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Bank Reconciliation: A Worked Example

This example follows a retail business reconciling 42 transactions against its monthly bank statement. Manually, the bookkeeper matches each statement line to a ledger entry, investigates the three that do not tie out, and spends about three hours — roughly €75 in labour. With Nika each transaction is matched to its source document automatically, unmatched items are explained with a reason, and the reconciliation is a review of exceptions rather than a line-by-line exercise. Cost: {price} per processed transaction.

Before: manual process

A retail business with one current account receives its monthly bank statement: 42 transactions. The bookkeeper exports the statement as CSV, opens the accounting ledger, and goes line by line. Thirty-seven lines match cleanly — known suppliers, card payments, bank fees. Three do not: a €480 payment to "STRIPE" the bookkeeper does not recognise (it is a payout to the business's own account, but the description is opaque), a €35 direct debit that is €4 higher than the recorded amount (the supplier raised their price and nobody updated the standing order), and a €12 bank fee that was never entered in the ledger at all. The bookkeeper spends 20 minutes on each mystery item, emails the owner about the Stripe entry, and leaves the €4 variance and the missing fee as "to investigate" — which means next month.

After: with Nika

The same 42 transactions flow through Nika. The 37 clean matches are tied to their source documents automatically — supplier invoices, card receipts, the recurring bank-fee entry. The Stripe €480 is matched to the payout record Nika created when the settlement hit (she reads the Stripe payout notification and posts the transfer). The €35 direct debit is matched, but Nika flags the €4 variance against the recorded amount and explains it: "supplier unit price increased — standing order amount does not match invoice." The €12 bank fee, which had no ledger entry, is posted from the statement line itself. The reconciliation completes with zero unmatched items and two explained exceptions — a five-minute review instead of a three-hour hunt. Cost: {price} per processed transaction.

Workflow

  1. 1

    Import statement

    In: Monthly bank statement — 42 transactions (CSV or feed)
    Out: Each line paired with candidate ledger entries by amount, date, and merchant
    Saved: Eliminates manual line-by-line comparison
  2. 2

    Auto-match

    In: Statement lines + existing ledger entries
    Out: 37 clean matches confirmed (suppliers, card payments, recurring fees)
    Saved: ~2 hours vs. manual matching
  3. 3

    Explain exceptions

    In: Unmatched or variance items
    Out: Stripe €480 → matched to payout record; €35 DD → €4 variance flagged with reason; €12 fee → posted from statement
    Saved: ~40 minutes vs. manual investigation of each item
  4. 4

    Complete reconciliation

    In: All items matched or explained
    Out: Reconciliation closed with zero unmatched items and 2 explained exceptions
    Saved: ~5 min review vs. 3 hours end-to-end

Cost comparison

MethodCostTime
Manual — bookkeeper (€25/hr, 3 hr)€75 / month for 42 transactions3 hours, monthly batch
Accounting software auto-match (subscription)Typically €20–60 / month, plus manual exception handling1–2 hours for exceptions
Nika (per processed transaction){price} / transaction × 42Continuous matching; exceptions explained on arrival

Key takeaways

  • The reconciliation becomes a review of exceptions, not a line-by-line matching exercise.
  • Unmatched items come with an explanation — the Stripe payout and the price-increase variance are identified, not left as mysteries.
  • Items with no ledger entry (the missing €12 fee) are posted from the statement itself, so nothing falls through the cracks.
  • Per-transaction pricing means a quiet month costs less; there is no fixed reconciliation fee.

Questions

Does Nika need a bank feed, or can I upload statements?

Either. Nika works with a live bank feed (transactions matched as they clear) or with uploaded CSV/PDF statements (matched in a batch). The matching logic is the same; a feed simply moves the reconciliation from monthly to continuous.

What happens to items Nika cannot match?

They appear in the reconciliation review with the reason they did not match — no candidate, amount variance, or unknown merchant. You decide: match manually, post as a new entry, or leave for investigation. Nika never force-matches; an unmatched item is always surfaced, never hidden.

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