Reconciliation that agrees with your bank, to the cent

What it does

Your bank’s statement says what your balance was on a given day. Reconciling means confirming that your own records agree, transaction by transaction, and fixing whatever doesn’t. It’s how you catch the check you forgot to enter, the charge that was imported twice, or the $54.30 typed as $45.30.

Plenty of budgeting apps leave this out. Kemback keeps it, because a budget built on a register that is quietly wrong gives you the wrong answer about what you can afford.

How it works in Kemback

Open an account’s register and choose Reconcile. The page asks you to tick what’s on your statement until the difference is zero.

• Statement details. Enter the Statement date and the Ending balance. Kemback shows the Last reconciled balance, with its date; the first time, that’s the account’s opening balance.
• Tick what’s on the statement. The Not yet reconciled list shows every transaction in the account that hasn’t been reconciled. Transactions you’ve already marked cleared start ticked, transactions dated after the statement date are greyed out, and pending ones carry a small badge.
• Watch the difference. As you tick and untick, the Difference updates: the ending balance, less the last reconciled balance and everything you’ve ticked. It turns green at zero.
• Finish at zero, and only at zero. While there’s a difference, the button reads Finish when the difference is zero and can’t be pressed. At $0.00 it becomes Finish reconciling. The rule lives in Kemback’s shared core and is tested, so no screen can finish a reconciliation that doesn’t balance.
• Past statements. Each finished reconciliation is listed with its date, balance and how many transactions it covered. The latest one can be undone; its transactions go back to cleared.

Every amount is held in whole cents, never in floating point, so a zero difference really is zero.

Cleared and reconciled

Every transaction in a register has a status: pending, cleared or reconciled. You can click a pending or cleared badge to switch it between the two as you check your bank’s website during the month, and those ticks carry straight into the next reconciliation.

Reconciled transactions stay put

Once a transaction is reconciled, changing it would change a balance you’ve already agreed with the bank, so Kemback locks it.

• Changing a reconciled transaction’s category asks first: “This transaction is reconciled. Unlock it to change its category?”
• Deleting one warns that it unlocks the transaction and changes your reconciled balance.
• Its status badge can no longer be toggled.
• File imports and rules leave reconciled transactions alone, so a later import can’t rewrite a month you’ve already closed.

This matters most when you share a household. A partner tidying up categories can’t accidentally knock last month’s balance out of agreement with the bank.

After switching from Quicken or Mint

If you came from Quicken, the switch wizard checks each account’s balance against Quicken’s and marks any that disagree. Reconciling against your latest statement is how you set those right: tick everything up to the statement date, then add or correct whatever stands between you and a zero difference. The same works for a Mint account that started without a balance.

Where it runs

Reconciliation works in any browser at kemback.com and in the iPhone app, which is in beta and has the same Reconcile screen. It’s included on the Free plan, with no limit on accounts. Transactions come in from files you download from your bank (OFX, QFX, QIF or CSV) or that you enter yourself; automatic bank sync is coming with the Plus plan.

For a full walk-through with a worked example, see reconciling an account in Kemback. If you’re new to the habit, why reconcile your accounts explains what it catches and how often to do it.

Questions

Is reconciliation free in Kemback?

Yes. Reconciliation is part of every plan, including Free, for every account you have.

What if the difference won't reach zero?

Something on the statement is missing from Kemback, something is in Kemback twice, or an amount or sign is wrong. Add or fix the transaction in the register, come back to Reconcile, and the difference updates as you tick.

How do I reconcile a credit card?

Enter the statement's ending balance as a negative number, because Kemback stores what you owe as a negative balance. A card statement that says you owe $1,248.60 is entered as -1,248.60.

Can I undo a reconciliation?

Yes. The most recent reconciliation under Past statements has an Undo button. Its transactions go back to cleared, and you can reconcile again. To go further back, undo them one at a time from the newest.

Can I still change a reconciled transaction?

Yes, but Kemback asks first. Changing a reconciled transaction's category asks you to unlock it, and deleting one warns that it changes your reconciled balance.