and outstanding checks are itemized below the balances so you can see exactly what is still in transit.

3. Review match suggestions

The Match suggestions panel proposes matches and classifications for unreconciled transactions. Suggestions are read-only and never post anything on their own. When a suggestion points at an existing accounting entry, use Clear against... to reconcile the bank transaction against that entry — the action is approval-gated and posts nothing new.

4. Approve packets and commit

Anything that needs a new posting — a payment entry, a classification, a duplicate repair — is prepared as a review packet that you approve individually. When you are ready, click Commit reconciliation: approved packets are applied and transactions are reconciled after live validation against the books.

You can also let Kraal drive the whole flow from the page header (Let Kraal drive this reconciliation); Kraal proposes each step and waits for your approval.

Run Results

After a preview or commit, summary cards show the outcome of the run:

Status	Meaning
Scanned	Bank transactions the run examined.
Reconciled	Transactions matched and reconciled.
Needs Review	Transactions that need a decision before they can be reconciled.
Errors	Transactions the run could not process.

A mode badge shows whether you are looking at Preview Mode results (dry run, nothing posted) or Applied results (committed). Cleared items leave the unreconciled badge count once the post-apply recheck confirms them — use the badge as your remaining-work indicator for the account.

Continue to period-end account reconciliation

Clearing bank transactions is one part of the period-end control. After the bank worksheet is complete, open the Reconciliation Hub for the same client, entity, and period. Confirm that the account has current support, any timing items are explained, the unexplained difference is resolved, and the required preparer and reviewer signoffs are complete.

A zero bank worksheet difference does not, by itself, prove that the broader account reconciliation and close gate are complete.

Best Practices

Reconcile Regularly

Perform bank reconciliation at least once a month, ideally after all transactions for the period have been posted. Waiting too long makes it harder to investigate discrepancies.

Work Oldest-First

Start with the oldest unreconciled transactions and work forward. Older items are more likely to represent genuine issues that need attention.

Investigate Variances

If a bank transaction amount does not exactly match a ledger entry, investigate before forcing a match. Common causes include:

Bank fees or interest that were not recorded.
Partial payments or split transactions.
Timing differences where a payment was recorded on a different date.
Data entry errors in the original booking.

Post Before Reconciling

Make sure all invoices, payments, and journal entries for the period have been submitted before you begin reconciliation. This minimizes the number of unmatched items and reduces unnecessary investigation.

TIP

Use the reconciliation view as a health check for your books. A zero difference and an empty unreconciled badge at month-end are strong indicators that your accounting is accurate.