In a perfect world, Xero Bank Balance and the Bank Statement Balance always reconcile, but unfortunately, this is not always the case.

In a previous User Guide, we covered the core tasks of finalising the bank accounts reconciliation task, this follow-up Guides instead, focus on the most common discrepancies with bank accounts reconciliations. 

Troubleshoot Manual Transactions

Sometimes the bank account reconciliation may be out due to additional transactions having been manually added to the Bank Feeds or deleted. 

1. Download and check your Bank Statement
   
   è  The Bank Account Statement
   
   
   
   
2. Run your Bank Reconciliation Summary report for the same bank account and period
   
   è  The Bank Reconciliation Summary Report
   
   
   
   
3. In this instance, the Bank Reconciliation Summary also includes additional lines:
   • Statement Balance > This is the calculated Statement balance by Xero as per the Bank Feeds on Status of Reconciled;
   • Imported Statement Balance > This is the balance calculated based on all transactions imported from the Bank into Xero;
   • Balance out by > This is the difference between the Statement Balance and the Imported Statement Balance;
4. If the transaction(s) creating the discrepancies were on a Status of Unreconciled, the Imported Statement Balance would now show. These transactions would be listed on separate lines under the heading of 'Un-reconciled Bank Statements Lines'
5. When the Bank Reconciliation Summary report displays the additional lines: Statement Balance and Imported Statement Balance, this means that one or more transactions have either been manually deleted or manually added to the Bank Feeds.

The issue with these types of discrepancies is that these transactions could have been added/deleted from an earlier period. Therefore, the first step to take is to keep changing the Bank Reconciliation Report date back in time until the 'Imported Statement Balance' and 'Balance out by' lines disappear. Once a date selected in the Bank Summary report no longer shows the additional lines, this will highlight the period where the transactions may have been manually added or deleted. 

Fix Manually Deleted Transactions

1. Backdate the Bank Reconciliation Summary report
   Note: start by backdating the report one month at the time
   
   è  The Bank Reconciliation Summary Report - one month earlier
   
   
   
   
2. As the Bank Reconciliation report in the previous month is not showing the additional lines, the period from 30.11.21 to 31.12.21 is the period where transactions may have been manually added or deleted from the Bank Feeds.
   Note: for bank accounts with a large number of transactions you may wish to select a shorter period to search for discrepancies (for example you could backdate the Bank Reconciliation Summary report to the 15th December 2021 and check if the Added/Deleted transaction(s) have happened within a 15-day period, rather than a whole month)
3. Go to the Bank Accounts screen and select the [Bank statements] Tab
   
   è  The Bank Statements Screen
   
   
   
   
4. Search for transactions on a Deleted status
5. Select these transactions and click on [Restore]
   
   è  The transaction is re-instated as an unreconciled bank feed
   
   
   
   
6. Reconcile any re-instated transactions, then re-run the Bank Reconciliation Summary report
   
   è  The Bank Reconciliation Summary Report
   
   

Fix Manually Added Transactions

If you still have an Imported Statement Balance and Balance out by lines after you have re-instated and reconciled all Deleted Bank Feeds, you will also need to search for manually added transactions.

1. Go to the Bank Accounts screen and select the [Account transactions] Tab
   
   è  The Account transactions Screen
   
   
   
   
2. Click on [Search]
   
   è  The Search filters display on the screen
   
   
   
   
3. In the Start and End Dates Search Filters, enter the dates where the discrepancy occurred
4. Click on [Search]
5. Click on the Bank Transaction Source Column to sort the transactions alphabetically (Z-A) by this column
   
   è  The Search results display on the screen
   
   
   
   
6. Look for any transactions where the Bank Transaction Source is marked as User
7. Review these transactions (most likely they will have to be deleted in order to reconcile the Bank Account correctly)
8. Once you have dealt with all manually added transactions, return to the Bank Reconciliation Summary Report
9. Update the Report and check if the Balance in Xero reconciles with the Bank Statement Balance
   
   è  The Bank Reconciliation Summary Report