Bank Reconciliation

Reconciling means comparing what's in NP Ledger to what your bank says, then fixing any differences. It's how you make sure your books are accurate.

Your bank statement is the source of truth for how much money you actually have. If your books in NP Ledger don't match your bank, something was missed: a transaction wasn't recorded, a deposit hasn't cleared, or a payment was entered twice. Reconciling catches these problems before they compound.

• At least one bank account set up in NP Ledger (see Adding Your Bank Accounts)
• The latest balance for the account you're checking. Where it comes from depends on the account type: a bank statement (checking/savings), a physical cash count (cash on hand), your PayPal/Venmo statement or current balance (payment processors), or your connected feed (Mercury/Plaid). The form's labels adapt to the account you pick.
• Transactions for the period already recorded in NP Ledger

Starting a reconciliation

1. Go to Bank & Cash (in the sidebar).
2. Click "Reconcile" next to the account you want to reconcile. (For a cash-on-hand account the button reads "Count cash.")
3. Select the account if not already chosen. The date and balance labels adjust to match its type.
4. Check the date — this defaults to today, so change it to your statement's closing date, the date you counted the cash, or the as-of date of a feed balance.
5. Enter the ending balance — from your bank statement, your physical cash count, your PayPal/Venmo statement (or current balance if you sweep to your bank), or the balance pulled from your feed. NP Ledger shows your current book balance beside this field as a reference; enter the external balance here, not the book figure.
6. If this is your first reconciliation, enter the beginning balance: the ending balance from your last reconciled statement (or your last cash count). Before you started using NP Ledger, use your opening balance.
7. Click "Start Reconciliation."

Importing your bank statement

Instead of checking off transactions one by one, you can import your statement as a CSV file and let NP Ledger match it in bulk.

1. Click the "Import" button at the top of the reconciliation page.
2. Choose your CSV file. It needs a date column and an amount column at minimum; an optional description (or memo) and reference (or check number) column improves matching. Positive amounts are deposits, negative amounts are withdrawals.
3. Click "Upload & Preview" to check the parsed transactions, then "Confirm Import & Auto-Match." NP Ledger matches the imported lines to your existing records where it can.

Tip: If you bank with Mercury, set up a bank feed so transactions arrive automatically, with no file download. For other file types (OFX, QFX, QBO) or platform exports from PayPal, Venmo, Mercury, or Stripe, bring them in first with Importing Bank Statements, then reconcile.

Matching transactions

1. Review the transaction list. Matched items show a checkmark. Unmatched items need your attention.
2. For each unmatched transaction, either:
   • Check the box to mark it as matched (if you can see it corresponds to an existing NP Ledger entry)
   • Leave it unchecked if it represents a transaction not yet in your books
3. Use the filter and sort controls to find specific transactions:
   • Filter by description text
   • Sort by date or amount
4. Check or uncheck everything at once with the checkbox in the Match column header, or the "Select All" / "Deselect All" buttons. These act on all currently visible rows.

Adding adjusting entries

If the balance still doesn't match after matching all transactions, you may need an adjusting entry: a transaction you add to account for the difference.

1. Click "Add Adjustment."
2. Enter the adjusting entry details: date, amount, account, and description.
3. Common adjustments: bank fees not yet recorded, interest earned, or transactions you missed.

Cancelling a reconciliation

If you started a reconciliation by mistake — wrong account, wrong date, or wrong ending balance — you can discard it and start over.

1. On the reconciliation screen, click "Cancel reconciliation."
2. Confirm when NP Ledger asks. This discards the in-progress reconciliation and un-matches the transactions you'd checked off so far.

Cancelling is safe: your posted transactions are not deleted and nothing is locked. Only the in-progress reconciliation itself is thrown away, and the transactions it had matched return to unreconciled so you can include them next time.

Note: This applies only to a reconciliation that's still in progress. A reconciliation you've already completed can't be cancelled, reopened, or redone from here — completing is final.

Completing the reconciliation

1. When the difference shows zero (or you've accounted for all outstanding items), click "Complete Reconciliation."
2. NP Ledger saves the reconciliation and records the reconciliation date on the bank account. Matched transactions are marked as reconciled.
3. You can view the reconciliation report (on-screen, CSV, or PDF) for your records.

Important: Completing a reconciliation protects matched transactions from being voided. Make sure all matches are correct before completing.

• The difference between your books and the bank statement is zero (or accounted for)
• The Bank & Cash page shows the reconciliation date next to the account
• Any adjusting entries you created appear in your transaction list

• Entering the wrong statement ending balance: Double-check the number from your bank statement. A typo here means reconciliation will never balance.
• Reconciling with unrecorded transactions: If you have un-entered deposits or payments, record them first (via Quick Entry or import) before starting reconciliation.
• Skipping months: Reconcile monthly. Letting it pile up makes finding discrepancies much harder.
• Confusing bank balance with book balance: Your NP Ledger balance includes all recorded transactions, even those that haven't cleared the bank yet. Outstanding checks and pending deposits explain most differences.

Accountant note: Monthly reconciliation is a core internal control required by most nonprofit audit standards. The reconciliation report provides documentation for your annual audit and demonstrates fiduciary responsibility to your board.