Balance sheet reconciliation for every account, every month
Balance sheet reconciliation for each general ledger account, not only cash. After month-end Sai pulls the trial balance, matches each account to its supporting schedule, subledger or statement, fills your reconciliation template with the balance, the support and the difference, and drafts entries for the reviewer. Accounts that tie are marked done; everything else waits for a person.
The routine
# Routine: Monthly balance sheet reconciliation
Schedule: Monthly, on the 1st at 9:00 AM
Runs on: Berry's computer
Ask me before acting: yes
Stop a run after: 2 hours
## Each run
1. Pull last month's trial balance from the accounting system.
2. Open the Reconciliation list (account, owner, support source, threshold, template).
3. For each account, get the support: subledger report, schedule, bank or loan statement, or third-party statement.
4. Fill the account's template: GL balance, supported balance, difference, and reconciling items carried from last month.
5. Investigate each new difference in the account detail and write the likely cause. Draft a journal entry only where the cause is clear.
6. Mark each account Reconciled, Needs review or Missing support.
## Rules
- Never post, approve or reverse entries, and never change a closed period.
- Don't plug differences. Record them with the cause or say it is unknown.
- Differences above the account threshold go to the top.
## Send me
Accounts reconciled, accounts with differences above threshold, missing support, and draft entries for review.What is balance sheet reconciliation?
Balance sheet reconciliation is the monthly process of comparing each balance sheet account in the general ledger with independent support, such as a subledger, a schedule or a third-party statement, and explaining any difference. It is also called GL account reconciliation. Cash, receivables, prepaids, fixed assets, accruals, payables, loans and equity each have their own support. Reconciliations catch errors before they reach the financial statements and give auditors the evidence they ask for.
The work is the same every month for every account, which makes it a natural routine.
How this routine reconciles the balance sheet
After month-end, Sai works account by account:
- Pull the trial balance. Last month’s balances come from your accounting system.
- Get the support. For each account, Sai pulls the subledger report, schedule or statement named in your Reconciliation list.
- Fill the template. GL balance, supported balance, difference and reconciling items from last month go into each account’s template.
- Investigate. New differences are traced in the account detail and the likely cause is written down; entries are drafted only when the cause is clear.
- Hand over. Accounts are marked reconciled, needs review or missing support, for the reviewer to sign off.
What you get each month
Reviewers then spend the close on the accounts that need judgment.
- A filled reconciliation for every balance sheet account
- Differences with their likely causes
- Accounts above threshold at the top
- Missing support listed by account
- Draft journal entries for review
Ways to reconcile balance sheet accounts, compared
Most finance teams use one of these.
| Method | Setup | Works with your templates | Covers support outside the ERP | Ongoing effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets by hand | None | Yes | Yes | High every month |
| Reconciliation features in the accounting system | Low | No | Rarely | Medium, for supported accounts |
| Account reconciliation software | High: implementation | Replaces them | Through imports | Low once set up |
| A Sai routine | Paste the routine, list accounts and support | Yes | Yes, from any portal or statement | Low: review and approve |
Large multi-entity teams usually justify reconciliation software. Smaller teams can keep their templates and let a routine do the gathering and tying. Cash accounts are covered weekly by bank and credit card reconciliation, payables by vendor reconciliation, and the wider close by the month-end close checklist.
When should the reconciliation run?
Run it once the books are mostly closed, often on day three to five of the month, so late bills and accruals are in. Set Stop a run after generously, since a full balance sheet has many accounts. High-risk accounts can get an extra mid-month run.
Set up the routine in Sai
- Copy the routine above and paste it into Sai, or click Start with Sai.
- Set the schedule to Monthly at 9:00 AM on the day your close reaches reconciliations.
- Keep Ask me before acting on, so entries wait for approval.
- Create the Reconciliation list with each account’s owner, support source, threshold and template, and give Sai access to the accounting system and statement portals.
- Run it alongside one close and compare before relying on it.
Workbook-heavy reconciliations pair well with Excel automation. The AI bookkeeping guide covers the daily work behind clean balances.
Why use a computer use agent for balance sheet reconciliation?
Support for balance sheet accounts is spread across the accounting system, banks, lenders, payroll, fixed asset registers and spreadsheets. A computer use agent collects it through each system’s screens the way a staff accountant does and fills the templates your reviewers already use.
Sai ranks at the top of OSWorld, the open benchmark for computer use. For reconciliations, that reliability shows up as every account handled the same way each month, with differences reported rather than hidden.
Skills this routine uses
- Excel automation: Clean, merge and update workbooks, refresh a model from new numbers, and build the weekly report in the real Excel app.
- QuickBooks automation: Enter bills, attach receipts and code bank transactions in QuickBooks Online by your rules, with big bills and unknowns left for you.
- NetSuite automation: Enter vendor bills in NetSuite from the PO and receipt, attach the PDF and leave each one Pending Approval, with mismatches left for you.
Related guides
- AI bookkeeping: Bills, receipts and close
- Routines in Sai: How schedules, approvals and run limits work
- AI chief of staff: Board numbers after the close