Reconciliation is how you match the transactions in your bank and card accounts to the right accounting records in Books.
Reconciliation is where you tell Books what each transaction is: a customer paying an invoice, a payment for a bill, an expense, other income, or something that needs a manual journal entry.
If you've never done bookkeeping before: think of your bank statement as the list of what actually happened, and your books as the explanation of why.
Reconciliation connects the two, one transaction at a time. Until a transaction is reconciled, it isn't reflected in your reports.
How transactions get reconciled
There are three ways a transaction gets reconciled, and most transactions should never need the third:
Automatically: payments that happen for Bills or Invoices.. When you pay a bill from Aspire, or when you match a payment with a customer invoice, Books already knows what the transaction is, so it is matched and posted for you. These will directly show up as “Matched” in reconciliation page.
With the Reconciliation Agent: for transactions Books can't match on its own, the Reconciliation Agent suggests a match with a confidence level and a reason, and you approve or reject it. See "Guide to the Reconciliation Agent" below.
Manually: whatever remains. Manual reconciliation is always needed for transactions with more than one purpose, for example one payment that settles several invoices, or an invoice payment received with a bank fee taken out. The rest of this guide covers the manual flow.
Where to find it
Click "Books" in the left navigation bar, then click "Reconciliation". You'll see each of your accounts, Aspire and external, with a count of unmatched and posted transactions per account.
Every transaction that is “unmatched” means that it is not reconciled. Posted means that the transaction is fully reconciled.
Guide to the Reconciliation Agent
The Reconciliation Agent looks at each bank transaction as it comes in and suggests what it should be matched to. Each suggestion comes with a confidence level and a one-line reason. You review the suggestion and approve or reject it, instead of matching every transaction by hand.
Where can I find it?
The Reconciliation Agent works inside "Books" > "Reconciliation", on the same page as your transactions. There is nothing separate to open: its suggestions appear on the transactions themselves and on the review screen, described under "Where suggestions appear" below.
What it can suggest
Bill payment: money going out that pays an open bill
Invoice payment: money coming in that pays an open invoice
Expense: money going out that isn't for a bill
Other income: money coming in that isn't for an invoice
Transfer between your accounts: money moving between two of your linked accounts
To decide on a match, it looks at the transaction's amount, date, counterparty and reference, and compares them with your open bills and invoices, transactions on your other linked accounts, and how you've matched this counterparty before. If nothing matches, it suggests an expense or other income, with an account and tax rate from the Classification agent.
Where suggestions appear
On the review screen: click "Review AI agent matches" above the transaction list. The button shows how many suggestions are waiting.
In the transaction list: a transaction with a suggestion shows as Unmatched, with a "1 suggestion" tag below it.
On the transaction itself: open it to see the suggested match, with Approve and Reject.
Approving or rejecting in any of these places updates the others.
Using the review screen
Each row shows the transaction, the suggested match, the confidence level and the reason. You can:
Filter by High, Medium or Low confidence.
Approve or reject one suggestion at a time.
Select several suggestions and approve or reject them together.
For expenses, you can change the vendor, description, account and tax rate directly on the row. For other income, you can change the description, account and tax rate.
Check the reason shown with each suggestion before you approve it, especially for Medium and Low confidence.
Reconciling a transaction manually, step by step
On the Reconciliation page, select the bank or card account you want to work on.
Click an unmatched transaction to open it.
Choose what the transaction is: Invoice, Other income, Bill, Expense or Manual journal.
Check the account and tax rate the Classification agent suggests, and change them if needed.
Confirm. The transaction moves to Posted and its journal entry is created.
Choosing the right option
For money coming in
Invoice: a customer paying an invoice. Select the invoice, and Books marks it as Paid.
Other income: money that isn't for an invoice, such as interest, refunds or miscellaneous income. Choose an account and tax rate.
For money going out
Bill: a payment for a bill. Select the bill, and Books marks it as Paid.
Expense: a payment that isn't for a bill, such as a card purchase, direct debit or one-off payment. Choose an account and tax rate.
For either direction
Manual journal: anything that doesn't fit the options above, such as transfers between your own accounts or loan repayments. You choose the debit and credit accounts yourself.
Transaction statuses
Unmatched: the transaction hasn't been matched to any accounting record yet. It is waiting for you to categorise it.
Partial Match: the transaction has been matched, but the matched amount doesn't cover its full value. For example, a SGD 1,000 bank payment matched to a SGD 1,500 bill. Reconcile the remaining amount as usual.
Posted: the transaction is fully reconciled and its journal entry is in your general ledger. This is the final status.
FAQ
Q: What happens when I approve a suggestion?
The transaction is posted exactly as if you had matched it yourself, and it leaves the review screen. If the suggestion covers only part of the transaction, approving it posts that part as a partial match. You then reconcile the rest as usual.
Q: What happens when I reject a suggestion?
The suggestion is removed and the transaction stays Unmatched, so you can match it yourself. The Reconciliation Agent won't suggest the same record for that transaction again.
Q: Can I change a suggestion before approving it?
Yes. Open the transaction and choose to edit the suggestion. The suggested details are filled in for you to change before you post.
Q: What if I match a transaction myself instead?
The suggestion is cleared automatically.
Q: Why does a suggested vendor say "create new vendor"?
The vendor isn't in your vendor list yet. The Reconciliation Agent cleans up the name from your bank statement, for example "GRABPTR84949" becomes "GRAB", and the vendor is created when you approve. If the name matches a vendor you already have, that vendor is used instead.
Q: Why am I asked for more details when I approve a bill or invoice match?
The bill or invoice is missing its account code or tax rate. Add the missing details when prompted, then approve. You can't approve these in bulk until the details are added.
Q: One bank payment covers several things. How do I reconcile it?
This is the main case where manual reconciliation is needed. Work through the transaction in parts:
One payment for several invoices or bills: match the first invoice; the transaction becomes a Partial Match. Match the next invoice against the remaining amount, and repeat until the full value is covered and the transaction moves to Posted.
An invoice payment received with a bank fee taken out: the money in is less than the invoice amount. Match it to the invoice, and record the fee as a bank charges expense so the invoice is fully settled.
Q: How do my Aspire card expenses get into Books?
Your card transactions appear in Reconciliation under your card account. Open each one, choose "Expense", check the suggested account and tax rate, and confirm.
Q: How do I record a payment for a bill?
Once a bill is approved (Pending Payment), you can either:
Pay it from the bill: open the bill and click "Pay". The bill moves through Payment Scheduled and Payment Initiated to Paid.
Match an existing payment: if you've already paid it another way, such as by bank transfer, match the bill to that bank transaction in Reconciliation. The bill is marked as Paid.
Q: How do I record a customer's payment for an invoice?
Go to "Books" > "Reconciliation", open the incoming transaction for the customer's payment, choose "Invoice" and select the invoice. Books marks the invoice as Paid and creates the journal entry.
Q: I paid a bill (or my customer paid an invoice) outside Books, but it still shows as unpaid. How do I fix this?
You don't need to edit the bill or invoice. As long as the payment is in your bank feed:
Make sure the bill or invoice has an account code and tax rate. Books needs these before it can match the payment.
Click "Books" in the left navigation bar, then click "Reconciliation".
Find the transaction, which will be sitting as Unmatched.
Match it to the unpaid bill or invoice.
Books then marks the bill or invoice as Paid, creates the payment journal entry, and changes the transaction status to Posted.
Q: A payment is in my bank feed, but there's no bill or invoice for it. What should I do?
This often happens for payments made before you started using Books.
Create the bill or invoice as usual, dated when it was actually issued, with the account code, tax rate and vendor or customer filled in.
Go to "Books" > "Reconciliation" and match it to the existing bank transaction.
Books creates the same records as for any paid bill or invoice, so your books look as if you had recorded it in Books from the start.
Q: Why should I record bills and invoices for payments that have already gone through?
A payment in your bank feed with no bill or invoice behind it is invisible to your reports. It won't show as an expense on your Profit and Loss, and it won't reduce what your books show you still owe. Your reports are only as trustworthy as the transactions behind them.
Q: What is the Classification agent?
The Classification agent suggests the right account and tax rate for you, so you don't have to search through your Chart of Accounts every time. It looks at the details of each transaction, such as the vendor or customer name, line item descriptions, the amount and currency, and how you've categorised similar transactions before. For card transactions, it also uses the type of merchant. A suggestion is a starting point: you can change the account or tax rate using its dropdown before you save, and when you change a suggestion, future suggestions for the same vendor or customer get better.
Q: Why was "Other operating expenses" or "Other income" suggested?
When the Classification agent can't find a good match, it falls back to "Other operating expenses" for expenses and bills, or "Other income" for invoices and other income. For manual journal entries, it leaves the account empty instead. Change these to the right account before you save.
Q: Why did the tax rate change when I changed the account?
If the account has a default tax rate in your Chart of Accounts, that tax rate fills in automatically. If it doesn't, the Classification agent suggests a tax rate. You can change either one.
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