How to Use Bank Reconciliations in Awditify

Q: What is the difference between "Cleared Balance" and "GL Account Balance"?

The Cleared Balance is the statement beginning balance plus only the transactions you have checked off in this reconciliation. The GL Account Balance is the full balance of the account in your general ledger, including all transactions — both cleared and uncleared.

This guide walks you through every step of reconciling a bank account in Awditify — from starting a new reconciliation, to matching transactions against your bank statement, using AI-assisted matching, and generating a reconciliation report.

What is a Bank Reconciliation?

A bank reconciliation compares the transactions in your general ledger (your books) against your bank statement to make sure they match. The goal is to account for every difference — outstanding checks, deposits in transit, bank fees, or errors — so your books reflect the true cash position of the business.

Getting to the Reconciliations Page

Open the client you want to work with.
In the left sidebar, under Banking, click Reconciliations.

You will see the Reconciliations dashboard, which lists every reconciliation you have started or completed for this client.

The Reconciliations Dashboard

Summary stats

At the top, four cards give you an overview:

Total — the total number of reconciliations.
In Progress — reconciliations you have started but not yet finished.
Balanced — reconciliations that have been completed with a zero difference.
Approved — reconciliations that have been reviewed and approved.

Filtering

Use the Filter by Status dropdown to show only reconciliations of a specific type: In Progress, Balanced, Approved, or Discrepancy.

The reconciliations list

Each reconciliation in the list shows:

A status icon — green checkmark for balanced, amber clock for in progress, red alert for discrepancy.
The account name being reconciled.
The statement end date.
The statement balance from your bank.
The difference between your books and the bank statement. Green means balanced; red means there is a discrepancy.
A status badge — In Progress, Balanced, Approved, or Discrepancy.

Click any reconciliation to open its workspace.

✓ Tip: If the list is empty, you have not started any reconciliations yet. Use the New Reconciliation button to begin.

Starting a New Reconciliation

On the Reconciliations dashboard, click New Reconciliation.
A dialog opens with the following fields:

Select the account

Choose the GL account you want to reconcile from the dropdown. Accounts are sorted with Cash & Bank accounts (those with GIFI code 11.1xx) highlighted at the top and marked with a 💰 badge.

When you select an account, Awditify automatically fetches information about it and pre-fills the form. A green confirmation banner tells you where the auto-filled data came from (your last reconciliation or your bank account data).

Set the statement dates

Statement Start Date — the beginning date of your bank statement period. Changing this recalculates the beginning balance automatically.
Statement End Date — the ending date of your bank statement period. Changing this recalculates the ending balance automatically.

Enter the balances

Beginning Balance — the opening balance on your bank statement. This is auto-filled from your last reconciliation. If this is your first reconciliation for this account, you can edit it freely. For subsequent reconciliations, it is locked and carried forward from the previous one.
Ending Balance — the closing balance as shown on your bank statement. Type this in directly from your statement.

ℹ Info: Balances are formatted with thousand separators as you type. The system stores the raw number value.

Optional: Bank Account Number

You can enter the bank account number (e.g. the last four digits) for reference. This appears on the reconciliation report.

Start the reconciliation

Click Start Reconciliation. You are taken to the reconciliation workspace.

The Reconciliation Workspace

The workspace is where you match transactions from your books against your bank statement.

Balance summary

At the top, a summary card shows the key numbers in a QuickBooks-style layout:

Field

What it means

Statement Beginning Balance

The opening balance from your bank statement.

Statement Ending Balance

The closing balance from your bank statement.

GL Account Balance

The balance of this account in your general ledger as of the statement end date. Shown in purple.

Cleared Balance

Statement Beginning Balance plus all the transactions you have checked off. Shown in blue.

Difference

Statement Ending Balance minus Cleared Balance. Must be $0.00 to finish.

Below the numbers, a status line tells you whether you are ready to finish:

Green: "Ready to finish — Cleared balance matches statement ending."
Red: "Under by X" or "Over by X — clear more transactions."

⚠ Warning: On your first reconciliation, a large difference is normal. Awditify shows a helper panel explaining that your GL balance may differ from the bank statement because not all historical transactions have been cleared yet.

How to reconcile — the core workflow

The goal is simple: check off every transaction that appears on your bank statement. When all statement transactions are checked, the difference becomes zero.

Step-by-step

Have your bank statement open (paper or PDF).
Look at each transaction in the list below the summary.
If the transaction appears on your bank statement, check the box next to it.
If the transaction does not appear on your statement (e.g. an outstanding check that has not cleared yet), leave it unchecked.
Watch the Cleared Balance and Difference update in real time as you check and uncheck items.
When the Difference reaches $0.00, you are balanced.

Understanding the transaction list

Transactions are shown in a table with these columns:

✓ — checkbox to mark the transaction as cleared.
DATE — the transaction date.
REF NO. — the reference number, if any.
PAYEE / DESCRIPTION — who the transaction was with and what it was for.
PAYMENT — the amount if this is money going out (debit). Shown only for payments.
DEPOSIT — the amount if this is money coming in (credit). Shown only for deposits.

Transactions are grouped into two sections:

Prior Periods (amber header) — transactions dated before your statement start date. These may have cleared in the current period. Collapse or expand this section by clicking the header.
Current Period (green header) — transactions dated within your statement period.

Each section shows how many transactions you have checked (e.g. "3 of 12 checked"). Use the Check All / Uncheck All button in each section header to quickly select or deselect all transactions in that group.

✓ Tip: Start with the Current Period section since most cleared transactions will be there. Then check the Prior Period section for any older items that cleared during this statement period.

Transactions already matched elsewhere

If a transaction has already been cleared in a different reconciliation, it is not shown in the list. This prevents double-counting.

Saving Your Progress

You do not have to finish a reconciliation in one sitting. Click Save for Later to save which transactions you have checked. When you return, all your checkmarks are restored.

Saved but unfinished reconciliations appear as In Progress on the dashboard.

Finishing a Reconciliation

Once the difference is $0.00:

Click the green Finish Now button.
Awditify marks all checked transactions as cleared.
You are returned to the Reconciliations dashboard, where the reconciliation now shows as Balanced.

⚠ Warning: Finishing is permanent. Once finished, the cleared status of transactions cannot be changed through this reconciliation. If you made a mistake, you would need to delete the reconciliation and start over.

AI-Assisted Reconciliation

Awditify can use AI to automatically match bank transactions against your general ledger entries, saving you the manual work of checking each transaction one by one.

Running AI reconciliation

In the reconciliation workspace, click the purple AI Reconciliation button.
The AI analyzes all bank transactions and GL entries for this account and period.
A results panel opens showing what it found.

Understanding the AI results

The results panel shows summary stats:

Matched — total transactions the AI found matches for.
Auto (≥90%) — high-confidence matches that are pre-selected for you.
Suggested — lower-confidence matches you may want to review.
Discrepancies — transactions that only exist on one side (bank or GL).
Accuracy — the AI's overall confidence percentage.

Below the stats, a matches table shows each proposed match with:

Apply — checkbox to include this match.
Pass — the AI's matching pass level (P1, P2, P3).
Conf. — confidence percentage. Green for ≥90%, yellow for ≥70%, orange below.
Bank Date and Bank Amount — from your bank feed.
Bank Description and GL Description — so you can verify the match is correct.

Reviewing and applying AI matches

High-confidence matches (≥90%) are pre-selected. You can deselect any you disagree with.
Review lower-confidence matches and check the ones you want to apply.
Click Apply X Matches to clear the selected transactions.

After applying, the workspace reloads with the AI-matched transactions already checked off. You can then manually check off any remaining transactions to bring the difference to zero.

AI discrepancies

If the AI finds transactions on one side but not the other, they appear in the Discrepancies section. Each discrepancy includes a recommendation on what to investigate — for example, a bank transaction with no matching GL entry, or a GL entry the bank has not yet processed.

Viewing the Reconciliation Report

At any time, click View Report in the workspace header to see a formal bank reconciliation report.

Report layout

The report is styled as a professional document (Calibri font) and includes:

Header — "BANK RECONCILIATION" with the client name, account name, and period ending date. If AI was used, an "AI-Assisted Reconciliation" badge is shown.
Reconciliation Summary — the statement beginning balance, plus deposits/credits, less checks/payments, equals the statement ending balance. Also shows the book balance, adjusted bank balance, and difference.
Cleared Transactions — a detailed table of every transaction that was cleared in this reconciliation, with date, reference, description, payment amount, and deposit amount. A totals row is included.
Outstanding Deposits — deposits recorded in your books that have not yet cleared the bank.
Outstanding Checks and Payments — payments recorded in your books that have not yet cleared the bank.
Verification — a formal proof showing:
- Bank side: Statement ending balance plus deposits in transit, less outstanding checks, equals adjusted bank balance.
- Book side: The GL balance. The difference between adjusted bank balance and book balance should be zero.
Footer — prepared by and reviewed by lines with dates.

Exporting and printing

Use the buttons above the report:

Export Excel — downloads an .xlsx file of the report.
Download PDF — downloads a .pdf file of the report.
Print — opens your browser's print dialog. Use this to save as PDF if the download button does not work in your browser.

✓ Tip: The action bar (Back, Export, Print buttons) is automatically hidden when you print, so only the report content appears on paper.

Deleting a Reconciliation

If you need to undo a reconciliation:

Open the reconciliation workspace.
Click Delete Reconciliation.
Confirm the deletion.

⚠ Warning: Deleting a reconciliation unmatches all items that were cleared in it. Those transactions become available for future reconciliations again.

Understanding Reconciliation Statuses

Status

What it means

In Progress

You have started the reconciliation but not finished. Transactions are partially checked.

Balanced

You finished the reconciliation with a $0.00 difference. All checked transactions are marked as cleared.

Approved

A reviewer has approved the balanced reconciliation.

Discrepancy

The reconciliation was finished with a non-zero difference (unusual — typically only happens with specific override scenarios).

Tips for a Smooth Reconciliation

Reconcile regularly — monthly is standard. The longer you wait, the more transactions you have to sort through.
Have your bank statement open side by side with Awditify.
Use the AI Reconciliation button for a head start, especially if you have many transactions.
Check the Prior Periods section for older transactions that may have cleared in the current month.
If you get stuck, click How to Reconcile in the workspace header for a step-by-step refresher.
Save your progress if you need to step away. You can always come back.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between "Cleared Balance" and "GL Account Balance"?

The Cleared Balance is the statement beginning balance plus only the transactions you have checked off in this reconciliation. The GL Account Balance is the full balance of the account in your general ledger, including all transactions — both cleared and uncleared.

Why does my first reconciliation have a large difference?

This is expected. Your GL account may contain transactions from before you started using Awditify's reconciliation feature. As you check off the transactions that appear on your bank statement, the difference will shrink. Awditify automatically creates an opening balance adjustment for the remaining difference when you finish.

Can I edit a completed reconciliation?

No. Once a reconciliation is finished, the cleared status is locked. If you need to make changes, delete the reconciliation and start a new one. The transactions will become available for clearing again.

How does AI reconciliation work?

The AI compares bank feed transactions against your general ledger entries by matching dates, amounts, and descriptions across multiple passes. High-confidence matches (≥90%) are pre-selected. You can review and adjust before applying.

Can I reconcile an account that has no bank feed connected?

Yes. Reconciliations work with both Plaid-connected accounts and manually managed accounts. For manual accounts, use your paper or PDF bank statement and check off the matching GL transactions manually.

What happens to outstanding checks and deposits?

They remain in your books as uncleared. They will appear in the Prior Periods section of your next reconciliation for that account, ready to be checked off when they clear the bank.

Do I need to reconcile every GL account?

You should reconcile any account that receives a bank statement — typically cash accounts (checking and savings). Credit card accounts can also be reconciled against your credit card statement. Income and expense accounts do not need bank reconciliation.