Reconcile Bank Statements

Bank reconciliation is the month-end check that every transaction in your books agrees with the bank’s record. IntBooks matches most bank lines to the payments you’ve recorded. This article covers the full routine: importing the statement, matching, handling the leftovers, and checking the closing balance.

Why reconcile?

Reconciliation catches three kinds of error:

1. Missed entries: money that moved in the bank but was never recorded in IntBooks, or the reverse
2. Duplicate entries: the same transaction recorded twice
3. Amount mismatches: typos or currency conversion differences

A clean reconciliation means your book balance, adjusted for timing differences, equals your bank statement closing balance.

Step 1: Get the bank statement

Download the statement for the period from your bank’s online banking as a CSV, OFX or MT940 file. See Add your bank account and import statements for the formats and how to import them. IntBooks doesn’t have direct bank feeds yet, so every reconciliation starts from an imported statement.

Step 2: Record the statement

Go to AR/AP → Bank Reconciliation and click Import Statement. Enter:

• the bank account;
• the statement date;
• the opening balance and closing balance from your bank statement;
• the currency, which must match the bank account.

Step 3: Run Auto-Match

Click Auto-Match on the bank account. IntBooks compares each bank line with the customer receipts and supplier payments you’ve recorded, and checks the direction (money in or out). It scores each pair on:

• Amount: an exact amount match counts most;
• Date: the same day scores highest, and within three days still scores;
• Reference: a full or partial match of the payment reference.

Pairs that score well enough are recorded as proposed matches, each with a confidence score. Check them before you rely on the reconciliation.

Step 4: Match the remaining lines

Lines still in the Unmatched tab need one of two actions:

• Match to an existing payment. If the receipt or payment is already recorded but didn’t auto-match (for example, the amounts differ because of bank charges), match it by hand.
• Record it first, then match. For customer receipts or supplier payments you haven’t recorded yet, record the payment in IntBooks and then match. For bank fees and interest, post a journal entry:

Transaction type	Debit	Credit
Bank service fee	Bank Charges (expense)	Bank account (asset)
Transfer fee	Bank Charges (expense)	Bank account (asset)
Interest received	Bank account (asset)	Interest Income (revenue)

Matched lines move to the Reconciled tab.

Step 5: Identify timing differences

Some transactions are valid but appear in only one record because of timing:

• Outstanding cheques: cheques you’ve issued that the bank hasn’t cleared yet (in your books, not yet on the statement).
• Deposits in transit: deposits recorded in your books on the last day of the month that the bank cleared the next day (in your books, not yet on the statement).
• Direct debits you haven’t recorded: on the statement but not in your books. Record these now.

Note the outstanding cheques and deposits in transit. They should clear, and match, in next month’s statement.

Step 6: Check the closing balance

Once every line is matched or explained, check that the balances agree:

Statement closing balance       RM 50,000.00
- Outstanding cheques            RM  3,200.00
+ Deposits in transit            RM  1,500.00
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Adjusted statement balance       RM 48,300.00
Book balance (bank GL account)   RM 48,300.00
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Difference                       RM      0.00

A zero difference means the reconciliation is clean. Keep a copy of this working, together with the statement, for your records and your auditor.

Step 7: Investigate any difference

If the difference isn’t zero, look for:

• bank lines matched to the wrong payment;
• payments recorded in your books with no bank line (they may belong to another period, or be duplicates);
• bank lines you haven’t matched or recorded;
• foreign currency conversion differences.

Fix the cause, for example by recording the missing entry or correcting the payment, and check the balances again.

Common issues

Auto-Match paired the wrong payment

Undoing a match isn’t available in the app yet during the closed beta, so contact support. Auto-Match relies on amount, date and reference, so two payments of the same amount on nearby dates can be confused. Clear references on your recorded payments help avoid this.

The bank amount differs from the recorded payment by a small amount

This usually means bank charges were deducted, or a foreign-currency payment was converted at a different rate. Record the difference with a journal entry (bank charges, or a foreign exchange gain or loss), then match.

I imported the same statement twice

When you import a statement file, lines already imported for that account are skipped, so duplicates shouldn’t appear. If you entered transactions by hand as well as importing them, remove the manual duplicates.

This month’s opening balance doesn’t match last month’s closing balance

Your statement’s opening balance should equal the previous statement’s closing balance. If it doesn’t, check whether you skipped a statement, or whether a transaction in the earlier period was changed after you reconciled it.

What’s next?

• Add your bank account and import statements: statement formats and import
• Run monthly payroll: salary payments show up on the bank statement for matching
• Submit an e-invoice to MyInvois: invoices whose payments you’ll match here