The reconciliation feature in Academy allows you to match payments from your bank statement against unpaid invoices. By uploading a bank statement export, the system compares payment amounts and invoice numbers to automatically identify matches, flag mismatches, and highlight invoices that have already been paid.

Reconciliations can be processed:

• manually, by marking an individual invoice as paid from the transaction itself
• manually, by uploading a file of invoice numbers and payments and marking invoices paid in bulk
• automatically via an integration, where payment files are received from a third party system.

If an invoice remains unpaid, a participant will not be able to access their program (unless you have granted them access by exception). So if you have enabled bank transfers are an allowed payment option, it is important to reconcile bank transfers regularly.

Note: to reconcile payments, you must have either the Finance or Finance Admin role. 

This is managed via the user profile, under the Finance & Sales tab. For more information, visit our help article on Managing Sales and Finance Permissions. 

Accessing Reconciliations

Navigate to Sales & Finance in the left-hand panel, then select Reconciliations. The section is organised into two views:

Note: to access and manage reconciliations, you must have the Finance Admin role assigned.

Uploading a Bank File

To start a new reconciliation, click the Bulk Reconciliation button in the top-right corner of the Reconciliations page. This opens the Bulk Reconciliation wizard, which guides you through a two-step process.

Step 1: Upload File

The first step is to upload your bank file. You can drag and drop a file into the upload area, or click to browse for a file on your computer. The file must be in CSV or Excel (.xlsx) format.

Before uploading, export your bank statement from your banking portal or payment gateway. The file should include, at a minimum:

• the invoice number for each paid transaction
• the payment amount for each transaction

Your file can also optionally include:

• a payment date - this is the date you received the funds in your back account, and can be useful tracking information if you do not process your bank reconciliations daily. Academy will also record the date the invoice was marked as paid in Academy.
• a payment reference number - this might be a bank reference, or a receipt number from a third party system. Academy will also issue it's own receipt number.

Step 2: Match Columns

After uploading the file, you will be asked to map the columns in your file to the fields Academy needs.

Select which column contains the invoice numbers and which contains the payment amounts. This allows Academy to correctly match the data from your bank file to the invoices in the system.

Once you have mapped the columns, confirm your selections. Academy will process the file and generate a reconciliation report.

Note: if you have implemented an integration to process payments received by bank transfer and your integration automatically sends reconciliation files to Academy via FTP, these will appear in the reconciliations list with “System Processed” in the Processed By column.

Understanding the Reconciliations List

The main Reconciliations list shows all reconciliation uploads and their details.

Each processed reconciliation has a View Report button and a three-dot menu with the following actions:

Reviewing a Reconciliation Report

When you click View Report on a reconciliation, the report opens with three tabs.

Each tab shows the number of records in brackets, giving you a quick summary of the reconciliation outcome.

The report table displays the following columns across all tabs:

An Export Report button is available in the top-right corner to download the report. Click Back to List to return to the reconciliations list.

Handling Mismatches

Mismatches occur when a payment in the bank statement cannot be automatically matched to an invoice in Academy. This can happen for several reasons:

• The invoice number in the bank statement does not match any invoice in Academy.
• The payment amount in the bank statement does not match the invoice amount in Academy.
• The invoice has been voided or cancelled since the payment was made.

Mismatches appear in two places:

• Within each reconciliation report – the Mismatches tab on the individual report shows mismatches for that specific upload.
• In the overall Mismatches view – accessible from the left-hand sub-menu under Reconciliations, this view shows all unresolved mismatches across every reconciliation report.

Mismatches are not reconciled automatically and require investigation. You should check whether the invoice number or amount contains an error, correct the issue in your source file, and re-upload the corrected entries in a new reconciliation.

Alternatively, if the difference is minor (for example, a rounding difference of a few cents), you may choose to dismiss the mismatch. Dismissed mismatches will not mark the invoice as paid, so the invoice will remain unpaid until it is successfully reconciled in a future upload or manually marked as paid via the transaction record.

Exporting Reconciliation Data

There are several ways to export reconciliation data:

• Export Report – from within a reconciliation report, click the Export Report button to download the full report including all three tabs (Processed Successfully, Already Paid, and Mismatches).
• Export mismatches – from the global Mismatches view, click the Export button to download all unresolved mismatches.
• Download Original File – from the three-dot menu on any reconciliation in the list, download the original bank statement file that was uploaded.

Best Practices

To get the most out of the reconciliation feature, consider the following:

• Reconcile regularly – upload bank file on a regular schedule to keep your records up to date and prevent mismatches from accumulating.
• Review mismatches promptly – check the Mismatches view regularly and investigate any items before dismissing them.
• Ensure consistent invoice numbers – make sure the invoice numbers in your bank file match the format used in Academy (e.g. ABC00001234) to improve automatic matching.
• Use the correct file format – export your bank statement as a CSV or Excel file, and ensure the file contains clear columns for invoice numbers and payment amounts.

Note: to learn more about payment reconciliation, watch the Guroo Academy | Finance Tools video on Youtube.