Bank reconciliation

Bank reconciliation is the monthly ritual that proves your books match your bank account. The treasurer opens the bank statement, walks through each transaction, confirms each one exists in the system, and locks the period when both sides agree to the cent. Home Herald’s reconciliation flow does this in one screen, per account, with a live diff banner so you know when you’re done.

Where to find it

Manage > Accounts in the admin sidebar. On the row for the account you want to reconcile, click the Reconcile button (emerald, with checkmark icon).

The table view swaps for a scoped reconciliation workspace. The account is locked (you can’t accidentally reconcile against the wrong one), and there’s a Back to Accounts link at the top to return.

The four step flow

Step 1: Pick the period

The default period is last full calendar month (so opening the flow on May 5 defaults to April 1 to April 30). You can change it via the date pickers, or use the quick pick buttons that show the last 3 months by name.

The period should match the period your bank statement covers. Most US bank statements cycle calendar month, so the defaults usually match.

Step 2: Enter the bank statement balances

Two fields:

• Statement Opening Balance (what your bank statement says was the starting balance for this period)
• Statement Ending Balance (what your bank statement says was the ending balance)

If you’ve reconciled prior months, the system will warn you if the opening balance you typed doesn’t match the prior closed reconciliation’s ending balance. That mismatch usually means a record was edited after the prior period closed, which means you’ll need to investigate before you can reconcile this period.

Step 3: Tick the matching transactions

The lower portion shows every cash event in this account that hasn’t been reconciled yet. Each row has a checkbox.

Walk through your bank statement line by line:

1. Find the matching row in the system.
2. Check the checkbox.
3. The “Cleared” balance at the bottom updates immediately.
4. Continue until every line on your bank statement is ticked.

The system shows a live banner at the bottom:

• Cleared = your starting balance + the impacts of the rows you’ve ticked (this is what your books say)
• Statement = the ending balance you typed in
• Difference = Statement minus Cleared (should be zero when reconciled)

When Difference is $0, you’re balanced.

Step 4: Close the period

Once Difference is $0, the Close [period] button becomes active (emerald). Click it.

The system confirms the action (“Close April 2026 reconciliation for BoA Checking?”), then atomically:

• Creates a Reconciliation record with the statement opening, ending, system ending, and the IDs of every ticked transaction.
• Stamps each ticked transaction with a reconciliationId and reconciledAt. This is the soft lock.
• Clears the picker and unticks everything for the next period.

You’ll see a success toast.

What if the difference isn’t zero?

The most common reasons:

• A bank line you didn’t tick: check the bank statement for any line you missed.
• A bank line that’s not in the system: bank service charges, interest earned, ATM withdrawals, missed vendor payments, wire fees. Use the Add Adjustment button (top right of the transaction list) to add these inline. The new record auto ticks itself, so your difference will resolve immediately.
• A typo in the opening or ending balance: re check both numbers against the statement.
• An outstanding check: a check you issued in this period but the bank hasn’t cashed yet. Don’t tick it. It’ll appear as a carry forward in the next period when the bank shows it.

Add Adjustment: the discrepancy fixer

Click the + Add Adjustment button at the top right of the transaction list during reconciliation. The modal asks:

• Direction: Money In (rare, e.g. interest earned) or Money Out (common, e.g. bank service charge)
• Date (constrained to the statement period)
• Amount
• Description (e.g., “Bank service charge - April”)

On Save, the new record is added and auto ticked. Your diff updates immediately. This is how to handle bank fees, interest, missed bills, or any other transaction that’s on the statement but not yet in the system.

Money Out adjustments default to category Administrative. You can re categorize them later in Manage > Transactions if you want better expense categorization.

Outstanding (carry forward) transactions

Sometimes a check issued in March doesn’t clear the bank until May. In May’s reconciliation, that March check still appears in the list (because it was never reconciled), tagged with an amber Outstanding chip and a slightly tinted row background. Tick it the same way as any other transaction.

This is how Home Herald handles the gap between book date and bank cleared date without losing track of anything.

Locked transactions: the soft lock

Once a reconciliation is closed, every ticked transaction has reconciliationId set. In the Transactions tab, those rows show a RECONCILED chip with a padlock icon. You can still edit them (no hard block), but if you do, you’ll see an amber warning at the top of the detail modal explaining that editing will throw the closed period out of balance.

If you decide to edit anyway, you should also reopen the affected reconciliation and re reconcile.

History tab

In the reconciliation workspace, there are two tabs: New Reconciliation and History.

The History tab shows past closed reconciliations for this account, most recent first. Each row shows:

• The period (e.g., “April 2026”)
• The closing balance ($96,079.51)
• How many transactions were matched
• Who closed it and when

Two buttons per row:

• PDF: download a reconciliation report (account, period, opening, ending, list of all matched transactions, signing user, page numbers). Useful for board files or auditor packets.
• Reopen: undo the close. Asks for an audit reason (logged on the reconciliation doc), then unstamps every transaction’s reconciliationId and marks the doc as REOPENED. Use this if you discover a missed transaction after closing.

Tips for fast reconciliation

• Have your bank statement open in a separate window. The flow works best with both side by side.
• Tick the easy ones first: large unique amounts (rent, big vendor bills) are quick matches.
• Tick all the matching dues at once: if you collected 38 dues payments via Stripe, they’re probably all in the system already, in chronological order. Use the “Tick all” button if you trust they all match.
• Check the running diff frequently: the closer it gets to zero, the easier the remaining work.
• If you hit a $5 or $15 difference: it’s almost always a bank service charge or wire fee. Add Adjustment > Money Out > Administrative.

Common questions

“My bank statement shows a Stripe Payout of $2,341.27. The system shows 12 individual Stripe payments totaling $2,500 and 12 processing fees totaling $158.73. They net to $2,341.27. How do I reconcile this?”

Tick all 12 payments and all 12 fees in the system. Their net contribution to the cleared balance ($2,341.27) will match the bank’s payout line. Period level reconciliation works because the totals tie out, even though the bank lumps them and the system doesn’t.

“Can I reconcile two months at once?”

No. Reconcile one period at a time. The system enforces this so the audit trail is clean.

“What if I closed a reconciliation by mistake?”

Use the Reopen button on the History tab. You’ll be asked for a reason (gets stored on the reconciliation doc for the audit trail), then the period unlocks and you can re tick from scratch.

“Does Home Herald connect directly to my bank?”

Not currently. You enter the statement opening and ending balances manually, and the transaction list comes from records already in the system. Plaid integration is a possible future enhancement, but volunteer treasurers reconcile manually fine.

What’s next

• Once a period is closed, the totals lock into your monthly P&L (which uses the same date range).
• Print the reconciliation PDF and file with your meeting minutes for the audit trail.
• Keep an eye on the cash position summary on Manage > Dashboard between reconciliations to spot anomalies early.