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End-of-month reconciliation checklist

At the end of each month, run through this checklist to make sure your books are clean and your bank matches. This should take 15-30 minutes once you're in the habit.

The checklist

  1. Confirm all outstanding invoices and bills.
    • Go to Accounting → Customers → Invoices and check for anything stuck in Draft status. If the sale happened, confirm it.
    • Do the same for Accounting → Vendors → Bills. Any bills sitting in draft should be confirmed or deleted if they're not real.
  2. Register any unrecorded payments.
    • Did a customer pay by check or cash and you forgot to record it? Do it now before importing the bank statement.
    • Did you pay a vendor bill and not register the payment? Record it.
  3. Close any open POS sessions.
    • POS transactions don't post to accounting until the session is closed. Make sure all sessions from this month are closed.
  4. Download your bank statement.
    • Log into your bank and download the statement for the month (OFX or CSV).
  5. Import and reconcile.
    • Import the statement into CloudFFL OS.
    • Work through the reconciliation dashboard — validate matches, create entries for bank fees, handle any discrepancies.
  6. Verify the ending balance.
    • After all lines are reconciled, the bank balance in CloudFFL OS should match the ending balance on your bank statement. If it doesn't, something is still unreconciled.
  7. Review your key reports.
    • Pull a quick Profit & Loss for the month — does the revenue look right? Do expenses seem reasonable?
    • Check Aged Receivable — are any customers falling behind?
    • Check Aged Payable — are you current with your vendors?

The first month is the hardest. If you're reconciling for the first time, you may need to enter an opening balance for your bank account and deal with historical transactions that pre-date your CloudFFL OS setup. Your accountant can help set the opening balances correctly. After that, each month is a quick routine.

Monthly rhythm

The best practice is to reconcile within the first week of the following month — so reconcile January's bank statement by the first week of February. This keeps you current and makes it easier to catch issues while they're fresh.

If you process a lot of card transactions, consider reconciling weekly instead. You'll spend 5-10 minutes per session instead of 30 minutes once a month, and problems surface faster.

Don't skip months. Falling behind on reconciliation means problems compound — an error in March that you don't catch until June is much harder to fix. Make reconciliation part of your monthly close routine and don't let it slip.

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