What is Auto Bank Rec and how do I use it?

Auto Bank Rec makes quick work of bank and credit card account reconciliations.

The reconciliation of bank and credit cards accounts can be a tedious, highly manual process. Auto Bank Rec automatically finds and surfaces discrepancies between your statement and the GL, or your Smart Connect feed and the GL. Each discrepancy is then compared to find matches, which are categorized as “Confident Match,” “Possible Match,” or “No Match.”

Choose from any of the selections below to jump to that section:

How do I find and Navigate Auto Bank Rec?

Column Headers

How do I begin a reconciliation in Auto Bank Rec?

Reconcile Tab

Tables (Left side)

Tables (Right side)

Bulk Actions

History per Month Tab

Audit Log Tab

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How do I find and navigate Auto Bank Rec?

When you first click on Auto Bank Rec, which you’ll find on the left-hand navigation when you’ve selected a client, you’ll be presented with a bank and/or credit card accounts from your GL that might need reconciliation.

The column headings you’ll see are:

• GL Account: Accounts listed under this column are all active accounts that are either bank or credit card type in the QBO/Xero Chart of Accounts. It will show both the GL account name and the type (Bank or Credit Card).
  
  
• Smart Connect Account: Accounts listed under this column are all the active Smart Connect accounts that are linked to the GL account. 
  • If no account is linked, but is connected in Smart Connect, you can choose the Smart Connect account from the drop down.
  • If no account is linked and is not connected in Smart Connect, there will be a black X and Not Connected will be displayed.
  • If Smart Connect account is linked and does not have any connections errors, there will be a green checkmark and SC Connected will be displayed (this is a best case scenario).
  • If Smart Connect account is linked, but has a connection error, there will be a red exclamation point and SC Disconnected will be displayed.
  • If a Smart Connect account is using the automation (AutoPush or ManualPush), there will be a green automation icon (this is a best case scenario).
    
• Last Rec Period: The dates in this column reflect the oldest unreconciled period, or the most recent completed reconciliation period, depending on whether there are multiple open reconciliations.
  • • If all open reconciliations have been completed, you will see the date of the last completed reconciliation with Completed on and the date it was completed. If there are open reconciliation periods, you will see the dates of the oldest unreconciled period with Not Completed displayed.
• Unrec Txns: The numbers in this column reflect the unreconciled transactions in both our system and the GL. The Botkeeper count reflects how many unconfirmed matches there are for that specific reconciliation period. The GL count reflects how many unreconciled transactions there are in the GL for that specific reconciliation period. These are separate counts since for QBO specifically, we are not able to mark a transaction reconciled in QBO once we reconcile it in our system. 
• Stmt Source: If Smart Connect appears in this column, it means the statement for this reconciliation period was downloaded from Smart Connect. If Upload appears in this column, it means the statement was manually uploaded by a user.
• Stmt Balance: Depending on whether the reconciliation is using a statement or the Smart Connect feed, this balance will reflect the ending balance from the statement or the ending balance from Smart Connect.
  • • If a statement is available for the reconciliation period, we will always show the GL:Statement reconciliation and not GL:Smart Connect reconciliation. 
    • GL:Smart Connect reconciliation is only intended for scenarios for which we do not have a statement for the period. In these cases, you will see a document with an exclamation point on it, indicating there is no statement.
      
• GL Balance:
  This is the ending balance of the GL account as of the last day of the reconciliation period.
• Difference:
  This is the difference between Stmt Balance and GL Balance columns.
• Assignee:
  This is the person who is responsible for the account’s reconciliation. This assignee will be assigned the reconciliation tasks once the system has finished processing the reconciliation.
• Action: This menu contains the following actions:
  • Start/Resume Rec: This will navigate users to the Reconcile tab. Whether it shows Start or Resume will depend on whether the reconciliation hasn’t been started, or is in progress.
  • View Reconciliation History: This will navigate users to the History per month tab
  • View Statement: This will navigate users to the statement that was used for the reconciliation. This option only appears if a statement was used for the reconciliation.
  • Open Statement Folder: This will navigate users to the account’s folder in Documents. If no folder is mapped to this account, it will be disabled with a tooltip that there isn’t an account folder. If this scenario arises but an account folder exists, please use the feedback form to inform us. We will map the correct folder for the account.

• • Open QBO/Xero: This will navigate users to the login screen for QBO or Xero where they can login and access the client’s file. Whether it shows QBO or Xero will depend on what the accounting software is for the client.
    
    

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How do I begin a reconciliation In Auto Bank Rec?

Once you’ve selected Auto Bank Rec, locate the account you wish to reconcile. Then click on the Action menu for that line. When you click, you’ll see a menu similar to what’s shown here. Note that if you have never reconciled this account, you will not see View Reconciliation History, and if you have no statement folder or statement, you will not see Open Statement Folder or View Statement. Finally, if your client uses Xero, you will see a selection Open Xero rather than Open QBO:

From there, click Start Reconciliation. Your screen will look similar to this, unless you have no statement or smart connect is disconnected:

Note the three tabs for this screen located near the top left beneath the account name. Reconcile is the default tab for this view:

Reconcile tab

• The account drop down menu at the top of the page allows users to navigate to another account’s reconciliation.
• The Ending Balance and Ending Date card on the top, left side reflects the balance and date from either the statement or Smart Connect depending on whether the specific reconciliation is using a statement or Smart Connect. If the ending balance and ending dates were extracted incorrectly, there’s an Edit button to allow editing of the balance and date.
• The Difference calculation card on the top, right side reflects the Statement Ending Balance, GL Beginning Balance, and Cleared Txns amount to calculate the difference.
  • The Ending Balance is the balance from the statement or Smart Connect and should reflect the same balance as what’s displayed in the card on the left side.
  • GL Beginning Balance is the balance in the GL account as of the first day of the specific reconciliation period.
  • Cleared Txns amount is the sum of all Confident Matches.
  • If the difference is $0, a green checkmark will be displayed.
  • If the difference is not $0, an orange circle with an exclamation point will be displayed.\

• Status filter: This allows you to isolate transactions based on their statuses.

• • No Match: The count of GL transactions where we were not able to find a match in either statement or Smart Connect.
  • Possible Match: The count of GL transactions where we found a possible match in either statement or Smart Connect.
  • Confident Match: The count of GL transactions where we found a confident match in either statement or Smart Connect.

• • Note: We use the same criteria to determine a confident match as we do for matching AutoPush transactions to GL transactions: we look at the account, date, description, and amount.
    
  • Default filters will be No Match and Possible Match.
  • You can review Confident Matches by clicking on the Confident Match pill.
• Tables (Left side):
  You will always see two tables, with the GL on the left. Depending on whether you are using a statement or Smart Connect for reconciliation, that designation will be above the right-hand table.

• • The GL columns will include: 
    • Status: Icon representing whether there’s no match (red circle with exclamation point), possible match (orange circle with question mark) or confident match (green circle with check mark).
    • Date: The date of the transaction.
    • Type: The type of transaction. For example, deposit, purchase, transfer, etc.
    • Description: The description of the transaction.
    • Amount: The amount of the transaction.
    • Action: This menu contains the following actions for transactions marked No Match or Possible Match.

• • • • Delete from GL: Deletes the transaction from QBO/Xero. 

• • • • Add Statement Txn & Match: Adds the GL transaction to the statement. This action is only applicable to statement reconciliations, not Smart Connect reconciliations.

• • • • Transaction Details & Log: Reveals a drawer containing two tabs:
        • Details
        • Transaction Log
      • Find and Match: This will open the Find & Match modal, allowing the user to select the Statement or Smart Connect transaction(s) they want to match the GL transaction to.
      • If the transaction is marked as Confident Match, the Action menu will contain the following:

• • • • • Not a Match: Changes the transaction status to No Match.
        • Transactions Details & Log: Reveals a drawer containing two tabs:
          • Details
          • Transaction Log
• Tables (Right side): Depending on whether it is a statement or Smart Connect reconciliation, there will either be a Statement table or Smart Connect table on the right side.
  • If a statement reconciliation, there will be a View button at the top of the Statement table that opens the statement in a new tab. This will be available for all statements, regardless of whether they were downloaded by Smart Connect or manually uploaded by a user.
  • The columns include:
    • Date: The date of the transaction
    • Type: The type of the transaction
    • Description: The description of the transaction
    • Amount: The amount of the transaction
    • Action: This menu contains any of the available actions for the transaction:
      • Add to GL: This will open up a modal that allows you to edit the transaction before adding it to the GL.
      • Find and Match: This will open the Find & Match modal where a user can select the GL txn(s) they want to match the Statement or Smart Connect transaction to
      • Bank Feed Smart Connect transactions: This will open a drawer with the details tab and transaction log tab for the transaction.

• Bulk actions:
  By clicking the checkboxes to the left of the transactions, you can perform the same action on multiple transactions at once. Those actions change based on the transactions’ status.

• • Confirm:
    If there are two or more Possible Matches selected, this will move the transactions from a Possible Match to a Confident Match.

• • Not a Match:
    If there are two or more Confident Matches selected, this will change their status to No Match.

• Once all transactions are confirmed, the Complete Reconciliation button completes the reconciliation.
  
  

History Per Month Tab:

Allows you to view the history of reconciliations in Auto Bank Rec by reconciliation period.

• Table columns:

• • Reconciliation Period: Start and end date range of the period being reconciled.

• • Reconciled on: The date the reconciliation was completed.

• • Status: The status of the reconciliation.
    • Unreconciled: Reconciliation is not started.
    • In progress: Reconciliation has started, but is incomplete.
    • Reconciled: Reconciliation is complete.

• • • Difference: The calculated difference for the reconciliation.

• • • Auto Reconciled: Percentage of how many GL transactions were matched to Statement or Smart Connect transactions automatically.
      
      

• Buttons:
  • Report: Becomes enabled once the reconciliation is complete and a report has been generated. If the reconciliation is not started or in progress, the button will be disabled with a tooltip explaining why.

• • Reconcile/Resume/Edit: Only one of these three choices will be displayed. All of these actions will navigate the user to the Reconcile tab for that specific reconciliation:

• • • Reconcile: Enabled if the reconciliation has not been started.

• • • Resume: Enabled if the reconciliation has been started, but is not complete.

• • • Edit: Enabled if the reconciliation is complete. This will re-open the completed reconciliation. When it is marked complete again, a new reconciliation report will be generated.

• Comment icon: This button will open the comment drawer where firm users can leave comments on a specific reconciliation. This is the same comment drawer as other modules in the platform, and comments cannot be added or viewed by client users.
• Once you’ve completed your reconciliation, a report is generated and one of three tasks will be appointed to the assignee:
  • 1. Everything reconciles, and the user is given a link to a reconciliation report. 
  • 2. Some items did not match and need review. 
  • 3. Notification that new transactions have posted after the reconciliation has finished.

Audit Log Tab:

This tab displays a record of activities executed in Auto Bank Rec filtered by a user-defined activity date range. The user may choose between a “By Transaction” view, which will find all activity on transactions for the given date range; or a “Timeline” view, that shows ALL actions taken in Auto Bank Rec for the given period.

• By Transaction
  • The date range filter will default to the dates of the oldest open reconciliation, or most recent reconciliation if all prior reconciliations are completed.
    • Includes the transaction:
      • Date: The date of the transaction.
      • Type: The type of transaction. For example, deposit, purchase, transfer, etc.
      • Description: The description of the transaction.
      • Amount: The amount of the transaction.

• • • When drilling into each log, it includes:
      • User name: The person who performed the action.
      • Date: The date of the transaction.
      • Timestamp: The time of the transaction
      • Activity log

• • A search bar is included to help locate logs quickly.
  • Users can export the logs using Export CSV.
    

• Timeline
  • The date range filter will default to the last 30 days.
  • Includes:
    • User name: The person who performed the action.
    • Date: The date of the action.
    • Timestamp: Time the action was taken.
    • Activity log

• • A search bar is included to help locate logs quickly.
  • Users can export the logs using Export CSV.