---
key: reconcile-a-bank-account
title: Reconcile a bank account
audience: staff
section: bookkeeping
routes: ["/bookkeeping/reconciliation", "/bookkeeping/reconciliation/new"]
permissions: ["bookkeeping.reconciliation.read"]
features: ["bookkeeping"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: "Match your books to a bank statement by entering the statement's ending balance and ticking each line that appears on it until the difference is zero."
keywords: [bank rec, reconcile, month end, statement balance, cleared, tick off transactions, bank statement matches, lock reconciliation]
related: [import-a-bank-statement, add-a-bank-transaction, categorize-bank-transactions]
---

In the sidebar, open **Bookkeeping**, then **Reconciliation**. The page address is `/bookkeeping/reconciliation`. A new reconciliation opens at `/bookkeeping/reconciliation/new`.

## Before you start

- Have the bank statement in front of you. You need its ending balance and its list of lines.
- Import or add every line on the statement first (see [[import-a-bank-statement]]). A line that is missing from Nova cannot be ticked.
- Your role needs permission to manage reconciliation to start, tick, complete or abandon one. Read permission lets you look.

## Steps

1. Under **Account** at the top, pick the bank, cash or credit-card account the statement is for.
2. Press **Start reconciliation**. The **Start reconciliation** window opens.
3. Check the **Account** and type the **Statement ending balance** exactly as printed on the statement. For a credit card, type what you owe as a negative number. Press **Start reconciliation**. Nova shows **Reconciliation started.** and a new row appears with the status in_progress.
4. Click the row, or choose **Clear transactions** from its actions menu. The reconciliation window opens with every line in the account, newest first, and the difference so far.
5. Tick the **Cleared** box on each line that appears on the statement. Press **Load more transactions** if the list is long. Lines already ticked in an earlier reconciliation show ticked; leave them alone, because unticking one takes it out of that earlier reconciliation.
6. The difference in the window does not refresh as you tick; the row in the list behind it does. When the list's **Difference** reads zero, close the window and open the row again.
7. Press **Complete & lock**. Nova shows **Reconciliation completed and locked.**

## What you see

- The list shows each reconciliation's **Status**, the **Statement** balance you entered, the **Cleared** total, the **Difference** (green at zero, red otherwise) and **Cleared #**, the number of lines ticked. Nova counts from the last completed reconciliation's statement balance; the first one for an account starts from zero.
- A completed reconciliation shows a lock next to its status. Its lines cannot be recategorized until you reopen it, and a ticked line cannot be voided until it is unticked.

## If something looks different

- **Start reconciliation** is greyed out: the account picked under **Account** uses a currency that is no longer your organization's currency. Choose a current account.
- The difference will not reach zero: a line is missing from Nova, a line is in Nova that the bank never processed, or (on an account's first reconciliation) the account had money in it before your first line. Add the missing line (see [[add-a-bank-transaction]]) or leave the extra one unticked and look for it on next month's statement.
- **Complete & lock** is greyed out: the difference in the window is not zero. Close the window and open the row again to refresh it.
- You entered the wrong ending balance: choose **Abandon** from the row's actions menu or the window's footer, then **Abandon** in **Abandon reconciliation?**. Every tick is released, the row stays with the status abandoned, and you can start again.
- You need to change a completed reconciliation: choose **Reopen** on its row or in its window, then **Reopen** in **Reopen reconciliation?**. The ticks are kept. Adjust them, then complete it again.
- The list reads that there are no reconciliations yet: none has been started for the account picked under **Account**.

[[route:/bookkeeping/reconciliation|Open Reconciliation]]