Account Reconciliation Checklist

Check the client portal (SmartVault, Liscio, TaxDome) for every operating, savings, and credit-card account on the COA. Missing a statement here is the #1 reason close slips by 3 days. Flag any account where the statement period doesn't end on the last calendar day of the month.

Send a Karbon or TaxDome client task listing each missing account by last 4 of account number. Don't pull the statement directly via bank feed in lieu of the PDF — the feed misses NSF fees and analysis charges that hit on the cycle date.

Reconcile the Gusto / ADP / Rippling journal feed to the last pay date in the period. Confirm the 941 deposit cleared the bank — late posts here cause cash to look overstated and accrued payroll to look low.

Pull the Bill.com / Ramp queue and confirm every bill with an invoice date in the period is entered in QBO. Vendors that bill on the 1st-5th of the following month for prior-month services need accruals — capture those for the AJE step.

In QBO, run Reconcile for each account using the statement ending balance and date. Bank balance + deposits in transit − outstanding checks should tie to book balance to the penny. If you're forced to enter a reconciliation discrepancy to close, stop and find it.

Match the QBO credit-card register to the statement ending balance. Watch for personal charges on the owner's card — they get reclassed to Owner Draws / Distributions, not buried in office expense.

Run an Uncleared Transactions report and flag anything older than 60 days. Voided checks, duplicate deposits, and bank-feed ghost entries are the usual suspects. Document what you cleared and why on the workpaper.

Any unreconciled item over $1,000 goes on the open-items workpaper with date, description, amount, and proposed resolution. This is the artifact the controller or partner reviews — not the QBO recon report alone.

Common causes: bank-feed duplicates, transposed amounts, deposits posted to wrong account, fees not yet booked. Pull the bank image and trace each unmatched transaction. Don't post a plug entry to force the recon — that creates a phantom balance that haunts every future close.

Run A/R Aging Summary as of period-end and compare total to the AR account on the trial balance. Differences usually trace to journal entries posted directly to AR (always wrong) or to credit memos applied across periods.

A/P Aging Summary total must match the AP balance on the TB. If Bill.com is integrated, also reconcile the Bill.com clearing account to zero — leftover balance means a sync issue.

Update the depreciation schedule for any additions, disposals, or section 179 elections. Post the monthly depreciation JE by class (Equipment, Vehicles, Leasehold Improvements). Tie accumulated depreciation by class back to the TB.

For each note payable, match the GL balance to the lender statement and record interest accrued through period-end. SBA EIDL and PPP-converted loans need separate tracking — different rates and forgiveness tags.

Accrue unpaid wages for days worked but not yet paid, uninvoiced revenue, and vendor expenses where the bill arrives next month. Reverse last month's accruals before posting this month's — duplicate accruals are a common close error.

Pull the prepaid schedule (insurance, software annual contracts, prepaid rent) and post the monthly amortization. For deferred revenue, recognize the portion earned this period per the contract terms.

Work the Ask My Accountant / Uncategorized Expense balance to zero. Every reclass JE needs a memo line citing the source transaction and reason — "to reclass" alone is not enough for the workpaper file.

Run the TB with prior-month comparison. Investigate any account that moved >20% or >$5,000 month-over-month. Flat accounts that should have activity (rent, payroll) are also red flags — usually a missing recurring entry.

Run the standard report package: P&L (current month, YTD, prior-year compare), balance sheet (period-end vs. prior period-end), and cash flow indirect method. Confirm balance sheet ties — A=L+E to the penny.

Controller or senior accountant reviews the recon workpaper, AJE binder, and TB. Outcome drives the next step — clean signs off and proceeds to client delivery; issues route back to the preparer.

Work through each reviewer note in order. Re-post AJEs as needed and re-run the TB to confirm the rework cleared. Resubmit to the reviewer; do not skip back to delivery without a second sign-off.

Set the closing date in QBO to period-end and apply a closing-date password. This prevents back-dated entries that would silently change last month's reported numbers.

Save the recon binder (statements, recon reports, AJE list, TB, lead schedules) to SmartVault / TaxDome under the YYYY-MM folder. Audit trail discipline — every workpaper PDF named with date and account, not "Document1.pdf".

Deliver the P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow with a written commentary covering top variances, A/R concerns over 60 days, and cash position. Schedule the monthly review call within 5 business days of delivery.

Review the open-items log mid-month. Anything aged >60 days gets escalated to the controller; >90 days is a hard partner-review item. Don't let aged items roll forward indefinitely — they're how phantom balances get built.

If the same discrepancy showed up two months running (bank-feed duplicates, miscoded recurring vendor, missing payroll JE), update the bank-feed rules, the recurring-JE template, or the close checklist itself. Fix the system, not just the symptom.