What is vendor statement reconciliation?
By Tim White · Glossary · Last updated
Vendor statement reconciliation is checking a supplier's statement of your account against your own records. It finds invoices you never entered, bills entered twice, credits that were never applied and payments the vendor hasn't recorded. Unlike matching a single invoice, it checks the whole account balance at a point in time.
How to do it
Ask the vendor for a statement as of month end. Pull your open bills and payments for that vendor to the same date. Tick off every line that appears on both sides. Whatever is left is the reconciliation.
What the leftovers usually mean
Most differences fall into a few patterns:
- On their statement, not in your books: an invoice that arrived and was never entered
- In your books, not on their statement: a duplicate entry, or a bill from a different vendor posted to this one
- A payment you made that they show as open: it hasn't been applied yet, or it went to the wrong invoice
- A credit memo they issued that you never booked
Matching tips
Match on invoice number and amount together. Some vendors restart numbering each year. Reconcile the vendors you pay most every month and the rest quarterly. The vendor-statement export in InvoiceJet gives one row per vendor with invoice count, total and paid split, which is a quick place to start.
Common questions
What's the most common discrepancy?
An invoice that arrived but was never entered, often because it went to someone's personal inbox.
Sources
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