As of 13 August 2026, AI can explain differences in your bank reconciliation.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, power-user skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your business bank account and export the statement covering the reconciliation period, including transaction date, description, reference and amount.
   2. Open your bookkeeping software and export the bank ledger for the same period, including transaction date, description, reference, amount, account code and reconciliation status.
   3. Save both exports with their original columns, then remove passwords and unrelated personal data without changing transaction values or dates.
   4. Paste the bank statement, ledger export and reconciliation date into the prompt, and add notes about known transfers, card settlements, bank charges or outstanding payments.
   5. Ask the chatbot to produce the six reconciliation sections and to identify the exact bank and ledger rows supporting each explanation.
   6. Compare every proposed match against the original bank statement and ledger, then mark each item as confirmed, unresolved or requiring bookkeeping judgement.
   7. Give the unresolved list and supporting rows to your bookkeeper or accountant before posting corrections, changing VAT treatment or closing the reconciliation.

   Prompt

   Explain the differences between the bank statement and bookkeeping ledger below for the reconciliation at [RECONCILIATION DATE]. Use UK date formats and pounds. Treat the bank statement as the external source of truth for transactions that actually cleared. Match items using amount, date, description and reference, allowing for reasonable timing differences such as weekends, bank holidays and card settlement delays. Do not invent transactions, dates, VAT treatment, accounts or explanations. Separate the results into: 1) matched items, 2) likely timing differences, 3) transactions on the bank statement missing from the ledger, 4) ledger items missing from the bank statement, 5) amount or date mismatches, and 6) items that cannot be explained from the supplied data. For every unmatched or mismatched item, show the bank date, ledger date if present, amount, description, reference, likely explanation, confidence level and the exact evidence used. Flag duplicates and possible bank charges separately. Do not tell me to post a journal or change a transaction unless you first state what evidence would be needed and why. End with a short list of specific checks I should make before asking a bookkeeper or accountant to correct anything. Here is the bank statement export:
   [PASTE BANK STATEMENT]
   
   Here is the bookkeeping ledger export:
   [PASTE LEDGER EXPORT]
   
   Additional context, if known:
   [PASTE RECONCILIATION NOTES]

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.