Creditors Reconciliation
HereΓÇÖs a support article in Markdown format documenting the Creditors Reconciliation functionality in Bench, designed for end users and ready for publication on your support website.
Creditors Reconciliation in Bench
Creditors Reconciliation is a tool that helps you compare your supplier account balances in Bench against the statements provided by your vendors. It ensures accuracy in your accounts payable records and identifies discrepancies early.
✅ What is a Creditors Reconciliation?
A Creditors Reconciliation is a process that compares the balance of your account with a supplier (as recorded in Bench) against the supplier's statement. It helps identify:
- Missing supplier invoices or payments.
- Duplicate entries or accounting errors.
- Unreconciled or disputed transactions.
Bench makes this process structured and auditable by linking directly to G/L entries.
🧭 Workflow Overview
HereΓÇÖs how you perform a reconciliation in Bench:
- Create a new reconciliation with a unique reference (e.g.
SUP-RECON-0001). - Select the supplier from the list of vendors.
- Bench pulls in all unreconciled transactions from that supplierΓÇÖs account.
- Cross-check each entry against the supplier statement and mark entries as presented.
- Enter the supplierΓÇÖs closing balance as stated in the statement.
- Bench compares this with the system-calculated closing balance.
- If thereΓÇÖs a difference, you can save the reconciliation but you can only submit it once the statement difference is zero.
📋 Form Fields
Header Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Creditor | The supplier whose account is being reconciled. |
| Reconciliation Date | Date of the supplierΓÇÖs statement. |
| Opening Account Balance | System-calculated balance before this period. |
| Statement Balance | Closing balance according to the supplierΓÇÖs statement. |
| Statement Difference | Difference between statement balance and system-calculated closing balance. |
| Closing Account Balance | System-calculated balance after this reconciliation. |
Transaction Table (Line Items)
Bench displays unreconciled G/L entries in a child table for review:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Date | Transaction date from the ledger. |
| Description | A short description (usually the linked document like invoice or payment). |
| Credit / Debit | Transaction values. |
| Presented | Mark this checkbox if the transaction appears in the supplier statement. |
This table pulls unreconciled items automatically from the supplier's account using their party_account.
🚦 Submission Rules
To submit the reconciliation:
- At least one transaction must be marked as presented.
- The Statement Difference must be exactly zero.
If these conditions are not met, Bench will prevent submission and display a validation message.
🔎 How Bench Calculates Balances
The system calculates the closing account balance using:
closing_account_balance = opening_account_balance + sum(debit - credit for presented entries)
Then it computes the statement difference:
statement_difference = statement_balance - closing_account_balance
🧠 Smart Automation Features
- Unreconciled Entries: Bench automatically pulls all supplier transactions that haven't been presented in prior reconciliations.
- G/L Integration: Each item is linked to a
GLEntryand its source document (like a bill or payment). - History Tracking: Past reconciliations are stored and auditable.
- Child Table Configuration: Transaction entries are read-only for values like debit, credit, and dateΓÇöensuring accuracy and consistency.
🔄 Updating the Opening Balance
Bench determines the Opening Account Balance by fetching the balance from the most recent submitted reconciliation for the same supplier.
get_last_reconciliation_balance(target, recon_type="creditor")
If no prior reconciliation exists, the balance is considered 0.00.
⚠️ Common Scenarios
| Scenario | What to do |
|---|---|
| A transaction appears in the supplierΓÇÖs statement but not in Bench | Create a new bill or payment. |
| A Bench transaction doesn't appear in the supplierΓÇÖs statement | Leave it unpresented for the next reconciliation. |
| Statement difference is not zero | Check for missing or mismatched entries. |