When you reconcile a bank account in QuickBooks Online, you answer one question: does QuickBooks agree with the bank? Every transaction on the statement should be in the books, nothing should be in the books twice, and the two ending balances should match to the penny.
It is the single most important monthly step in bookkeeping, because every report you rely on starts from it.
The short answer: to reconcile a bank account in QuickBooks Online, open Settings and choose Reconcile, pick the account, enter the statement’s ending date and ending balance, tick every transaction that appears on the statement, and finish when the difference is 0.00. If it isn’t zero, something is missing, doubled, or recorded at the wrong amount.
What you need
- The bank statement for the month, with its ending date and ending balance.
- The last month’s reconciliation finished, so this month starts from a known balance.
- About half an hour, more if it has been a while.
The steps in QuickBooks Online
- Open Settings (the gear icon) and choose Reconcile.
- Choose the account, and enter the statement’s ending date and ending balance.
- Tick each transaction that appears on the statement, one by one, checking the amounts as you go.
- Watch the Difference at the top. When every statement item is ticked, it should be 0.00.
- Choose Finish now.
Do the same for every bank account, every credit card, and every loan with a statement.
A bank reconciliation example
Here is a simple example of a month that doesn’t balance at first.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Statement ending balance | $18,240.00 |
| Cleared balance in QuickBooks, after ticking everything on the statement | $18,265.00 |
| Difference | $25.00 |
The difference is $25.00, and the books show more money than the bank. Reading the statement again, there is a $25.00 bank service fee that was never recorded in QuickBooks. Once the fee is entered and ticked, the cleared balance drops to $18,240.00, the difference is 0.00, and the month is finished.
Most differences are found the same way: compare the statement and the books line by line, and look for what one has and the other doesn’t.
Try it
Does this month balance?
DifferenceNot entered
Enter both balances, or try the example from this post.
When the difference isn’t zero
Look for these, in this order:
- A missing transaction. Something on the statement was never recorded, often a bank fee, interest, or a transfer.
- A duplicate. The same transaction was entered by hand and also came in from the bank feed.
- A wrong amount. Two digits swapped is a common one: the difference will divide evenly by nine.
- The wrong account. A payment recorded against a different bank account or card.
- A changed past month. Someone edited or deleted a transaction that was already reconciled, so the starting balance moved.
One thing not to do: don’t let QuickBooks add an adjustment just to make the difference disappear. That hides the problem instead of finding it.
Reconciling for the first time
If the account has never been reconciled, start with the oldest statement you have from when the account was added to QuickBooks, and work forward one month at a time. The first one takes the longest. If the opening balance itself is wrong, that is a cleanup question, and worth getting right before going further.
Why monthly matters
A month with one missing transaction takes minutes to fix. A year of them can take days. Reconciling every month also catches problems early: a charge you don’t recognize, a deposit that never arrived, a payment made twice.
Frequently asked questions
No. The bank feed brings transactions in, and QuickBooks can suggest matches, but someone still has to compare the books with the statement and confirm nothing is missing or counted twice.
Usually because the difference isn’t zero yet, or because a transaction from a month that was already reconciled was changed, so the starting balance no longer matches the statement. Find that change first.
Every month, for every bank account, credit card, and loan, as soon as the statement is available.
From the bank statement itself, one month at a time, in order, ticking each item and checking each amount. The bank feed is not a substitute for the statement.
Fix it carefully, and recheck that month. If the year has already gone to your CPA, ask them first.
Start with a conversation
Every account we keep is reconciled every month. If yours haven’t been, request a free consultation. Prefer to call? 781-924-1489.