Balance-sheet reconciliation

What reconciled means in Haruno

An account is reconciled when its supporting schedule adds up to its general-ledger balance to the cent, at the month the schedule was prepared for. Materiality never softens a status: a one-cent difference is an exception. A reconciled status is a tie between two figures, not an opinion on either of them.

Reconciliation runs inside every close, against the ledger as it stands then. Nothing is posted from a schedule: a difference is reported, and the statement figure stands. See What a close is. Haruno for Windows reconciles the same way; this page describes the Mac, and where Windows differs, see Haruno on Windows.

The reconciliation workbook

The reconciliation workbook is the Excel file the company keeps for its month-end balance-sheet reconciliations: a contents sheet plus one tab per account. It is optional: a company closes without one, but nothing is reconciled (see Companies without a workbook). With one, every close reconciles the accounts it covers and the company has a reconciliation binder report.

A register named 15XX Fixed Assets, which reconciles both equipment cost and its accumulated depreciation, carries no number. The draft reads the two accounts from the register and asks: “tab '15XX Fixed Assets' is read as reconciling TWO accounts: 1510 against its cost column and 1610 against its accumulated-depreciation column — confirm the second belongs to this schedule.” It also lists the sheets it skipped, so you can confirm none reconciles an account.

Add it, then each month

Add the workbook with the exports on the setup page (see Adding data). Its Read as button should read Automatic (Reconciliation): Reconciliation is the app's name, in that list, for a reconciliation workbook and for a QuickBooks reconciliation report. If it reads something else, remove it with Remove from Company, fix the layout and add it again; adding it again without removing it keeps both copies. Don't force it with Read as: that choice applies to every file in the draft (see Read as). Then draft the mapping, answer Materiality, in dollars, Account reconciled elsewhere and, with a prepaid or fixed-asset tab, Capitalization threshold, in dollars, and approve it. A workbook added after a mapping drafted without one is read only after you draft again: see Adding a workbook later.

Each month, add that month's workbook with Books ▸ Import Exports… on the company's page before you close (see Adding files after the mapping exists). Earlier workbooks stay and are read again at every close.

• Keep the contents sheet's name exactly as in the first workbook (TOC is not Toc), or the workbook is not read.
• Keep the tab names. A tab whose name carries no account number, such as 15XX Fixed Assets, is matched by its exact name: renamed, it reads open, and 1510 and 1610 have no schedule that month and can raise recon_coverage. A numbered tab keeps working while its name starts with the number.
• Add one workbook per month. With two for the same month, only one result is kept for each account, the workbook read last. A copy saved under the same name (<name> 2.xlsx) is read right after its original; other files are read in name order, so the one read last is not necessarily the one you added last.
• Name files by year and month number, such as Recon 2026-06.xlsx (see Which month a workbook reconciles).
• Check the workbook before you add it: a corrected copy is saved beside the original rather than replacing it, and both are read. A file a close has read stays, because its figures are in the months already reported; any other file can be removed, such as one added since, one the mapping does not read, or one Haruno could not read.

What Haruno does not read

• Bank statements. Cash is usually reconciled in QuickBooks: add QuickBooks' own reconciliation report, saved as PDF (see QuickBooks reconciliation reports, below). A pasted bank reconciliation reads open unless its tab has a row labeled Per GL (the book balance) and a row labeled Total (the reconciled balance).
• Accounts payable agings. Add QuickBooks' A/P Aging report as its own file instead, and Haruno ties it to the payable account you name.
• Methods other than straight line, hidden tabs, and .xls or .xlsm files (save as .xlsx).

QuickBooks reconciliation reports

A reconciliation can also come from QuickBooks: the Reconciliation report it prints for a bank or credit-card account, saved as a PDF (see Reconciliation reports). Add it with Upload files or by dropping it on the window (a company that reads QuickBooks has an Add reconciliation reports section on its Files tab for this); its row reads Reconciliation, and the mapping needs no change. Any other PDF reads “Copied · Not used”: “This PDF isn't a QuickBooks reconciliation report, the only kind of PDF Haruno reads. Export the report to Excel (.xlsx) and add that file.”

Haruno reads a report as that account's reconciliation for the month its statement ends in. Per schedule is the statement ending balance plus the uncleared transactions, Per GL is the register balance at the statement's end, and the status follows the same rules as a workbook's: an exception from one cent. A report whose own Summary does not add up is an exception, and one that ends before the month's last day shows no Per GL. A report that cannot be used is named in the close result (“‹file› was not filed as a reconciliation: …”) and passed over: its account is not in the books, the books hold no balances for its month yet (it is read once they do), or a workbook already reconciles that account for that month.

A company whose books come from QuickBooks reconciles through these reports only; a workbook added to it is not read (see QuickBooks and a company's books). When a company moves from Excel files to QuickBooks, the months a workbook reconciled read not reconciled until a QuickBooks reconciliation report covers them. What such a company is expected to reconcile is in Coverage and exemptions.

How Haruno reads each tab

Haruno classifies each numbered tab by the words in its column headings, not its name; the first kind below whose words all appear anywhere in the tab wins, ignoring capitals, wrapped lines and extra spaces. A heading split over two rows (Reverse above Accruals) counts as one. No kind is tied to a particular account: a payroll liabilities tab, say, is read as whichever shape its headings match, or as external.

The Per GL, total and Difference rows

On every tab Haruno also reads rows starting Per GL, Total or Ending balance, and Difference:

Where a tab lays months side by side, the close month's column is used. Where one tab carries two undated schedules, as a register carries cost and accumulated depreciation, the worse-tying column decides.

Which month a workbook reconciles

A workbook reconciles the month of its contents-sheet dates. Results are kept per account and month, so earlier months stay, and their exceptions are still reported (see Exceptions from earlier months). No screen lists an earlier month's statuses, and the binder shows only the latest month, so export the Reconciliation report each month.

Haruno reads files in name order, with a copy such as Recon 2026-06 2.xlsx right after the file it copies, and takes an account's register and prepaid contracts from the workbook read last. With month names, Recon July sorts before Recon June, and June's register would be compared with July's ledger; year-and-month names avoid that.

Reconciliation statuses

Each account a tab reconciles gets one status for its month, decided by the difference alone.

Why no tolerance: a $250 difference on a $42,000 advances account is small, but it means a line on the schedule, or a posting in the ledger, is wrong. Materiality decides which balances without a schedule are worth chasing (see Coverage and exemptions); it never turns a difference into a tie. There is no reconciling-items section and no way to mark a difference as explained: even a legitimate timing item, such as an invoice to be booked next month, puts the account in exception, and no exemption or acknowledgment clears it.

recon_gl_mismatch (high) reports a tab whose stated Per GL differs from the ledger balance by more than one cent, even if the tab ties to itself: “At <date>, the schedule's ledger figure <x> differs from the current ledger balance <y>; it is tied to a stale figure”. Neither it nor recon_exceptions has a Resolve… button; you clear them by correcting that month's schedule or books. See Reconciliation checks.

Reading reconciliation in the app

A company's Reconciliation tab lists each reconciled account for the month the page reports, with Per GL, Per schedule, Difference and Status. A red exception → opens that account's schedule below. The Schedules card shows each schedule as Haruno recomputed it from its own rows, one disclosure per account, with an exception's schedule already open: roll-forward and accrual rows beside the recomputed balance, prepaid contracts or the asset register, with ⚠ on a row that disagrees with the balance it states. A bank or external tab has no rows to show. Between the status table and that card, Material balances with no reconciliation lists what no schedule supports, and for a company reconciled through QuickBooks reports, Balances with no reconciliation report lists the balances it is not expected to have one for. With nothing reconciled the tab reads No reconciliations at this close. See The Reconciliation tab.

The Recon exceptions tile and the Portfolio

In the Portfolio report

The Portfolio report, exported with Books ▸ Export Portfolio Report…, has a Reconciliation status card per company. With nothing reconciled it says No reconciliation binder ingested for this close. Its Recon exceptions tile reads a dash with no reconciliation binder for this close, not a count of zero. See The Portfolio report. The investor report leaves reconciliation out entirely (see The investor report).

The reconciliation binder report

The binder lists every reconciled account with its status, the material balances with no schedule, and each schedule recomputed line by line. It is the Reconciliation row of the company's Reports card: press the row to see it on the Reconciliation tab, or use the row's … menu ▸ Export… to save a PDF and a web page, named like “Acme Inc — Reconciliation Jun 2026”. Its parts are described in The reconciliation binder.

Each account's section starts on a new printed page and ends with the line Per schedule <x> · Per GL <y> · Difference <z>. A section with nothing to list reads “No itemized rows extracted.”, “No prepaid schedule extracted.” or “No asset registry extracted.”

A ⚠ asks you to check that row by hand; it never changes the status. On a liability roll-forward, such as deferred revenue, check it as beginning balance, less debits, plus credits. The binder covers the month the page reports, and is offered only when that month is reconciled (see Which month a workbook reconciles).

Coverage and exemptions

Coverage asks whether a balance went unreconciled. At the latest month the company has a reconciliation for, every balance-sheet account with a balance at or above materiality needs a tab or an exemption, except equity accounts (Net Income, Opening Balance Equity, retained earnings and paid-in capital), which are never expected to have one. One with neither raises recon_coverage (medium) and a Coverage alerts line in the binder. Exempt the cash accounts you reconcile in QuickBooks. A zero balance is flagged only when materiality is 0. For a company with no reconciliation at all the check is silent: not assessed, not clean.

A company reconciled only through QuickBooks reconciliation reports is expected to have a report for each bank and credit-card account: an asset on or under a Balance Sheet line that says cash or bank, a liability under one that says credit cards, and any account a report has reconciled before. Its other balances are not findings; the Reconciliation tab lists them apart. Its draft asks neither Materiality nor Account reconciled elsewhere, and the default materiality, $1,000, applies.

Materiality

Materiality is in dollars, drafted at $1,000 in the review row Materiality, in dollars when the draft finds a workbook: 1000 is a $1,000 balance, never $1,000k, and 0 means every balance needs a schedule. Without a workbook it is not asked and $1,000 applies. Once answered, it changes only with Draft again, which discards every recorded answer, or when you ask the assistant to edit the mapping (see What the app cannot do yet).

Record an exemption

An exemption says an account is reconciled elsewhere or is expected to have no schedule. Record it on the review form's Account reconciled elsewhere row, or later with Resolve… on the recon_coverage finding, then Record answer. Enter an exact account number where you can: it matches the same way everywhere, including the binder's Coverage alerts. An exemption quiets only the coverage finding; it never clears an exception or a stale Per GL, and it does not change a month already locked. An entry that matches no account raises unused_exemption (medium): “Exemption <entry> matches no account. The balances it was meant to quiet are still reported.” More: Exemptions and Resolving a finding.

Depreciation, amortization and policy checks

With a fixed-asset register or prepaid schedule, Haruno recomputes both on a straight line and compares them with the general ledger at the workbook's month, and with the capitalization threshold only if you stated one. Each gap is a schedule_drift finding (medium unless noted). It reports the difference; it never proposes a life or restates a figure.

For these comparisons Haruno recomputes from cost (less any residual value), life and in-service date, never from the register's own accumulated column, and accepts either rounding convention: repeating the rounded monthly charge, or sweeping the residual into the last month. One comparison is made per accumulated-depreciation account, summing every register that depreciates into it. A register that does not support the ledger means the register or the monthly entry is wrong; a charge that misses the ledger's movement means the entry was booked in another month.

When a comparison does not run

A register row with a zero cost, a life that is not a positive number of months, or no readable in-service date, a prepaid contract with no term or start date, or a register naming two accumulated-depreciation accounts is a medium finding, and the affected accounts are not compared until a workbook that fixes it is the one Haruno reads for them. A prepaid contract starting service in the prior month or later skips the movement comparison with a low finding, which does not affect the close state: the ledger holds no invoice date, so a policy invoiced December 20 for service from January 1 would look like a break. The unrecognized-balance comparison still runs. A register row whose Purchased cell is blank or not a number is not read as an asset at all, and no finding names it. An account already in exception is reported once, as recon_exceptions.

Deferred revenue

The balance sheet states only opening and closing deferred revenue. Haruno splits the movement into additions (billed in advance) and recognition (delivered), from the company's billing export or from roll-forward tabs in the workbook, and checks that opening plus additions less recognition equals closing. A gap larger than both materiality and $1.00 is deferred_rollforward_drift (medium): “At <date>, opening <o> + additions <a> − recognition <r> gives <d>; the books state <c>, <gap> apart. The split comes from the binder.” (or “…from billing invoices.”) Nothing is restated.

To use the workbook, give every account Haruno reads as deferred revenue (found by name) a roll-forward tab. On the liability, Credit is additions and Debit is recognition, and End Bal less Beg Bal must equal Credit less Debit. A workbook splits only its own month. The tab is also reconciled like any other.

The Deferred revenue card on the Overview shows the roll-forward and, with Why did it move?, the lines behind a month. See Deferred revenue roll-forward.

Receivables, payables and their agings

Haruno ties the QuickBooks A/R Aging Detail's open invoices to the balance of the accounts you name as receivable, and an A/P Aging (Summary or Detail) to the accounts you name as payable; nothing infers which account that is. Add the Detail (the A/R Summary is not used), as of a month-end the books hold, and answer the Receivable account row, or the Payable account row for an A/P aging, that the review form shows when an aging is among the files. A gap larger than both materiality and one cent is aging_disagrees_with_balance (high), with the subject A/R aging @ <date> or A/P aging @ <date> and a sentence such as “<n> open invoices total <x> at <date>; the ledger carries <y> on <accounts>, a gap of <g>.” So at the default $1,000 a gap of $1,000 or less raises no finding. If a named account has no balance at that date, nothing is compared. For a company synced from QuickBooks, the draft names these accounts itself, by their QuickBooks account type. See Other QuickBooks reports and, for an aging added after the mapping, Adding files later.

Companies without a workbook

A company set up from its Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss alone, with no reconciliation workbook and no QuickBooks reconciliation reports, closes normally: its months lock. Nothing is reconciled, and the app says so: the close result notes why there is no binder, the months lock as not reconciled, and the app shows a dash or an empty table rather than a clean result.

Every check on the statements still runs, as do the aging ties, once you add an A/R Aging Detail or an A/P aging and name the account, and the deferred revenue check, if a billing export supplies the split.

Adding a workbook later

A mapping drafted without a workbook cannot read one added later: the import row reads “Copied · Not in the mapping”, the Files tab says the next close leaves the file out, and the close names it and says it was left where it is. Add the workbook, press Draft mapping again (on the import result or on the company's Mappings tab), or choose Books ▸ Review Mapping… ▸ Draft again, and approve the new draft before you close. Drafting again discards the answers you recorded, and if the new draft presents a locked month differently, the next close is refused until that month is reopened: read Changing the mapping first. Draft again works when the files hold two exports of the same statement, as they do once a company has closed more than one month: it drafts from the export that runs to the latest month and says which it left out (see Draft again). A QuickBooks reconciliation report is read without drafting again. If you add the wrong file, take it out with Remove from Company on the company's Files tab until the next close has read it.

How reconciliation sets the close state

Every close locks the months it can, tied or not, and records the high and medium findings still open. None makes a month fully reconciled; any makes it reported with exception. A month the books hold no reconciliation for has nothing to tie, so with no open findings it locks as not reconciled instead. Reconciliation reaches the other two states only through its findings, so fully reconciled does not mean every balance was tied: open rows, exempted accounts and balances below materiality are not tested. See Close states.

Open at the lock, each of these makes a month reported with exception: recon_exceptions (high), recon_gl_mismatch (high), recon_coverage (medium), schedule_drift (medium), deferred_rollforward_drift (medium), aging_disagrees_with_balance (high), schedule_movement_unexplained (medium), unused_exemption (medium), and evidence_integrity (medium), raised when Haruno's retained copy of the workbook is missing, altered or unreadable. A low schedule_drift, when a prepaid movement comparison could not run, and an open status have no effect.

Exceptions from earlier months

recon_exceptions and recon_gl_mismatch check every month the books hold. An exception left in an earlier month is reported at every later close, and each locks its months as reported with exception, until that month ties. Neither an exemption nor a correction booked in a later month clears it: June's schedule is still compared with June's ledger. A corrected workbook for that month, saved under the same name, is read after the original, so its result is the one kept. One saved under another name is read in file-name order and can still lose to the original, so before you send one, write to support at info@inferara.com with the company and the file names.

Fixing a month that is already locked

A locked month's state records what was true when it was reported, and fixing the cause later does not change it. Reopen the month with a written reason from the close-state chip or the Months sheet, fix the cause, and close it again. See Reopening a month; for a corrected workbook, read Exceptions from earlier months, above, first.

A worked example

Nimbus Biotech, Inc., a demonstration company with synthetic figures, sends a June 2026 workbook with six tabs. Its mapping exempts the cash accounts (1010, 1020 and 1030) and the payables accounts it does not schedule; equity, Net Income included, is never expected to have a schedule. Materiality is $1,000. The binder's status summary:

1440 Advance to Suppliers: exception. The roll-forward lists Glassworks Ltd at 15,000, BioReagent GmbH at 20,000, and PackCorp, which opens at 7,000, takes a 250 debit in June and ends at 7,250: 42,250. The tab states no Per GL, so Haruno uses the imported ledger balance, 42,000, which equals the three opening balances. Either the $250 June advance to PackCorp is on the schedule but not in the books, or the schedule is wrong. The finding is recon_exceptions (high), titled Reconciliation has exceptions: subject 1440 Advance to Suppliers @ 2026-06-30, sentence “The schedule does not tie to the ledger at Jun 30, 2026: difference $250.00.”

1450 Deposits Receivable: no schedule. It carries 8,500 at June 30, has no tab and no exemption, and is above the $1,000 materiality. The finding is recon_coverage (medium), titled Reconciliation is missing: subject 1450 Deposits Receivable, sentence “The $8,500.00 balance at Jun 30, 2026 has no reconciliation.” The binder's Coverage alerts read 1450 Deposits Receivable — material balance 8,500.00 with no reconciliation. The company adds a tab, or you record an exemption. 1450 is also missing from the statements, a separate finding (see The checks).

The rest tie. From December 1, 2025, LabServ Co's 84,000 twelve-month contract has 35,000 left at June 30, and the 60,000 insurance policy has 25,000 left. The 15XX Fixed Assets tab ties 1510 at cost (250,000 plus 30,000) and 1610 at (132,500.09), its accumulated column with the sign reversed. The binder's 1510 section recomputes the register:

What June locks as

With recon_exceptions, recon_coverage and findings on the statements open, June locks as reported with exception. On the company's first close, the same list is recorded against every month the close locks. To change that, correct the PackCorp difference, give 1450 a schedule or an exemption, deal with the statement findings, then reopen June and close it again (see Fixing a month that is already locked). An exemption for 1450 alone would leave the 1440 exception.

When a workbook stops the close

A workbook problem stops only that company's close, and the result card gives the reason in the step's own words. See also Troubleshooting: closing.

A term or life written as text, such as 60 months, does not stop the close: the row is read with no term and raises a medium finding. A fractional figure is cut to whole months: 12.5 reads as 12. A workbook already added is read at every close. One added since the last close can be taken out with Remove from Company; one an earlier close has read stays, so fix it before you add it. If a workbook breaks every close and cannot be taken out, write to support at info@inferara.com with the company and file name.