Step Seven B: Reconciling Credit Cards with Bank Feeds

The purpose of this article is to educate you on the process of reconciling a Credit Card with Bank Feeds.  For most of the reconciliation process, your will follow Reconciling Bank Accounts with Bank Feeds.

Reconciling credit cards slightly differs from normal bank accounts. The credit card statement period can run over two different months which makes it a little tricky to reconcile:

1. A cheque, loan, or deposit bank statement period runs from the first day of a month to the last day of the month.  The final transaction showing on a bank statement for a month is also where the bank statement closing balance is recorded.  Using Bank Feeds, the bank statement closing balance will automatically populate.
2. A credit card closing statement period can run over two different months.  For example:
   • the first day of the statement is the 29th day of each month (i.e April)
   • the closing statement date is the 28th day of the next month (i.e May)
   • the total balance due for payment is approximately 15 days into the next month (i.e June)

How do I find my Credit Card Closing Balance?

To follow is an example credit card statement and where this information appears in Agrimaster as part of the reconciliation process:

• opening balance = -$3,441.49 (this number has rolled forward from last months bank statement closing balance)
• bank statement closing = -$10,250.00 (this number comes either from your bank feed or is manually entered by you)
• cleared receipts/cleared transfers in = $3,441.49 (this is a cash transfer you will add from another account in Agrimaster paying last months credit balance due)
• cleared payments/cleared transfers out = -$13,691.49 (these are all the payments you have charged to the credit card)

Is The Credit Card Closing Balance Correct In Agrimaster?

When reconciling, the Credit Card Statement Closing Balance populated from the Bank Feed may be incorrect. This is because the Bank Feed will populate bank statement data for the entire month, not just the statement period, and hence may be why the credit card statement closing balance differs.

What I do next?

1. Ensure you have the current credit card statement handy for the end of the reconciliation process.
2. Commence Reconciling Bank Accounts with Bank Feeds.
3. Once all transactions appearing on the credit card statement have been reconciled in Agrimaster, click the Black Cross icon or press the escape key on the keyboard. 
4. In the main reconciliation screen, confirm your Bank Account Closing Balance is correct as per showing on your credit card statement. If not, manually adjust and press enter once.
5. If the difference is Zero, you have reconciled the credit card. If not, have a read of Unable to Reconcile.

Pending transactions

Credit Cards can have pending transactions appear with Bank Feed data. It is up to you if you wish to import these transactions as part of the reconciliation process or not. These items are yet to settle at the bank.  

When going through the reconciliation process:

1. Select all credit card items appearing in a section (cleared or pending) by clicking on the Select All icon to highlight all entries
   .  Click the Green Tick or press F10 to save.
2. To select specific credit card items appearing in a section (only cleared), hold the CTRL-key down and select the required entries with your mouse. Click the Green Tick or press F10 to save.
3. If you decided to import pending transactions outside the credit card statement period, these would have been marked as reconciled as part of the reconciliation process. You will need to untick these transactions or you will be unable to reconcile to the credit card statement closing balance. These unticked transactions will carry forward to the following month's transactions and will be reconciled to next month's credit card statement (see images below).
   

How to record the Credit Card Payment in Agrimaster:

Use the cash transfer icon to record the payment of the credit from the cheque account.

International Purchases

If you purchase items from overseas, you may notice $0 Foreign fees appearing on your credit card statement.  These are attributed to fees associated with foreign purchases.

In the reconciliation process, they will appear Select credits to export to cashbook.  As they have a zero value, it is up to you if you wish to import them or not.

1. To select all items appearing in the section, click on the Select All icon to highlight all entries
   .  Click the Green Tick or press F10 to save.
2. To select specific items appearing in the section (only cleared), hold the CTRL-key down and select the required entries with your mouse. Click the Green Tick or press F10 to save.