Business Central Bank Reconciliation

Business Central bank reconciliation matches a client’s statement to its bank-account entries, resolves missing postings and produces a posted statement for review. Use the standalone Bank Acc. Reconciliation route below when you are checking an authorised client company’s bank account.

Check the Client Company and Bank Account

Open the authorised client company in the correct environment before changing a reconciliation. Check the company name against the engagement and bank statement. Record whether you are in the live company or a demonstration environment.

Your client’s administrator must first give you authorised accountant access and permission to perform the work. Microsoft’s accountant access guidance explains the external-accountant arrangement. Access to a company does not by itself authorise a correction to an accepted period.

Open Bank Accounts and select the client’s Bank Account Card. Compare its account identity and currency with the statement. A blank Currency Code means the company’s local currency.

Check the Bank Acc. Posting Group, which links this bank account to its general-ledger account.

Inspect the opening bank-account entries and previous posted reconciliation. The prior statement’s closing balance must support Balance Last Statement. For a first reconciliation, investigate the opening records before accepting a starting balance. Microsoft’s bank-account setup guidance explains why an opening amount needs a bank-account entry.

Record the client’s Business Central version and country version. This procedure uses the standard Bank Acc. Reconciliation page for an Australian client company.

Older North American Bank Rec. Worksheet instructions describe a different route. Use the action names below within your client’s installed page, allowing for menu placement and extensions.

Choose the Reconciliation Route

Use Bank Acc. Reconciliation to match statement transactions against bank-account ledger entries and post the reconciliation. Those entries usually come from payments already recorded in the client company.

The Payment Reconciliation Journal has a different starting job. It applies bank transactions to open customer or supplier entries and posts the resulting payments. Its Post Payments and Reconcile Bank Account action also reconciles the payments posted through that journal. Microsoft’s payment-reconciliation instructions describe that separate sequence.

Before continuing, inspect any payment-journal work for the same account and statement period. Find the existing posting and application before creating another payment. Repeating a payment already posted through either route duplicates the accounting entry.

Continue below on Bank Acc. Reconciliation. If the work still requires customer or supplier payment application, complete the authorised payment-journal procedure separately first.

Import and Match the Statement Lines

Start with the actual bank statement and enter its identity before matching any transactions.

1. Search for Bank Account Reconciliations and choose New. Select Bank Account No. Enter Statement No., Statement Date and Statement Ending Balance from the statement. Check Balance Last Statement against the previous posted result. Enter the statement date before matching, because it limits the eligible bank-account entries.
2. Choose Import Bank Statement and select the statement file. Its format must match the Bank Statement Import Format assigned to this bank account. For a CSV file, the Set up a bank statement file format assisted setup defines the mapping. Inspect imported amounts, signs and references against the source statement before continuing.
3. Run Match Automatically. In Transaction Date Tolerance (Days), enter the justified matching window. Zero or blank searches only the ledger posting date. A wider window searches days before and after that date, which can introduce another same-amount candidate. Open Match Details to inspect the basis for each uncertain match.
4. Match remaining evidenced transactions manually. Select the statement line and the corresponding bank-account entry or entries, then choose Match Manually. Use Remove Match to undo an incorrect pairing. Confirm the Applied indicator and compare the applied total with the statement amount.

Microsoft’s statement import and matching lesson shows these actions. A connected feed needs its own supported bank integration. An Australian account does not automatically have a native feed.

If you are entering statement transactions manually, transcribe the bank’s records. Suggest Lines can provide a starting set from Business Central entries. Remove suggested statement-side lines that the bank has not recorded, and add bank-only transactions. Keep the corresponding ledger entries for genuine outstanding items. A list copied from the books still needs comparison with the bank’s statement.

Fictional Statement Exercise

Assume a client’s statement opens at $10,000. It contains a $1,200 receipt and a $25 bank charge, giving a closing balance of $11,175. Business Central also records a $300 supplier payment that the bank has not yet processed. These invented amounts illustrate the matching task.

Item	Statement and books	Reviewed action
Customer receipt	Both record $1,200 with the same remittance reference	Match the receipt after checking the remittance and bank evidence.
Bank charge	Statement records $25, with no bank-account entry	Post the supported missing charge, then match it.
Incorrect manual match	The preparer pairs the $25 charge with the $300 supplier payment	Remove that pairing. Different amounts and purposes establish that it is wrong.
Timing item	The $300 supplier payment appears only in Business Central	Retain it as outstanding after checking payment evidence and subsequent bank activity.

The receipt has a valid match because its supporting records agree. A suggestion, a coloured line or an Applied indicator alone does not establish that agreement.

Investigate Differences Before Posting

Trace each difference to its source before creating a correction. The next action depends on which record is missing or wrong.

Symptom	Next check	Supported correction
Statement line has no ledger entry	Search the correct account for an existing posting, including payment-journal work	If genuinely missing, post the evidenced transaction through a journal using the bank account. Refresh and match.
Ledger entry has no statement line	Check settlement evidence, period cutoff and whether the payment occurred	Leave a genuine timing item outstanding. Investigate an unmade or erroneous payment separately.
Amount or reference differs	Compare the original document and bank record with the proposed match	Remove a wrong match. Match manually when the evidence establishes the same transaction, or correct the actual posting error.
Statement import appears twice	Compare source-file coverage, transaction references and existing reconciliation lines	Remove only confirmed duplicate statement-side lines from the open reconciliation. Inspect posted entries before any accounting reversal.

5. Create the genuinely missing entries. On Bank Acc. Reconciliation, use Transfer to General Journal and select the practice’s appropriate journal batch. Complete the expense or other account and confirm the bank-account side points to this client’s bank account. Review the amount, posting date and tax treatment before posting the journal. Refresh the reconciliation and match the new bank-account entry.

Microsoft’s manual reconciliation lesson describes transferring bank-only transactions to a journal. In the fictional exercise, this creates the missing $25 charge. The resulting bank-account balance is $10,875 after the outstanding $300 payment.

A direct posting solely to the general-ledger bank account does not create the matching bank-account entry. It can leave the reconciliation unresolved even when a financial report appears balanced. Do not add an unexplained adjustment just to make the difference disappear.

Stop for the responsible practitioner’s approval before changing an accepted period or deciding uncertain tax treatment. Keep the source document, proposed correction and approval with the posting reference.

Post and Check the Completed Reconciliation

Run the reconciliation’s test report and inspect the completed statement after posting. Saving the open page is only a saved reconciliation in progress.

6. Choose Test Report before posting. Include outstanding transactions and inspect each statement line. For this ordinary matching route, resolve statement-line differences to zero. Check that Total Balance equals Balance Last Statement plus Balance To Reconcile. The statement’s ending balance must agree with the bank’s document. Review direct-posting warnings and compare the bank-account balance with the linked general-ledger balance, allowing for the account’s currency.
7. After the reviewer accepts the result, choose Post on Bank Acc. Reconciliation. Microsoft’s posting lesson identifies the test report and posting action. Equal totals alone are insufficient if individual matched lines retain offsetting differences.
8. Search for Bank Account Statement List. Filter by Bank Account No. and Statement Date, then open the posted statement. Compare its statement number and balances with the source. Inspect Applied Amount to see the entries behind a match. Use Print and the outstanding-transactions option to retain the completed Bank Account Statement report.

In the fictional exercise, the test report must show zero matched-line differences. The $11,175 statement balance plus the outstanding payment of negative $300 explains the $10,875 bank-account balance. After posting, retrieve that same statement and confirm the receipt and fee matches. The $300 payment remains outstanding for a later reconciliation.

Microsoft’s posted-reconciliation review guidance distinguishes the posted statement from the working page. Save the period’s evidence when reviewed. Later backdated entries can affect historical outstanding-item details.

If the posted statement is wrong, inspect it before making another entry. The supported Undo action on Bank Account Statement List reopens reconciliation work for correction. Obtain approval and preserve the original evidence first. Undoing reconciliation does not by itself correct an erroneous payment posting.

After reposting an older period, inspect the bank card’s Last Statement No. and Balance Last Statement before the next reconciliation. Microsoft’s undo instructions explain how those values can need attention.

Keep the Evidence Your Practice Reviews

File the bank statement beside the reviewed test report and completed reconciliation report. Include the account identity, currency and statement period, with explanations for outstanding items. Retain correction journals and their approval records.

Record the preparer, checker and practitioner who accepts the work. Give another authorised practice user enough information to locate the same company, account and posted statement. Ask that user to follow the references and identify the unresolved items before handover closes.

Copilot bank reconciliation assistance is optional. Microsoft lists bank account reconciliation assist across supported country versions, including Australian English, in its regional and language availability table. It requires Business Central online and administrator activation. Environment geography and any required data-movement permission also affect access.

Copilot can suggest additional matches and accounts for unmatched transactions. Review those suggestions against the same source evidence before keeping them. Leave Post if fully applied off when your practice requires a separate approval before posting. Microsoft’s Copilot reconciliation guidance explains that keeping proposals can also post when that option is enabled.

The ordinary import, Match Automatically and Match Manually route remains usable without AI. Microsoft’s bank reconciliation assistance FAQ requires users to review suggestions and the test report.

For the underlying workpaper, use the bank reconciliation guide. Carry the accepted result and outstanding-item follow-up into the year-end checklist for bookkeepers, with an owner for each remaining action.