How to automate bank reconciliation

What is it for?

Movements that repeat every month (account maintenance fees, stamp duty, interest, insurance, rents) do not need to be reconciled one by one. fiscaldoo provides reconciliation models with SNC accounts and with the words those movements carry on bank statements. With automatic reconciliation switched on in the bank journal, a movement whose description matches a model is booked on its own; the others are left for you, listed as exceptions.

When to use it?

• After you import the bank statement, to clear the recurring movements in one go.
• When the same expense appears on the statement every month and the account is always the same.
• Do not use it for movements that depend on an invoice (payments to suppliers, receipts from customers): those are reconciled with the document in reconcile bank movements. Automatic reconciliation only does on its own what a model or a clear match decides.
• Do not switch it on before you check the models' accounts. Automatic booking asks nothing: that is why it comes switched off. Pending validation by a certified accountant: the SNC accounts of the default models (for example account 6888 “Outros não especificados” for bank fees).

Where to find it?

• Load the models: Accounting › Configure › Banks and assets › Other account and statement settings.
• View and create models: Accounting › Configure › Banks and assets › Reconciliation models.
• Journal options and the run button: Accounting › Reconcile › Banks and cash › What is there to do with the banks? and, under Supporting lists, Bank and cash journals › the Bank journal › Matching tab.
• Reports: on the same page, under Supporting lists, Automatic reconciliation results.
• Confirmed reconciliation patterns (fiscaldoo's learning) only appear under Accounting › Configure › Banks and assets with developer mode active.

Before you start

• The Accountant profile runs the reconciliation and reads the reports (tested up to the report). The journal options (the two boxes on the Matching tab) are edited by the Fiscal officer or the Certified Accountant: with the Accountant profile the boxes appear disabled.
• The statement is imported and there are movements to reconcile.
• The example is the Bank journal of Empresa Demonstração, Lda, with two movements to reconcile: “COMISSÃO DE MANUTENÇÃO DE CONTA” (-12,50 €, 12/09/2026) and “TRF RECEBIDA - REF DESCONHECIDA” (380,00 €, 25/09/2026).

How to use it

1. Open Accounting › Configure › Banks and assets › Other account and statement settings and click Load the default Portuguese models. On the first load you see “Default reconciliation models. 9 created”; in a database where they were already loaded, you see “9 already existed”. Loading again neither duplicates nor overwrites what you changed.
2. Open Reconciliation models: you now have Stamp duty, Comissões bancárias (bank fees), Juros suportados (interest paid), Juros obtidos (interest received), Insurance, Electricity, Water, Communications and Rents, plus the three that were already there: Internal Transfers, Bank Fees and Online payments (eupago, ifthenpay): payment reference (the last one is a matching rule for online payments). There are 12 in total. Open Comissões bancárias: the model line sends 100 % of the balance to 6888 Outros não especificados.
3. Open the Bank journal, Matching tab. Under Automatic reconciliation, the Fiscal officer ticks Reconcile automatically after each import and Also book the default models automatically (the second one can only be ticked after the first) and saves. These two options apply to the next imports and to the button in step 4.
4. Click Reconcile automatically now. The run report opens, with the Origin (Manual), who ran it and the figures: Lines processed 2, Booked by a model 1, Reconciled automatically 0, Suggested only 0 and Number without a match 1; % automatic 50,0 %. Below are the exceptions: the 380,00 € transfer was left unclassified.
5. Handle the exceptions with Exceptions (it opens the lines) and the normal reconciliation (reconcile bank movements). Export XLSX and Export PDF save the report. All reports are kept in Automatic reconciliation results: nobody can edit or delete them.
6. To undo what a model booked wrongly, open Bank lines (under Supporting lists), find the movement and click Undo reconciliation. Type the reason (at least 5 characters) and confirm. The model's entry is reversed by a reversal entry dated today (nothing is deleted) and the movement goes back to being unreconciled.

Expected result

• Movements that match a model are reconciled and the rest remain as exceptions. In the example, the 12,50 € fee was reconciled and the 380,00 € transfer was left to handle.
• Accounting lines checked in the ledger for the fee: the statement movement BNK1/2026/00008 (credit to 121 Depósitos à ordem (demand deposits) 12,50 €, debit to 120001 Conta Transitória (suspense account) 12,50 €) and the model's entry OD/2026/00104 (Comissões bancárias) (debit to 6888 Outros não especificados 12,50 €, credit to 120001 Conta Transitória 12,50 €), which clears the suspense account.
• What the reconciliation does not touch: movements already reconciled, ignored or duplicated, without an amount, in a foreign currency, or dated in a locked period.
• A movement that fails does not stop the others: it becomes an exception.

Important notes

• Automatic booking gives no warning. You only see it in the report and in the movements. Run it first with the models option switched off, or check the report the same day.
• Only the accountant runs automatic reconciliation. With another profile (Management, Auditor or Billing) the button refuses: “Only the accountant runs the automatic reconciliation: ask the accountant of your company.” It also runs on its own after an import, but only if the person importing is an accountant, and there is a scheduled run that comes switched off.
• Confirmed patterns (learning). When you book a movement by hand with Direct entry, choosing the account, fiscaldoo records “description → account”. On the 3rd confirmation with the same description and the same account (default value) it proposes a new model and warns: ““LIMPEZA ESCRITORIO” has been booked on 6226 3 times: a reconciliation model is proposed (Accounting › Configure › Banks and assets › Confirmed reconciliation patterns (developer mode)).” The description is reduced to a key (in the example, “LIMPEZA DE ESCRITORIO LIMPA+ EXEMPLO” became “LIMPEZA ESCRITORIO”). In Confirmed reconciliation patterns (developer mode only) the pattern appears with Confirmations 3 and the state Proposed; Accept and create the model creates the model (“Pattern accepted. The reconciliation model “Padrão confirmado: LIMPEZA ESCRITORIO” was created.”) and Reject discards the proposal (not tried). Only the accountant accepts or rejects.
• Third-party reconciliation (customers and suppliers) is a different screen, Automatic third-party reconciliation, and is outside this article.

Common problems

The button says there is nothing to reconcile

• Symptom: when you click Reconcile automatically now, the screen refuses: “There is nothing to reconcile in the journal Banco exemplo: every statement line is already reconciled. Import a statement first.” (seen in the Banco exemplo journal, which has no movements).
• Cause: the journal has no movements to reconcile.
• What to do: import the statement and run it again.

The button says only the accountant can run it

• Symptom: “Only the accountant runs the automatic reconciliation: ask the accountant of your company.”
• Cause: your profile is not an accountant profile.
• What to do: ask the company's accountant to run it.

The automatic reconciliation options are disabled

• Symptom: on the Matching tab, the two boxes cannot be ticked.
• Cause: your profile (Accountant) can only read the journal options.
• What to do: ask the Fiscal officer to tick them. The Reconcile automatically now button works with the Accountant profile.