Reconcile an account

Match an account against a bank statement and lock the transactions that agree.

Reconciling proves that your register and your bank agree. Once they do, Pentos locks the matching transactions so they cannot drift out of agreement later.

It is the one routine that turns a budget from “roughly right” into “right”.

Before you begin

  • A bank statement, or your bank’s current balance and recent transaction list.

Steps

To reconcile an account, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Accounts tab and tap the account.

  2. Tap Reconcile.

  3. Enter the Bank statement balance.

  4. Tick every transaction the bank shows.

    The screen tracks Cleared Balance, Statement, and the Difference between them as you tick.

  5. When the Difference reaches zero, tap Finish and Lock.

The ticked transactions become reconciled and lock against edits.

When the difference will not reach zero

Work down this list:

  1. A transaction you have not recorded. The commonest cause. Add it and carry on ticking.
  2. A transaction the bank has not processed. Leave it unticked. It reconciles next time.
  3. A wrong amount. Compare the statement line with your row and correct yours.
  4. A duplicate. Two rows for one purchase, usually from entering something you later imported.

If a small difference survives all four, Add Adjustment & Finish writes a correcting transaction so the account agrees with the bank. Use it sparingly. An adjustment records that something was wrong without recording what.

What locking means

Reconciled rows resist editing, including from bulk edits. That is deliberate: a row that matched your bank statement is the closest thing your budget has to a fact.

Next steps