You will need the Bank Reconciliations permission, plus Full Write Accounting at every active campus, to reconcile a bank account. If your books are split by organization, you need it at every campus of that organization instead.
Bank reconciliation is an important process that all churches should do for many reasons. First, it helps ensure the balances of your books match the bank's, and helps identify why any differences exist. Secondly, it prevents some of the editing of reconciled transactions, improving your internal security controls.
We recommend reconciling monthly, though needs vary across organizations.
Who can reconcile
Bank Reconciliations is a permission that was added in Version 8. When your account upgraded, it was given once to everyone who held Full Read Accounting or Full Write Accounting. If you remove it from someone afterward, it stays removed.
You need Bank Reconciliations plus accounting access at every active campus, or at every campus of the organization when your books are split.
If your account uses one campus and you have no organization limit, the permission plus accounting access is enough.
Warning: Accounting staff who are limited to certain campuses cannot reconcile once your account uses more than one campus. They can still enter and edit accounting entries at the campuses they reach. To give someone the ability to reconcile, they need accounting access at every active campus.
Creating a New Bank Reconciliation
Download your monthly bank statement for the last unreconciled month in One Church (for a first reconciliation, use the first full calendar month of transactions).
Then go to Accounting > Banking in the left-hand menu, click the Reconciliations tab at the top, and click + Add New.
The New Bank Reconciliation pop up will open.
Account - Required. Choose the register account you are reconciling. The dropdown is grouped by account type: Asset (checking, savings) and Liability (credit cards, loans). Only accounts with Use as register? checked appear here. If the account isn't in the list, add it to your chart of accounts first and check Use as register? in its Options section. How do I add an account to my chart of accounts? explains how. If your account has more than one organization, the bank account belongs to the same organization as its register account, and so does each of its reconciliations.
Note: If the selected account has a pending reconciliation, you'll be notified and a button will appear that takes you to finish it. You cannot have two reconciliations for the same account active at the same time.
Once an account is chosen, the Bank Statement Details section reveals the reconciliation fields:
Last Reconciliation - Shows the ending date of the previous reconciliation (if any) so you know where to pick up. Click it to open that reconciliation.
Beginning Balance - Pre-filled and read-only. For a first reconciliation this is the starting balance set in the chart of accounts (or $0.00). Otherwise it is the ending balance of the previous reconciliation. This should match the beginning balance on your bank statement. If it doesn't, past reconciliations should be reviewed before continuing.
Ending Balance - Required. The ending balance for the month you are reconciling, from the bank statement.
Ending Date - Required. The ending date from the bank statement.
Click Save to create the reconciliation. You'll be taken to the reconciliation screen to begin matching transactions.
Reconciliation Process
On the reconciliation screen, the Date, Payment, Deposits, and Total columns are sortable. The screen is split into multiple sections:
Entries tab - All unreconciled transactions.
Go through each transaction on your bank statement and check the matching transaction in the table. The sum of payments and deposits should exactly match between One Church and the bank statement. Changes save immediately upon checking or unchecking, so there is no need to click Finish Later.
For a missing entry, click Add New at the top to create one. For a duplicate, use the 3-dots menu at the start of the row and select Void to enter in a linked counter entry or Edit the transaction.
Notes tab - Add notes to the reconciliation report (for example, explanations of any variances).
Files tab - Add files to the reconciliation report (for example, a PDF of the bank statements for that period).
Overview Box - The running totals that determine when you're done:
Beginning Balance - should match the bank statement.
Payments - count and total for payments selected.
Deposits - count and total for deposits selected.
Cleared Balance - Beginning Balance − Payments + Deposits.
Expected - the ending balance on the bank statement.
Difference - Cleared Balance − Expected.
Note: The bank reconciliation can only be marked as successfully completed if the Difference is $0.00.
Details Box - Informational summary of the reconciliation: Reconciliation #, Statement Ending Date, Account, (Reconciled On, Reconciled By is included in a completed reconciliation).
Once the report matches exactly, the button in the upper right changes from Finish Later to Finish Reconciling. Clicking it closes the reconciliation, marks each included transaction as reconciled, and prevents edits to those transactions (unless you delete the reconciliation report).
With more than one campus or organization
These points matter once your account uses more than one campus or more than one organization.
Reconciliations cover the whole set of books
The campus selector does not narrow reconciliations. If you have narrowed it, the page shows: "This page always shows every campus. Reconciliations and period closes cover the whole set of books, whatever campuses are selected above."
A similar notice appears on Accounting Periods, the Chart of Accounts, Funds and registers when the campus selector or your campus limit narrows what you see. It explains that the totals cover the whole set of books.
Registers show some entries but whole-book balances
When the campus selector or your campus limit narrows a register, it lists only the entries in your selection, but its balances still cover the whole set of books. The balances will not add up from the rows on screen. This is expected, not an error.
Reconciliations and organizations
A bank account belongs to the same organization as its register account, and so does each of its reconciliations.
All the accounts on one bank feed must belong to the same organization.
An entry that is reconciled, matched to a bank transaction or printed as a check cannot be moved to another organization. Trying shows: "This entry is reconciled, matched to a bank transaction or printed as a check, so it can't move to another organization."
The Reconciliation report needs Bank Reconciliations plus Full Read Accounting for the whole set of books of the register's organization, and it is headed with that organization.
How do books work with more than one organization? explains how the books are split.
Helpful Tip
Deleting a bank reconciliation does not delete any transactions contained within.