Sage bank reconciliation works differently in the two main products. In Sage 50, you open Account Reconciliation from the Tasks menu, enter the statement date and ending balance, and clear each item until the unreconciled difference is zero. In Sage Intacct, rules match imported bank transactions to ledger entries, and you review what the rules leave over.
Sage 50 bank reconciliation, step by step
Sage 50 reconciles from one window, Account Reconciliation, opened from the Tasks menu. You choose the account, enter the statement's closing date and ending balance, record fees and interest, and clear each item that appears on the statement. The work is finished when the unreconciled difference reads 0.00.
Sage's help page, Reconcile an Account (Bank Statement Reconciliation), gives the sequence. Menu labels vary between editions and regions, so compare against your own version.
- If you use batch posting, post to the General Ledger first, so the transactions you need are in the account.
- Open Tasks, then Account Reconciliation, and choose the account.
- Enter the statement's closing date as the Statement Date. Only transactions dated on or before it are listed.
- Enter the Statement Ending Balance printed on the statement.
- Enter any interest earned, with its date and an income account that is not the account you are reconciling. Sage saves it as a general journal entry.
- Enter any service charges the same way, with an expense account.
- If the account takes electronic bank imports, check the Imported Interest and Imported Charges amounts, and delete duplicates or bank errors.
- Tick the Clear box for each item that is on the statement.
- Match unmatched imported bank records to existing transactions and clear them, or delete them if they are duplicates or errors.
- If lump-sum beginning balances leave outstanding items, enter them with the Beginning Transactions button, so they can be cleared when the bank pays them.
- Add anything missing, such as a check or receipt, with Add New, then clear it.
- When the unreconciled difference is zero, select OK.
Stopping partway
You do not have to finish in one sitting. If you stop, select OK and exit; Sage keeps the items you cleared and the reconciliation information, and you can resume later. This is useful when you need to chase a missing item before you can finish.
The first reconciliation
An account that has run for months before its first reconciliation has outstanding checks and deposits from before your start date. Enter them as beginning transactions so they appear in the list. If you leave them out, the first statement will not agree, and the difference will equal the net of those items.
Sage Intacct bank reconciliation and its matching rules
Sage Intacct reconciles a bank or credit card account by running matching rules against imported bank transactions. A rule tells Intacct how to pair a bank line with a transaction already in the ledger. You group rules into a rule set, assign the set to the account, and review whatever the rules do not pair.
Sage Intacct's help page, Matching and creation rules FAQs, sets out the main points:
- A reconciliation that uses an import or bank feed needs a rule set. Intacct states that you cannot reconcile such an account without one.
- Every matching rule needs a matching condition for Amount. You can add others, such as a document number.
- Matching rules go before creation rules in the set, and the most specific rules go first within each group.
- Rules run when you open the reconciliation page, import a bank file, receive feed transactions, and automatically every four hours.
- A posting-date condition can allow a window, for example within two days.
- Grouping can match several ledger transactions to one bank transaction, but only if the filters are set correctly.
- A transaction that you manually unmatch is not re-matched by the same rule. To retry it, add a new rule with the right configuration.
Matching rules and creation rules
Matching rules pair a bank line with an existing entry. Creation rules build a new entry from the bank line, for example a monthly fee that has no ledger entry yet. Because creation rules can post to the books, review what they create, at least for the first few months. A creation rule that is slightly too broad can book a charge to the wrong account every month until someone notices.
What the rule order does
Order decides which rule claims a line first. Put the narrowest rule, such as amount plus document number, at the top. A broad rule, such as amount within a few days, belongs near the end. For the general trade-off between strict and loose windows, see the guide on how match tolerances work.
The two products side by side
| Step | Sage 50 | Sage Intacct |
|---|---|---|
| Where you start | Tasks, then Account Reconciliation | The account's reconciliation page |
| Setup before reconciling | Account, statement date, ending balance | A rule set assigned to the account |
| Bank fees and interest | Entered in the window, saved as journal entries | Entered by hand, or booked by a creation rule |
| How items are cleared | You tick the Clear box on each item | Rules match; you review and match the rest |
| Imported bank data | Imported interest and charges reviewed in the window | Imported file or bank feed, matched by rules |
| Duplicates and errors | Deleted from the imported records | Reviewed among unmatched items |
| Done when | Unreconciled difference is 0.00 | Every bank line is matched, created or explained |
Why won't the Sage bank reconciliation balance?
A Sage reconciliation does not balance when the entries you cleared total something other than the statement says. Check a short list of causes: a wrong opening position, a missing or duplicated item, a transposed amount, or an item cleared that is not on the statement. Find it by narrowing the difference.
Work from the size of the difference:
| Difference looks like | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Equals one transaction | An item missing from the books, or cleared in error | Search for that exact amount on both sides |
| Equals twice a transaction | An item on the wrong side, or a duplicate | Look for the same amount posted twice |
| Divisible by 9 | A transposed pair of digits | Compare amounts digit by digit |
| Equals a fee or interest amount | Fee or interest not entered | Reread the statement's summary box |
| Equals the net of old items | First reconciliation without beginning transactions | Enter the beginning transactions |
| Changes each time you open the window | Transactions edited since last time | Check recent edits to cleared items |
The divisible-by-nine test
When two digits swap, the difference between the right and wrong amounts is a multiple of 9. A difference of 45.00 could be 54.00 recorded as 45.00. This is arithmetic, not a Sage feature, and it works in any system.
Imported duplicates
An electronic import can bring in a line that you already entered by hand. In Sage 50, the reconciliation page asks you to delete duplicates among imported records. In Intacct, Sage's FAQ warns that unmatching a duplicate made by a creation rule makes the rule create it again, so inactivate or fix the rule before you delete the duplicate. Before you delete anything, confirm on the statement that the line occurs once. The guide to finding duplicate transactions on bank statement lines shows how to tell a real repeat charge from a double posting.
What not to do
Do not post a plug entry to make the difference disappear. A plug balances the screen and hides the cause, and the next month it will still be in the ledger as an item no one can explain. Find the difference or record it as an open item with a note.
Sage reconciliation reports to keep for the file
Keep three things each month: the bank statement as received, the reconciliation report showing the cleared and uncleared items, and a note for every exception. The statement is the evidence from outside; the report is your proof that the books agree with it; the notes show you looked at what did not.
Sage's help page links to a Current Account Reconciliation report in Sage 50, but does not describe printing it as part of the reconciliation steps, so confirm in your edition where to print it. For Intacct, save the reconciliation results and the list of items matched by rule or by hand.
A clean month's file contains:
- The statement PDF, unchanged.
- The reconciliation report as of the statement date, showing the ending balance, cleared items and the reconciling items still open.
- The list of outstanding checks and deposits in transit, with dates.
- A short note on every adjusting entry, naming who approved it.
- The initials and date of the person who prepared it, and of the person who reviewed it.
Layout
The layout of the reconciliation itself, with the bank side and the book side adjusted to a common figure, is covered in the guide to the bank reconciliation statement format. Adopt the same layout every month so a reviewer can compare one month to the next.
Where a tool helps
PreciseBankFlow foots each statement PDF and lists duplicates and gaps as exceptions you can export to Excel or PDF for the file; the sign-off stays yours. It is opening in small groups, and you can request a spot.
Can you reopen a Sage bank reconciliation after posting?
The Sage help pages read for this guide say what you can change during a reconciliation, but not how to reopen one that is complete. In Sage 50 you can unclear items while you work. Whether you can undo a finished reconciliation depends on your edition and version, so check Sage's current help before you try.
What the Sage 50 page does confirm is that partial work is saved. If you select OK partway through, your cleared items stay, and you resume later. That is the safe route when you realise a problem before finishing.
If you must change a finished month
Whatever your edition allows, follow the same discipline:
- Back up the company data first.
- Record why the change is needed, and who approved it.
- Change the fewest items possible, and prefer a correcting entry in the current period over rewriting a closed one.
- Rerun the reconciliation report and replace the one in the file, keeping the old copy marked as superseded.
The same idea, reopening a closed reconciliation and what it disturbs, is worked through for another product in the guide to unreconciling in QuickBooks Online. For the general method of adjusting both balances until they agree, read the section on steps 4 to 7 of reconciling a bank statement. If you also run QuickBooks, reconciling in QuickBooks Online shows the screens there.