My Reconciliation Report Out of Balance, How Do I Correct?

A reconciliation report that is out of balance can be a frustrating and time-consuming issue to resolve. These imbalances typically arise from manual interventions—especially journal entries—that bypass Navigator’s built-in reconciliation safeguards. Understanding how and why these imbalances occur is essential for maintaining financial accuracy and preventing recurring issues.

Purpose of This Guide

This guide helps you identify common causes of reconciliation discrepancies, understand how they impact your nominal accounts, and provides step-by-step instructions for resolving them. By following the best practices outlined below, you’ll maintain accurate ledgers and ensure smoother month-end processes.

Common Pitfall: Manual Journals to Control Accounts

Never Manually Post Journals to These Accounts:

• 0.0.70.2 – Sales Ledger Control

• 0.0.60.1 – Purchase Ledger Control

• 0.0.70.8 – Receipts Control

Manual journals posted via Nominal > Post Journal to these control accounts do not update the corresponding ledgers, resulting in mismatches and blank lines in the reconciliation report.

✔ What to Do Instead:

• Use SL>NL or PL>NL journals for any Sales or Purchase Ledger corrections.

• Raise Invoices or Credit notes instead.

• Always work through the relevant ledger module to maintain integrity.

Vehicle Stock Reconciliation Specifics

For Vehicle Stock accounts (e.g., .3.60.80):

Key Issues:

• Manual journals will not reflect in the cost analysis tied to vehicle stock records.

• This causes the .3.60.80 account to go out of balance, despite appearing correct at nominal level.

Corrective Action:

• Make adjustments through the vehicle stock record, not via manual postings.

• Ensure amounts in .3.60.80 mirror the cost analysis of each vehicle.

Important Note:

Closed batches can also affect .3.60.80. Transactions in .3.10.30 often relate to deals, so exclude them from your stock balance calculations when reconciling.

How to Identify and Fix an Imbalance

1. Pinpoint the Timing

• Use the << and >> buttons in the reconciliation report to navigate through dates.

• Identify when the report last balanced, and observe the first date it didn’t.

The imbalance may stem from the date shown on the report or the day before.

2. Check for Backdated Transactions

• Imbalances often result from entries backdated by several weeks or months.

• The report will only reflect them on the processing date, not the original entry date.

✅ Prevention Tip: Set a Back Posting Prevention Date at month-end to avoid this.

3. Use the Transaction Report to Investigate

For Nominal Control Accounts:

1. Go to Nominal Ledger > Transaction Report.

2. Enter one of the following codes:
   0.0.60.1, 0.0.70.2, or 0.0.70.8.

3. Choose a date range: just before the imbalance to the date it appeared.

4. Filter by the nominal code and check the Reference column.

Look for entries starting with “Reversal”—these are often the culprits.

✔ If incorrect:

• Reverse the transaction using Nominal > Reverse Journal.

• Re-post the entry through the appropriate Ledger process (SL/PL/Vehicle).

For Vehicle Stock (.3.60.80):

1. From the reconciliation screen, double-click the out-of-balance figure to view stock numbers.

2. Run a Transaction Report > Search tab:

   • Search by stock record, without the branch suffix (to catch all related entries).

   • Filter by nominal code.

3. Cross-check entries with the cost analysis.

4. Reverse incorrect entries and post corrected ones via the stock record.

Best Practices to Stay in Balance

• ✅ Review the reconciliation report daily. The sooner discrepancies are caught, the easier they are to resolve.

• Never bypass ledgers with manual journals to control accounts.

• ⏳ Lock down back posting dates after each period close.

• Educate your team—ensure anyone with nominal posting access understands these guidelines.