Bank & Credit Card Reconciliation
Period: June 1 – August 31, 2026 · Operating Checking (…4821) & Business Visa (…7734) · Meridian Trust Bank
1 Summary
Both accounts are reconciled for the quarter. The checking account ties out with five reconciling items totalling a net $729.00 adjustment to the book balance; the business credit card ties out with three reconciling items totalling a net $125.00 adjustment. None of the discrepancies indicate fraud — all are timing differences, data-entry errors, or bank-only transactions that hadn't yet reached the books. Full detail and recommended fixes are in Sections 3–5.
| Account | Per bank/statement | Per books (before adj.) | Reconciled balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Checking …4821 | $24,610.12 | $23,918.77 | $24,647.77 |
| Business Visa …7734 (liability) | $4,182.90 | $4,057.90 | $4,182.90 |
2 Operating Checking — Bank-Side Reconciliation
| Balance per bank statement, August 31, 2026 | $24,610.12 |
| Add: Deposits in transit (Aug 29 deposit, not yet cleared) | $1,540.00 |
| Less: Outstanding check #1042 (Aug 24, vendor payment) | ($612.35) |
| Less: Outstanding check #1047 (Aug 30, contractor payment) | ($890.00) |
| Adjusted bank balance | $24,647.77 |
3 Operating Checking — Book-Side Adjustments
| Balance per general ledger, August 31, 2026 | $23,918.77 |
| Less: Bank service charges not yet recorded discrepancy | ($45.00) |
| Less: NSF returned check (customer J. Alvarez, Inv #2231) discrepancy | ($325.00) |
| Add: Bank interest earned, not yet recorded discrepancy | $18.65 |
| Add: Correction — check #1039 transposed in ledger ($650.00 recorded, $560.00 actual) discrepancy | $90.00 |
| Add: Unrecorded incoming wire (customer payment received directly to bank) discrepancy | $990.35 |
| Adjusted book balance | $24,647.77 |
Bank service charges & interest — net $26.35
Root cause: Monthly bank fees and interest post automatically and aren't captured until someone manually reviews the statement.
Recommendation: Add a standing month-end journal entry for bank fees/interest, or turn on bank-feed auto-import in your accounting software so these post the same day they hit the account.
NSF returned check — $325.00
Root cause: Customer J. Alvarez's check (Invoice #2231) bounced on Aug 19; the return was never reversed out of Accounts Receivable.
Recommendation: Reverse the original AR credit, re-invoice the customer including any NSF fee, and consider requiring ACH or certified funds for this customer going forward.
Check #1039 transposition — $90.00
Root cause: Check written for $560.00 to a supplier was keyed into the ledger as $650.00 — a manual transposition error.
Recommendation: Correct the ledger entry down by $90.00. Where possible, move recurring supplier payments to ACH so the amount is pulled from the payment record rather than typed by hand.
Unrecorded incoming wire — $990.35
Root cause: A customer paid an invoice by wire directly to the bank account; because it didn't come through the usual invoicing workflow, it was never entered in the books.
Recommendation: Record as payment against the open invoice it corresponds to (confirmed against remittance memo: Invoice #2248). Enable bank-feed matching so future bank-only receipts are caught same-day instead of at reconciliation.
4 Business Visa …7734 — Reconciliation
| Balance per credit card statement, August 31, 2026 | $4,182.90 |
| Balance per accounts payable ledger, August 31, 2026 | $4,057.90 |
| Less: Duplicate entry — office supplies charge entered twice discrepancy | ($54.00) |
| Add: Software subscription charge, posted but not recorded discrepancy | $89.00 |
| Add: Annual software renewal, missed entirely discrepancy | $90.00 |
| Adjusted book balance | $4,182.90 |
Duplicate entry — $54.00
Root cause: A $54.00 office-supplies charge was manually keyed into the payable ledger, then imported again via a delayed bank feed sync, recording it twice.
Recommendation: Reverse the duplicate line. Reconcile the credit card monthly against the statement rather than entering charges manually as they occur, to avoid double-counting when the feed catches up.
Missed subscription charges — $179.00 combined
Root cause: Two recurring software charges (a $89.00 monthly tool and a $90.00 annual renewal) auto-billed to the card without a corresponding invoice or receipt landing in anyone's inbox.
Recommendation: Keep a simple recurring-charges register (vendor, amount, billing date) and check it against the statement each month — this is the most common source of missed entries on business cards.
5 Recommended Correcting Journal Entries
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Bank Fees Expense | $45.00 | — |
| Accounts Receivable — J. Alvarez | $325.00 | — |
| Interest Income | — | $18.65 |
| Accounts Payable — Supplier (correction) | — | $90.00 |
| Accounts Receivable — Invoice #2248 | — | $990.35 |
| Operating Checking …4821 | — | $729.00 (net) |
| Office Supplies Expense (duplicate reversal) | — | $54.00 |
| Software Subscriptions Expense | $179.00 | — |
| Business Visa …7734 (liability, net) | — | $125.00 (net) |
Entries are presented for the client's bookkeeper/accountant to post in their system of record; this deliverable does not post entries directly to a client's live accounting software.