Reconciling bank statements with system records has always been one of the more repetitive tasks during month-end closing. It often involves checking transactions one by one, finding the corresponding entries in the system, and combining multiple cheques or payments that were banked in together. The new Auto Bank Reconciliation function in AutoCount Accounting v2 is designed to take over the repetitive part of that work while still giving you full control over the tricky cases.
How it works
- Import your bank statement — the function currently accepts both PDF and CSV bank statement formats, so you don’t need to manually retype figures from a printed or downloaded statement.
- Automatic matching — once imported, the system automatically compares statement transactions against your ledger entries and re-matches them where it finds a clear match.
- Matched vs. unmatched view — the screen is split for clarity (Matches are identified using a match score based):
- Matched transactions appear on the right side, showing each bank statement line paired with its corresponding system document.
- Unmatched/unknown transactions that AutoCount Accounting v2 can’t confidently match (e.g. a rounding difference, a combined deposit, or a transaction not yet entered into the system) are listed at the bottom, so they stand out and can be review.
Handling the exceptions
For the transactions that don’t auto-match, you’re not left to figure it out manually from scratch:
- Manual Match — click the three-dot menu on a bank statement transaction, choose a document from the list, and match it yourself. Useful when the system can’t determine the match on its own (e.g. similar amounts, unclear descriptions).
- Combine Match — when several transactions in the bank statement correspond to a single document in the system, you can combine them into one match. A common example: one Official Receipt in the system against several partial payments shown separately on the bank statement.
How the Scoring Match Works
Auto-matching is not a simple amount lookup. The system first requires the transaction amount to match exactly, then applies a scoring model across three criteria to determine whether the match is reliable enough to be confirmed automatically.
1. Date Score
The closer the bank statement date is to the corresponding system document date, the higher the score awarded:
| Date Difference | Score |
|---|---|
| Same day (0 days) | 17 pts |
| 1 day | 16 pts |
| 2 days | 15 pts |
| 3 days | 14 pts |
| (score decreases by 1 point per additional day) | … |
| 14 days | 3 pts |
| Under 30 days | 2 pts |
| Over 30 days | 1 pt |
2. Cheque Number Score
- 15 points if the cheque number appears in the statement’s Cheque No. column
- 10 points if it appears instead within the Reference or Description column
3. Description Score
Up to 10 points, based on the number of meaningful keywords shared between the statement description and the system record. Generic terms (e.g. “payment,” “transfer”) are excluded from scoring to preserve accuracy.
Total Score = Date Score + Cheque Score + Description Score
A transaction is confirmed as Matched once the combined score reaches 26 points or higher.
For greater flexibility, the Precise Matching option can be disabled, which lowers the matching threshold to 13 points and removes the requirement that the bank statement date fall on or after the document date. This is useful when statement postings are consistently delayed or occasionally precede the transaction date. However, as the threshold is more lenient, matched results under this mode should be reviewed with additional care to avoid false positives.
The rest of the process stays the same
Auto Bank Reconciliation is an enhancement layered onto the existing Bank Reconciliation module it doesn’t replace the core process. Key points to keep in mind:
- Reconciliation is done per bank account, under G/L > Bank Reconciliation, by adding a reconciliation entry against a defined Bank Statement Date.
- If you’re setting up reconciliation for the first time on an existing account book, you’ll need to record any uncleared transactions from prior years once, so the system has a starting point.
- The reconciliation screen compares the Actual Bank Statement Balance (the closing balance printed on your statement) against the System Bank Statement Balance (calculated from your ticked/matched entries) — the goal is to get the Difference to zero.
- You can filter the list by date range, show only unticked (unreconciled) items, or show items reconciled on other dates, to make review easier.
- Bank Slip is still available for combining multiple cheques or receipts into a single line for reconciliation purposes (this doesn’t affect the underlying ledger entries) useful when several receipts were banked in together as one lump-sum deposit.
- Once reconciled, you can preview and print the Bank Reconciliation Statement in one of two formats (starting from bank balance or starting from book balance), and generate the Bank Reconciled Transaction Report.
In short: import your statement, let the system auto-match what it can, resolve the leftover items with manual or combined matching, and finish the reconciliation the same way you always have just with far fewer transactions left to check by hand.