How to find a missing transaction

Start by working out the difference: the amount by which your total (or your books, or your spreadsheet) disagrees with the statement. The size of the difference is the best clue you have.

Step by step

1. Search for the exact amountSearch the statement and your records for the difference itself. A single missing transaction is often exactly the difference.
2. Halve itIf the difference is twice a transaction amount, that transaction was entered with the wrong sign: money in as money out, or the reverse.
3. Divide it by 9If the difference divides exactly by 9, look for transposed digits, such as 54.00 typed as 45.00 (difference 9.00).
4. Check the running balance row by rowRecalculate each balance from the one before. The first row where your figure and the statement’s differ is where the problem is. See the running balance check.
5. Look for duplicatesSort by amount and date and look for the same transaction twice, especially around statement boundaries and imports.
6. Check the periodA transaction on the last or first day of a period is easily put in the wrong month, or in both.

When the statement data itself is wrong

If you converted or retyped the statement, the problem may be in the data rather than your books. Convert the PDF here: the balance check pinpoints any row where the data stops matching the bank’s balances, and gives the amount.

Across a whole year

If the year won’t reconcile, a whole statement may be missing or counted twice. The whole-year check finds missing months, duplicates and overlaps and breaks the year’s difference down.

Keep a note of what you find

Write down each difference you resolve and how. If the same kind of error keeps appearing, such as transactions entered with the wrong sign, it points to something in how the records are kept.