How to resolve the issue when your credit card reconciliation won't balance

If the credit card reconciliation is off by exactly the amount of the credit card bill, it is likely a date issue. You must take steps to ensure the bill is outside of the reconciliation time frame. This may be done in one of two ways enumerated in the first bullet below.

• If you are on an accrual basis, when you enter the bill to pay the credit card company, the bill date must be later than the statement date and on or before the payment date.
  
  1. If the bill date is the same as the reconciliation statement date, if there are no charges on that same date, you may change the reconciliation date to one day before. So, if the credit card statement date is mm/31/yyyy and the bill is dated mm/31/yyyy, as long as there are no charges on the 31st, you may change the reconciliation date to mm/30/yyyy as shown in this image. To change the date on a reconciliation the reconciliation would need to be deleted and reprocessed. If you do this, you will not need to correct the date on the bill. 
     
  2. If the above option does not work because you have charges on the statement date, move the invoice date for the credit card vendor up one day beyond the reconciliation statement date. Click here to learn how to do that. 
     

If changing the dates did not resolve your issue, consider the following:

• Make sure the Statement Date is correct. This excludes changes made due to the first point above. The Statement Date determines which transactions display on the Credit Card Reconciliation and if it is not correct, some pertinent transactions may not display.
• Ensure you have entered all credit card transactions including credits, refunds, and service charges.
• Ensure you have entered the correct Statement Balance. The statement balance can be updated on the reconciliation page.
• Check your transactions to ensure they do not debit and credit the liability account. A credit card transaction should credit the liability account and debit an expense account.
    
• A credit card payment should only be marked off (on the reconciliation) if it is on your credit card statement.
  • Since the bank reconciliation and the credit card reconciliation are two different processes, a payment that is on your bank statement does not get marked on the reconciliation unless it is also on the bank reconciliation statement.

How to correct the date on a credit card bill

If the bill has been paid

• Do not void the check.
• If you have the ability to delete the check, delete the check. Then, edit the bill to one day beyond the statement date and reassign the check to the bill.

If the bill has not been paid and there is an edit button at the bottom of the bill, edit the bill date to one day beyond the statement date. 

No edit or delete button?

To correct the bill date if you do not have the ability to delete the check or edit the bill:

• 1. Create a negative bill on the same date as the original bill.
  2. Create a new bill dated one day beyond the statement date.
  3. Pay the two bills together on the same date as the new bill. This will produce a $0.00 check. Note: be sure that the vendor is not marked to print one check per bill.  If your check number that actually paid the bill was 1123 you may want to use check number 1123CORR. This will allow you to tie the correction to the original check and will not disrupt the check sequence.

When you reconcile the next bank statement you will see a negative amount and positive amount for the correction mark both the negative and positive correction.

If you voided the check:

• Create a new negative bill for the same date as the original bill.
• Create a new bill on the date of the void
• Note: be sure that the vendor is not marked to print one check per bill. 
• Pay the two bills together creating a zero dollar check.
• Create a new bill and pay the new bill with the bill date and the check date in the same statement period.

Related Articles 

How to Enter Credit Card Transactions

Credit Card: How to reverse a charge or enter a refund

Credit Card Reconciliation Process

Updated September 27, 2024 18:34