Bank Reconciliation

VerifiedSafe

Automates bank reconciliation by matching book transactions to bank transactions, detecting discrepancies, and tracking outstanding items. Useful for monthly closing, balance verification, and resolving unmatched transactions across multiple accounts and currencies.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
Data & AIIntermediate
6/2/2026
Claude CodeCursorWindsurfCopilotCodex
#bank-reconciliation#transaction-matching#discrepancy-detection#fuzzy-matching#balance-verification

Recommended for

Automated summary

Automates bank reconciliation by matching book and bank transactions, detecting discrepancies, and generating reports.

Strengths

  • Supports transaction import via CSV or Plaid
  • Exact and fuzzy matching with date and amount tolerance
  • Detects discrepancies and tracks outstanding items
  • Generates structured reconciliation reports

Limitations

  • Requires initial account and rule setup
  • Fuzzy matches may require manual review
  • Does not handle complex multi-currency scenarios
When to use it

Use for monthly bank account reconciliation or when balance discrepancies are detected.

When not to use it

Avoid for real-time transaction processing or when bank data is unreliable.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score88/100

The skill is a procedural guide for bank reconciliation. It instructs querying a database and generating reports, with no execution of destructive commands. It explicitly requires manual approval for adjustments and logging of actions, posing no security risk.

No concerns found

How this analysis is made

Examples

Monthly bank reconciliation
Reconcile bank account 1234 for January 2026 using the imported bank CSV file. Generate a report and flag any discrepancies.
Investigate unmatched transactions
Show me all unmatched transactions from the January reconciliation for account 1234. Identify potential fuzzy matches.
Balance verification
Verify the book balance for account 1234 equals the cleared bank balance plus outstanding items as of January 31, 2026.

name: bank-reconciliation description: "Match bank transactions to book transactions, detect discrepancies, and resolve mismatches. Use when reconciling bank accounts, investigating unmatched transactions, or generating reconciliation reports. Handles multiple accounts and currencies."

Bank Reconciliation Skill

Purpose

Automates the bank reconciliation process by matching book transactions to bank statement transactions, detecting discrepancies, and facilitating resolution.

Triggers

  • End of month reconciliation scheduled
  • User initiates manual reconciliation
  • Discrepancy detected in account balance
  • Bank feed imported via Plaid

Capabilities

  1. Transaction Import - Import bank transactions via Plaid or CSV
  2. Transaction Matching - Match book to bank transactions
  3. Discrepancy Detection - Identify unmatched transactions
  4. Fuzzy Matching - Match similar amounts and dates
  5. Outstanding Items - Track checks and deposits in transit
  6. Balance Verification - Verify book balance = cleared bank balance + outstanding items

Instructions

Step 1: Import Bank Transactions

Options:

  1. Plaid Integration - Fetch via data-sync skill
  2. CSV Upload - Parse CSV file with columns: date, description, amount
  3. Manual Entry - User inputs transactions

Step 2: Load Book Transactions

Query database for unreconciled transactions in date range:

SELECT * FROM transactions 
WHERE account_id = $1 
AND date BETWEEN $2 AND $3 
AND reconciled = FALSE

Step 3: Exact Matching

Match transactions where:

  • Date matches exactly
  • Amount matches exactly (cents)
  • Payee name matches (after normalization)

Mark as reconciled = TRUE when matched.

Step 4: Fuzzy Matching

For unmatched transactions, try fuzzy match:

  • Date proximity - Within ±3 days
  • Amount match - Exact amount
  • Payee similarity - Levenshtein distance < 3 or substring match

Present fuzzy matches for manual review.

Step 5: Discrepancy Detection

Identify discrepancies:

  • Missing from Bank - In books but not in bank statement (check in transit?)
  • Missing from Books - In bank but not in books (unrecorded transaction?)
  • Amount Mismatch - Same transaction, different amounts (data entry error?)
  • Date Mismatch - Same transaction, different dates (timing difference?)

Step 6: Outstanding Items

Track outstanding items:

  • Checks Written - In books, not yet cleared bank
  • Deposits Made - In books, not yet posted by bank

Calculate outstanding balance:

Book Balance - Outstanding Checks + Outstanding Deposits = Bank Balance

Step 7: Generate Report

Create reconciliation report:

{
  "account_id": "uuid",
  "period_start": "2026-01-01",
  "period_end": "2026-01-31",
  "book_balance": 5000000,  // cents
  "bank_balance": 4950000,  // cents
  "matched_count": 45,
  "unmatched_book_count": 2,
  "unmatched_bank_count": 1,
  "outstanding_checks": [
    {"id": "...", "amount": -25000, "payee": "..."}
  ],
  "outstanding_deposits": [
    {"id": "...", "amount": 75000}
  ],
  "discrepancies": [
    {
      "type": "missing_from_bank",
      "transaction_id": "...",
      "description": "...",
      "amount": -5000
    }
  ],
  "status": "balanced",  // or "discrepancy"
  "requires_investigation": false
}

Decision Logic

Auto-Reconcile

  • Exact match (date, amount, payee)
  • Previously reconciled (if re-running)

Manual Review Required

  • Fuzzy match (present options to user)
  • Significant discrepancy (> $100)
  • Unusual pattern (e.g., duplicate amounts)

Escalate

  • Unresolved after 3 reconciliation attempts
  • Balance off by > $1000
  • Fraud indicators detected

Integration Points

  • data-sync (via Integration Lead) - For Plaid import
  • transaction-matcher (Reconciliation worker) - For matching logic
  • discrepancy-investigator (Reconciliation worker) - For investigation
  • audit-trail - Log all reconciliation actions

Models

  • Matching: Deterministic algorithm (no LLM)
  • Payee Normalization: Claude Sonnet 4 or Gemini Flash
  • Discrepancy Investigation: Claude Sonnet 4

Security

  • Never modify historical transactions automatically
  • Require manual approval for adjustments
  • Log all reconciliation actions to audit_log
  • Preserve original bank data

Invoke this skill at month-end or when investigating account discrepancies.

From the file to a first result

The download contains exactly the content displayed on this page. This copy may differ from the latest version in the source repository.

View the source and supporting files

This download contains SKILL.md only. Any scripts, references, templates and dependencies are not included. Get the required files from the source, preserving their directory structure, before continuing.

1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

From the root of a test project, save the file as .skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md, or use the command below. This folder is for inspecting the skill before installation.

Command for macOS/Linux or WSL: requires a POSIX shell and curl. On Windows without WSL, use the download button and create the folder manually.

mkdir -p '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir' && curl --fail --show-error --location 'https://skills-guides.com/api/skills/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/download' --output '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md.part' && mv '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md.part' '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md'

2. Check prerequisites

Read SKILL.md before using it. If it references scripts or external services, inspect them and prepare the required access in your test environment.

No recognized prerequisites section in this file. This does not mean it is self-contained: libraries, tools and access requirements may be mentioned elsewhere in the content or source repository.

The platforms on this page are catalog indications. The paths below follow tool documentation; they do not prove this skill has been run in those tools. No minimum tool version is confirmed for this listing.

3. Load the skill

After inspection, copy the complete folder into your project using one of the commands below, then open a new tool session. The command stops if a folder with the same name already exists: compare the files before replacing it.

Claude Code
test -f '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.claude/skills' && test ! -e '.claude/skills/bank-reconciliation' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir' '.claude/skills/bank-reconciliation'

Cursor
test -f '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.cursor/skills' && test ! -e '.cursor/skills/bank-reconciliation' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir' '.cursor/skills/bank-reconciliation'

Codex
test -f '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.agents/skills' && test ! -e '.agents/skills/bank-reconciliation' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir' '.agents/skills/bank-reconciliation'

OpenSkills

OpenSkills must already be installed. The local install/read procedure is checked with OpenSkills 1.5.0, which requires Node.js ≥ 20.6.0. Catalog slugs are not resolved automatically.

Official OpenSkills installation
openskills install './.skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir'

openskills read 'bank-reconciliation-mm78noir'

Reading should display the installed file content and its base directory. It does not run the skill or install its dependencies.

For an agent that reads AGENTS.md, then sync the index. This command changes AGENTS.md: review the diff before using it.

openskills sync

Manual method or another tool: attach SKILL.md to a conversation, or open it in an agent that can read files. Include any required supporting resources. No universal folder is recognized by every tool.

4. Try a first task

Use a short, synthetic input: an API endpoint, a small document or an interface brief. In a new conversation, attach the file or give the agent its path, then adapt this request:

Read .skill-downloads/bank-reconciliation-mm78noir/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

Expected result: output matching the skill instructions, or a precise list of missing prerequisites. A read confirmation alone does not validate a first use. If an external resource is unavailable, that path remains untested.

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