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Reconcile a bank or credit card statement

Tick the register off against the statement until the difference reads $0.00. Your ticks save as you go, so a reconcile can wait for tomorrow.

1. Open ReconcileIn Books & Payroll, go to Banking and click Reconcile. Any reconcile already in progress shows at the top with "Continue reconciling" and "Discard."
2. Begin with the statement in handUnder "Begin reconcile," pick the Account, enter the Statement date, and type the Ending balance ($) exactly as the statement prints it (for a credit card, what you owe). Click "Start reconciling."
3. Tick what the statement showsEvery line not yet on a finished reconciliation is listed, money in on one side and money out on the other, the way QuickBooks lays the window out. Tick each line that appears on the statement. Lines the bank already confirmed through a Match Transactions import come ticked.
4. Tick a month in seconds"Check all" and "Clear all" do what they say, and "Tick every line containing" a word (the gas station, the payroll memo) ticks the regulars at once; then untick the stragglers.
5. Lines after the statement date"Hide lines after the statement date" is on by default, so next month's transactions stay out of the way. Untick it if you need to see them.
6. Watch the mathAbove the list: Beginning balance, Checked, Cleared balance, Statement balance, and Difference. You are done when Difference reads $0.00.
7. If it will not come to zeroSomething on the statement is not in the books, or is entered differently. Click "Match transactions" right there: it takes the bank's CSV, OFX, or QFX file, adds what is missing, and brings you back with your ticks kept. Or click Leave and come back later; Discard throws the ticks, the date, and the balance away.
8. FinishClick "Finish reconcile." A "Review before finishing" panel shows the statement date, beginning balance, items ticked, cleared balance, statement balance, and difference. Click "Finish reconcile" again to record it, or "Go back" to the list.
9. Undo, and starting freshThe Reconcile page lists every finished reconciliation, and the latest one for each account has an Undo. If old history will never match (years of uncleared lines from a previous system), "Start fresh from a statement" draws a line: enter the Account, the Statement date, and the Balance that day, click "Start fresh," and everything before it is set aside.