Finance
Reconciliation
Reconciliation is the process of matching recorded transactions against an external statement, usually a bank or card statement, to confirm the accounts are complete and accurate. An account is reconciled when the book balance agrees with the statement balance.
In plain terms: Checking your records match the bank's, and finding out why if they do not.
Why it matters
The step that turns bookkeeping from data entry into assurance. An unreconciled account can be missing revenue, duplicating expenses, or hiding a fraudulent payment, and none of that surfaces until someone matches the two.
Read the full guideBookkeeping