# General Ledger Reconciliation Software: What to Require - Author: PreciseBankFlow (https://www.precisebankflow.com) - Published: 2025-01-18 - Updated: 2025-01-18 - Category: Choosing reconciliation software - Canonical: https://www.precisebankflow.com/blog/general-ledger-reconciliation-software > What general ledger reconciliation software should do: subledger tie-outs, aging, reviewer workflow and evidence, and when a spreadsheet is enough. General ledger reconciliation software compares each balance sheet account in the ledger with an independent figure: a subledger, a bank statement or a schedule. It should list every reconciling item with its age, route the account to a reviewer, and keep the support beside the sign-off. For a few dozen accounts, a disciplined spreadsheet often does the same job. ## What should general ledger reconciliation software tie out? General ledger reconciliation software ties the ending balance of each ledger account to a second figure that was produced somewhere else. A tie means the two numbers agree once every listed reconciling item is added or taken away. If an unexplained gap remains, the account is open, whatever its status label says. The second figure depends on the account. Cash ties to a bank statement. Accounts receivable ties to an aged customer listing. Fixed assets tie to a register. Accruals tie to a schedule someone built from invoices or contracts. Prepaid expenses tie to an amortization table. A tool that only offers one kind of comparison, usually ledger against ledger, cannot handle that range. ### Three numbers on every account Each account in a reconciliation tool should show three figures side by side: 1. **The ledger balance** at period end, read from the trial balance rather than typed. 2. **The source balance**, from the subledger, statement or schedule. 3. **The reconciling items**, each with an amount, a description and a date. The account ties when the ledger balance plus or minus the reconciling items equals the source balance. Ask a vendor how the tool shows that arithmetic. You want to see it on one screen, not reassembled from three reports. ### What does not count as a tie Two things look like a tie and are not. The first is a balance that agrees because someone typed the source figure to match the ledger. The second is a reconciling item labelled "difference" or "to be researched" that carries the whole gap. Good software makes both visible, by locking imported figures and by flagging items with no support. A reconciling item can also carry the opposite sign from the one you expect. [Negative reconciling items and what they usually signal](/blog/negative-reconciling-items) covers how to read them before you accept the tie. ## Subledger tie-outs in GL reconciliation software A subledger tie-out proves that a control account in the general ledger equals the total of the detail behind it. GL reconciliation software should pull that detail from the subledger report, total it, and show any difference against the control account, rather than asking someone to retype a subtotal from a printout. The common subledgers are receivables, payables, inventory and fixed assets. In each case the control account in the ledger should equal the subledger total at the same cutoff. Differences arise for ordinary reasons: a manual journal posted straight to the control account, a subledger closed a day later than the ledger, or a currency revaluation booked on one side only. ### Questions to ask about the import - Does the tool read the subledger report as a file, or does someone key the total? - Does it record which report, run at what time, produced the figure? - Can it show the detail lines, or only the total? - What happens when the report is rerun after a late posting? Does the old figure stay in the history? ### Accounts that cross entities Some balances tie to a second ledger rather than a subledger. Amounts due to and from related companies are the usual example, and they bring currency, timing and elimination questions of their own. That work is large enough to deserve its own tool review, covered in [what intercompany reconciliation software should handle](/blog/intercompany-reconciliation-software). ## Aging open items inside general ledger account reconciliation software Aging means counting how long each reconciling item has been open, usually from the date it first appeared on the reconciliation. General ledger account reconciliation software should carry an item forward from month to month with its original date intact, so a reviewer can see an item that has sat for six months instead of a fresh entry each period. The failure mode here is quiet. If each month starts from a blank page, a preparer can re-enter an old item with this month's date, and it looks new. The account still ties, but the item has stopped being a timing difference and become a write-off nobody has proposed. ### Age bands that prompt action Most firms group items into bands and attach an action to each. A sample set: - **Under 30 days:** normal timing. No action beyond clearing it next month. - **31 to 90 days:** the preparer explains why it has not cleared. - **Over 90 days:** a reviewer decides whether to correct, write off or escalate. These bands are an example. Choose yours from how quickly items in each account should clear. A check outstanding for 60 days is ordinary. An accrual difference of the same age usually is not. ### What the tool should do with old items The software should sort and filter by age, show the first-seen date, and keep a history of every comment on the item. A useful extra is a report of all items over a chosen age across every account, because that one page is what a controller or an auditor asks for first. ## Preparer and reviewer workflow in balance sheet reconciliation software Balance sheet reconciliation software records who prepared each account, who reviewed it, and when. That record is the control. Without it, a finished reconciliation is a spreadsheet anyone could have changed, and the review becomes a matter of trust rather than evidence. The basic flow has four states: not started, prepared, reviewed and reopened. An account moves to prepared when the preparer signs it. It moves to reviewed when a different person approves it. It moves to reopened when either person changes a figure after sign-off, and it should need both signatures again. ### Rules the workflow should enforce 1. The preparer and the reviewer cannot be the same person on the same account. 2. A signed account cannot change without returning to an earlier state. 3. A reviewer can reject an account with a note, and the note stays in the history. 4. Each signature carries a name and a timestamp that the user cannot edit. ### Assigning accounts Larger teams assign accounts by risk. High-risk accounts, such as cash, suspense and anything with manual journals, go to experienced preparers and get a full review. Low-risk accounts with stable balances may get a lighter review. The tool should let you mark risk per account and filter the review list by it. If it cannot, risk-based review drifts back into reviewing everything at the same depth, or nothing at all. ## Which evidence should GL reconciliation software attach to each account? GL reconciliation software should store the source document for the second figure, plus support for every reconciling item over a set size. A reviewer should be able to open the account and see the subledger report, the statement or the schedule without leaving the tool or asking the preparer for a file. ### An evidence and requirements checklist The table below lists requirements to test during a trial. The test questions are examples. Adjust them to your accounts. | Requirement | Why it matters | Test question for the vendor | | --- | --- | --- | | Trial balance import | Removes keyed ledger figures | Can I reload the trial balance after a late journal and see what changed? | | Subledger file import | Proves the source total | Does the account keep the report file and its run time? | | Item carry-forward with first-seen date | Exposes stale items | If I delete and re-add an item, does the original date survive? | | Attachments per item | Supports each difference | Can an item over a threshold be blocked until a file is attached? | | Preparer and reviewer separation | Enforces the control | What happens if one user tries to sign both roles? | | Change history after sign-off | Shows reopened work | Can I see the old and new figure for every edit? | | Exportable workpaper | Lets auditors read it | Does the export include attachments or only the summary? | ### Bank accounts are their own case Cash accounts take more effort per account than most, because the source is a bank statement that must first be read and footed before any comparison means anything. A general ledger tool usually expects someone to supply a clean statement balance. PreciseBankFlow works on that statement side: it extracts each line from the PDF, checks that the opening balance plus activity equals the printed closing balance, and lists duplicates and check number gaps as exceptions. It does not tie out other ledger accounts, so it sits beside a GL tool rather than replacing one. Accounts with heavy check activity add a further layer, and [what check reconciliation software matches](/blog/check-reconciliation-software#what-check-reconciliation-software-matches-issued-versus-paid-checks) explains issued versus paid lists. ## When a spreadsheet beats general ledger reconciliation software A spreadsheet beats general ledger reconciliation software when the account list is short, the balances are stable and one or two people do all the work. In that setting, the setup and subscription cost more than the control they add, and a locked template with a sign-off block covers the same ground. ### Signs a spreadsheet is enough - Fewer than about 40 balance sheet accounts, most of them reconciled quarterly. - One preparer and one reviewer who sit near each other. - Few manual journals and no subledger that closes on a different day. - Auditors who accept a workbook with linked support files. ### Signs it is not - Items are re-keyed each month and their ages are lost. - Nobody can say which version of the workbook was reviewed. - The close waits on one person who knows where every file lives. - Cash reconciliations alone take a day because statements arrive as PDFs. ### Automating the workbook first There is a middle step. Many teams add macros or formulas to an existing workbook before they buy anything, for example to pull the trial balance and flag unmatched lines. [Bank reconciliation in Excel with automation macros](/blog/bank-reconciliation-in-excel-with-automation-macros) shows what that looks like for cash, and the same approach extends to other accounts. If the macros become fragile, or only one person can maintain them, that is a sign the team has outgrown the spreadsheet. If your bottleneck is the bank statement side rather than the ledger, you can [request early access to PreciseBankFlow](/get-started) and test it on a month of your own statements.