Bank Reconciliation

What Is Bank Reconciliation?

Bank reconciliation is the process of matching the transactions in your TimelyChurch records to the transactions on your bank statement. This ensures that your books accurately reflect what the bank shows and helps you catch errors, missing transactions, or unauthorized charges.

TimelyChurch provides a guided reconciliation wizard that walks you through the entire process step by step.

Before You Begin

Before starting a reconciliation, gather the following from your bank:

• Statement date -- The ending date of the bank statement you are reconciling.
• Statement ending balance -- The final balance shown on the bank statement.

Also make sure all transactions for the statement period have been entered in TimelyChurch. This includes any deposits, checks, electronic payments, and bank fees.

Finding Reconciliation

Open Accounting from the Finances area, then look at the tab bar across the top of any Accounting page. Reconciliation lives in the dropdown menu at the end of that tab bar:

• In Advanced mode the menu is labelled Setup ▾.
• In Simple mode it is labelled More ▾.

Open the dropdown and click Reconciliation. (Reconciliation is available in both Simple and Advanced modes.) This opens the Bank Reconciliation page, which lists your reconciliation history.

Starting a New Reconciliation

1. Open the Reconciliation page (see Finding Reconciliation above).
2. Click Start Reconciliation in the top-right corner.
3. On the Start Bank Reconciliation screen, select the bank account you want to reconcile (only asset-type accounts are listed).
4. Enter the statement ending date from your bank statement. It defaults to the last day of the prior month -- change it to match your statement.
5. Enter the statement ending balance from your bank statement.
6. Click Continue to Mark Items.

TimelyChurch will automatically calculate the beginning balance. If this is your first reconciliation for the account, the beginning balance is the account's opening balance. For subsequent reconciliations, it uses the ending balance from the most recent completed reconciliation.

Note: You can only have one reconciliation in progress at a time. If you already have one in progress, the Start Reconciliation button is replaced by a Continue Reconciliation button, and trying to start a new one sends you back to the in-progress reconciliation so you can finish or cancel it first.

The Reconciliation Wizard

After starting a reconciliation, you will see the reconciliation wizard with two main sections:

Transaction List

All unreconciled transactions for the selected account up to the statement date are displayed. For each transaction you can see:

• A checkbox to mark it cleared
• Date
• Num (reference/check number, if any)
• Description
• Payment and Deposit amounts (shown in separate columns)

Reconciliation Summary

A row of summary cards at the top of the wizard shows real-time calculations:

• Beginning -- The starting point (from the previous reconciliation or the account's opening balance).
• + Deposits -- The total of all income transactions you have marked as cleared.
• - Payments -- The total of all expense transactions you have marked as cleared.
• = Calculated -- Beginning + Deposits - Payments.
• Statement -- The ending balance you entered from your bank statement.

Below the cards, a large Difference card shows the Statement balance minus the Calculated balance. This must reach $0.00 before you can finish the reconciliation. In Simple mode this card is worded more gently -- it reads "Not matched yet" until the amounts agree, then switches to "Matched!"; in Advanced mode it reads "Difference" and "Balanced!" respectively.

Step-by-Step Process

1. Compare each transaction on your bank statement to the transactions listed in the wizard.

2. Click on a transaction to mark it as cleared. The transaction will be highlighted and the reconciliation summary will update immediately.

   • If you accidentally clear a transaction, click it again to unmark it.

3. Watch the Difference amount in the summary panel. As you clear transactions, the difference should approach $0.00.

4. If the difference is not zero, check for:

   • Transactions on the bank statement that have not been entered in TimelyChurch (e.g., bank fees, automatic payments, interest earned). Enter these as new transactions, then return to the wizard and clear them.
   • Transactions in TimelyChurch that are not on the bank statement (these are outstanding -- leave them uncleared).
   • Amount discrepancies -- compare individual transaction amounts between your records and the bank statement.

5. When the difference reaches $0.00, the Finish Reconciliation button becomes active. Click it to finish. (Until the difference is zero, this button stays greyed out.)

Completing the Reconciliation

When you click Finish Reconciliation:

• All cleared transactions are permanently marked as reconciled.
• Each reconciled transaction receives a reconciled date.
• The reconciliation record is saved with the final balances, the person who completed it, and the completion date.
• Reconciled transactions are protected from accidental deletion.
• The reconciled period is locked. Any transaction inside the reconciled date range cannot be edited or deleted. This includes outstanding (uncleared) transactions dated before the statement date -- if you need to remove one, you must first unreconcile the period or create a reversing entry in a later period.

Important: Once a transaction is reconciled through a completed reconciliation, it cannot be deleted. This protects the integrity of your historical records. If you need to reverse a reconciled transaction, create a new offsetting entry instead.

Outstanding-items lock: Outstanding (uncleared) transactions dated within a completed reconciliation's period are also locked from deletion. They are expected to clear in a future reconciliation, not be removed. If a check is voided or a deposit was never made, create a reversing entry rather than deleting the original.

Cancelling a Reconciliation

If you need to abandon a reconciliation in progress:

1. Click Cancel Reconciliation at the top of the wizard page, then confirm in the Cancel Reconciliation? dialog. (Choose Keep Working if you change your mind.)
2. All cleared transaction marks from this reconciliation session will be removed.
3. No transactions will be marked as reconciled.
4. The reconciliation record is saved with a "Cancelled" status for your records.

You can start a new reconciliation at any time after cancelling.

Viewing Reconciliation History

The Reconciliation page (reached via the Setup ▾ / More ▾ dropdown in the Accounting tab bar) opens directly to a list of all past reconciliations. Use the All Accounts filter at the top, then click Filter, to narrow the list to one bank account. Each row shows:

• Account name
• Statement date
• Statement ending balance
• Status (Completed, In Progress, or Cancelled)
• Who completed it and when

Downloading a Reconciliation Report

For completed reconciliations, you can download a PDF report:

1. Open the Reconciliation page.
2. Find the completed reconciliation in the history list.
3. Click the Report button (download icon) at the end of that row. (Rows that are still In Progress show a Continue button instead.)

The PDF includes the account name, statement date, beginning and ending balances, and a list of all cleared transactions. This is useful for your records or to share with a finance committee or auditor.

Tips for Successful Reconciliation

Reconcile monthly. The best practice is to reconcile each bank account as soon as you receive the monthly statement. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to find discrepancies.

Enter all transactions first. Before starting a reconciliation, make sure you have recorded all bank fees, automatic withdrawals, interest earned, and any other transactions that appear on the statement.

Do not skip months. Each reconciliation builds on the previous one. Skipping a month means the beginning balance for the next reconciliation may not match, making it harder to balance.

Check for outstanding items. Transactions left uncleared at the end of a reconciliation are outstanding items -- checks that have not been cashed, deposits in transit, etc. These should clear on a future statement.