Sort the unmatched items in a bank reconciliation

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name: bank-reconciliation-exceptions
description: "Use when the user has bank reconciliation items that did not auto-match and wants them sorted into timing differences, probable errors and questions for the client, with each client question drafted. Triggers: unmatched items, reconciling items, outstanding checks, deposits in transit, bank rec exceptions."
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# Sort the unmatched items in a bank reconciliation

Group the items that won’t match into timing differences, likely errors and items to ask the client about, with the question already written.

## When to use it

After auto-matching, when you're left with a list of items on one side and not the other. Most are timing: outstanding checks, deposits in transit. The rest are the reason you reconcile at all, and they're easy to miss in a long list.

The assistant is good at pattern-finding across the list: a deposit and a book entry that differ by a transposed digit, a duplicate, a transfer recorded on only one side. It can't see your bank or your ledger, only what you paste.

**Where it works.** Works in Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot or any AI assistant. No setup.

## Ask the user for

- Unmatched bank lines: date, description, amount.
- Unmatched book lines: date, memo, amount, account.
- The statement end date.
- Remove account numbers and anything you wouldn’t email to someone. Descriptions are enough.

Ask for anything missing before you start. Never invent a figure to fill a gap.

## Do this

Carry out the request below. Fill each [bracketed] item from what the user gave you.

I'm reconciling a bank account for the period ending [date]. Below are the items that didn't match automatically.

Sort every item into one of these groups:
1. Timing: outstanding checks, deposits in transit, anything likely to clear in the next few days. Say what you'd expect to see on next month's statement.
2. Probable match: a bank line and a book line that are likely the same transaction despite a difference (transposed digits, a fee netted out, a different date). Pair them and name the difference.
3. Probable error: a duplicate, an entry on the wrong side, a transfer recorded only once. Say what the correcting entry would be, but don't assume it's right.
4. Ask the client: anything you can't explain from the data. Write the question to send, in one plain sentence per item.

Every item must land in exactly one group. At the end, total each group and show that the groups account for the whole unreconciled difference of [amount].

Unmatched bank items:
[paste]

Unmatched book items:
[paste]

## Before you hand it over

Tell the user which of these checks they still need to make:

- Confirm the groups really do total the unreconciled difference. If they don’t, something was dropped.
- Look up every “probable match” and “probable error” in the source before you post anything.
- Record the correcting entries yourself. The assistant proposes; you post.

The assistant drafts. The person whose name is on the work approves it.

## What a good answer looks like

**1. Timing ($4,310.00)**
- Check 1184, $2,150.00, written 08-29. Expect it in the first week of September.
- Deposit in transit, $2,160.00, recorded 08-31.

**2. Probable match ($38.70)**
- Bank 08-14 "CARD SETTLEMENT" $1,245.30 ↔ book 08-14 customer receipt $1,284.00. Difference $38.70 looks like a processing fee netted out of the deposit. The fee needs recording.

**3. Probable error ($640.00)**
- Book 08-22 "Transfer to savings" $640.00 appears twice. Suggest reversing one.

**4. Ask the client**
- 08-19 "ACH DEBIT PAYROLL SVC" $312.44: "Is this a payroll tax adjustment, and which period does it belong to?"

Groups total $5,301.14 ($4,310.00 + $38.70 + $640.00 + $312.44), which matches the unreconciled difference.

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From the Harbinger FinLab skill library: https://harbinger.finance/skills/bank-reconciliation-exceptions