Bank reconciliation: why the till, the bank and the books disagree
Does the till report say one number and the bank statement another? What reconciliation is, where the differences come from, and what to check every day.
Take an example. At the end of the day the till report says ₮4,280,000. The next morning ₮4,187,000 has arrived on the bank statement. Which is right? Usually both: they look at the same thing at a different time and from a different side. What matters is whether you can explain the gap.
What reconciliation is
Bank reconciliation is checking, line by line, that every sale the till recorded really arrived in the bank account. The till says “sold”, the bank says “money in”. The books make one number of the two.
Where the differences come from
- Timing: money paid by card or QR may arrive the next day or in a batch, not at once.
- Fees: if fees are deducted before the transfer, the statement shows less than the till.
- Returns and cancellations: a sale refunded at the till shows on the statement as a separate transaction.
- Manual entry: a mistyped amount, or one transaction entered twice.
- Payment type: cash recorded as card, or card recorded as QR.
Five things to check every day
Yesterday’s till closing
Total it by payment type: cash, card, QR.
The bank statement
Find yesterday’s income on the statement and compare it with the total for each payment type.
Unmatched lines
Close what matches and list what is left. The shorter the list, the better.
The reason
Give every unmatched line a one-word reason: pending, fee, return, error.
Sign-off
Note who checked and who approved. At month end there is nothing left to dig for.
Why daily, not monthly
Yesterday’s difference is easy to find today: the cashier remembers what happened. A difference from three weeks ago, found at month end, is one nobody remembers and no receipt explains. The longer reconciliation waits, the more it costs.
What software can do
In Meridian ERP, Golomt and Khan Bank statements are pulled in automatically and matched against till sales. Unmatched lines are shown to the accountant. The AI assistant prepares the reconciliation and the accountant approves it in one click (the assistant is in pilot).
