What are some of the top bank reconciliation softwares for 2023?

Arjun Ruparelia

12 Jul 2023 - updated on 20 Jul 2023

Reading time: 7 min.

Bank reconciliation is a critical accounting process that ensures the accuracy and integrity of your financial accounts. A bank reconciliation software streamlines this process by automating the comparison between your bookkeeping records and account statements, minimising errors, and saving time and effort.

Bank reconciliation software: Definition

Bank reconciliation software is a software tool that helps companies match the balance on their bank statement to the balance in their general ledger or check register. This process is generally carried out on a monthly basis.

Any discrepancies between bank and account balances are usually due to outstanding cheques and deposits still in transit; bank reconciliation software identifies such unmatched transactions and offers suggestions to bring the accounts back into balance.

What software is used for reconciliation?

Most accounting software, such as QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Zoho Books, have in-built bank reconciliation solutions. However, with digitalisation and automation leading the transformation in the financial industry, several companies have started offering niche reconciliation software that reconciles bank transactions and other accounting records.

A typical bank reconciliation software has the following features:

It automates the import of banking data either directly from the bank or indirectly from other sources, such as XML or CSV files.
It systematises transaction matching between the bank statement and the accounting records based on configurable rules.
It generates bank reconciliation statements that detect and highlight discrepancies and unmatched transactions between the two records.

What are some of the best bank reconciliation software and account reconciliation software programmes to reconcile bank and cash transactions?

With options galore, it can be complex to choose the bank reconciliation application most suited to your needs. Below, we discuss the features of the six best bank reconciliation software:

QuickBooks

Featuring among the most popular accounting software, QuickBooks boasts highly efficient bank reconciliation capabilities. It allows you to match your monthly bank statements to its check register to ensure all transactions are complete and accurate.

It offers easy tracking features such as spotting transaction errors and data changes down to dates and the users who made those changes. QuickBooks’ platform is fast, and it has recently expanded its repertoire of tools for integration.

QuickBooks is well-suited to businesses looking for a complete accounting suite, as its pricing can feel a little prohibitive for those focussing only on bank reconciliation processes.

Sage Accounting

A relatively inexpensive alternative to QuickBooks, Sage Accounting is a fairly popular bank reconciliation software with other accounting solutions. It enables you to import invoices and receipts onto the system easily and proceeds to reconcile them with your bank transactions automatically.

It displays an automatic bank feed that presents all transactions in one place, giving you the option to choose which transactions to match by what rules. Sage facilitates its users to collaborate in real-time with their accountants, as there is no limit on the number of users.

This solution is particularly suited to small-sized SMBs looking for a convenient mobile app interface. You can try the Sage app for free for the first three months and then opt for any of its tier plans.

Xero

Xero, an excellent accounting software popular for its inventory and project accounting, also offers exceptional bank reconciliation features. Its interface is easy to manoeuvre, with its side-by-side layout enabling easy matching of bank transactions against accounting records and highlighting unrecorded transactions.

It allows for easy uploads of bank statements and has recently integrated the feature of statement extraction through Hubdoc. However, the bank reconciliation software does not permit the grouping of payments into bank deposits, which may make the process a little inconvenient.

Xero offers several plans, with high-tier growing and established plans offering the ability to match bulk transactions powered by AI-driven algorithms, making scaling operations easier.

BlackLine

Blackline offers comprehensive account reconciliation solutions that utilise a blend of configurable auto-reconciliation rules and standardised templates. It provides an intuitive interface that automates workflows, approvals, and reviews.

It affords complete visibility into reconciliation status through its real-time dashboards, enabling its users to focus on exceptions and make adjustments. It minimises the need for manual intervention by automating transaction matching across multiple sources.

BlackLine’s bank reconciliation services are more suited to mid-size and large companies.

ReconArt

ReconArt, a rather expensive reconciliation software, offers a one-stop solution for relatively larger SMBs requiring reconciliation services across banking transactions, trade data, credit cards, intercompany dealings, accounts, and more.

Its interface is entirely web-hosted, fully automated, and highly intuitive, but it does not offer a mobile app. It offers an auditable framework that is easy to scale in terms of users and transaction volume.

Ideally, ReconArt works best for companies that process large volumes of data or require seamless integration with third-party platforms, ERPs, and internal systems.

AutoRek

AutoRek is an end-to-end, cloud-hosted, automated bank reconciliation tool capable of reconciling data across several formats, including spreadsheets, CSV, ACH, SWIFT, ISO 20022, and other bank statement formats. It allows its users to build their own custom rules for superior matching.

It helps save costs by almost 50% through its automated reconciliation processes, easy integration with other systems, and detailed exception management. It minimises manual intervention by intelligently matching transactions and pinpointing areas for improvement.

AutoRek also offers real-time, in-depth audit trails to ensure you are FCA and GDPR-compliant. It is easily scalable and adept at handling high data volumes.

Can Excel do bank reconciliation?

Yes, bank reconciliation exercises can also be undertaken in an Excel sheet. Formulas like SUMIF, VLOOKUP, and COUNTIF help check deposits, match transactions, and identify inconsistencies between the two records.

However, Excel lacks the dedicated built-in features of bank reconciliation software that streamline and automate the transaction matching process. It is also unsuitable for businesses with huge transaction volumes that require frequent reconciliations.

Can you automate bank reconciliation?

Yes, the process of bank reconciliation can be automated using dedicated accounting software, such as Quickbooks and Sage Accounting. Automating reconciliation helps reduce the errors associated with carrying out manual reconciliations by ensuring all balance sheet accounts, including the newly-added accounts, are connected and reconciled.

Account reconciliation software minimises a company’s financial risk by reducing errors and enables time and cost savings by storing all financial data in the right place and sending timely alerts to software users for rework and exception management. They also strengthen regulatory compliance by ensuring financial reporting is aligned with policies and laws.

However, businesses must carefully evaluate their choices, as some account reconciliation software may require additional manual intervention despite purporting to be fully automated.

To illustrate, some bank reconciliation software may not automatically import and synchronise your bank account transactions, thus requiring manual downloading and uploading of account statements into the accounting software.

Similarly, some reconciliation software may require multiple passwords throughout the process, which increases the manual work involved and leaves scope for more automation. Alternatively, businesses, especially large companies, can also choose specialised reconciliation software for superior automatic matching of bank and account statements.

What accounting software mentioned has automatic bank reconciliation?

Several all-inclusive accounting software programmes, such as Xero, Quickbooks, and Sage Accounting, allow for automatic bank reconciliation and are particularly suitable for small-scale businesses. Xero offers the advantage of being easily scalable, while Sage Accounting automated bank feeds. For medium to large-sized businesses, ReconArt is a more ideal choice.

Conversely, companies with more specialised needs can opt for dedicated reconciliation software like BlackLine. For firms looking for free software tools, NCH Express Accounting is a suitable alternative. However, it is restricted to five or fewer employees and companies must buy a paid plan when they scale up.

Additionally, many software solution providers, including Agicap, integrate with your bank accounts to automatically import your transactions, providing real-time updates of your cash flows in a few clicks.

Key takeaways

An appropriate bank reconciliation software can help companies save time and money by automating the capture of banking transaction data and reconciling it with the account statements. To choose the best bank reconciliation software, look for end-to-end automation, a user-friendly interface, real-time updated dashboards, detailed reporting, easy integration, and scalability.