Reconciling accounts
Reconcile your Zerosum Cleared balance with your bank's posted balance, resolve differences, and lock confirmed transactions.
Written By Pedro
Last updated 5 days ago
Reconciling confirms that the transactions you have marked cleared in Zerosum match the ones that have posted at your bank. When they line up, Zerosum locks them as reconciled so you can trust your history.
Use the cleared balance, not the working balance
Reconciliation uses your Cleared balance, not the Working balance, because pending transactions can still change, disappear, or post for a different amount. The Cleared balance already includes every posted transaction, whether or not you have approved it, so an imported charge you have not gotten to still counts.
At your bank, compare against the balance that counts posted transactions but not pending ones. Many banks call it Current balance or Cleared balance. Do not use an Available balance that folds in pending holds or a credit limit. If a Lunch Flow account never quite lines up, check which balance Lunch Flow is sending: open the account, go to Balances, and pick the booked or cleared one. See Bank Sync.
The three transaction states
Uncleared: in Zerosum and counted, but not yet confirmed as posted by your bank.
Cleared: confirmed as posted. Click the C column, or select a row and press L, to toggle it.
Reconciled: part of a completed reconciliation and locked from accidental edits.
How to reconcile
Open the reconcile dialog. Go to the account and click Reconcile at the top of the register. On mobile, tap the seal icon.
Compare balances. A synced account lays out the bank balance, your Cleared balance, and any difference for you. On a manual account, line up Zerosum's Cleared balance with your bank's posted-only balance.
If they match, click Looks good. Zerosum marks the cleared transactions reconciled, with no adjustment. If a synced account's bank balance already counts transactions you have not cleared yet, the dialog offers Clear uncleared & reconcile instead, which clears those rows and reconciles in one step.
If they differ, click Different balance (or Enter actual balance on a synced account) and confirm the bank's posted balance. When uncleared transactions do not explain the gap, the dialog also offers a review your register link to hunt for the missing transaction, and Reconcile anyway if your bank truly matches Zerosum.
Resolve it. Confirming a different balance opens the register in a reconciliation session with the live difference pinned at the top. Fix any missing, duplicate, wrongly cleared, or wrong-amount transactions until it reads Balances match, then click Finish reconciliation. If a gap remains and you accept it, choose Add adjustment, which states the amount before it posts.
Enter a Pending at bank transaction while reconciling
If your bank's cleared balance already counts a hold that Zerosum is still keeping in the Pending at bank section, mark that pending row cleared during the reconcile session. When you finish, Zerosum enters it as a cleared and reconciled transaction so your balances line up. It stays in review afterward so you can still give it a category, and once it is reconciled a later bank amount change will not rewrite it. Only do this when the bank has genuinely posted it.
When balances do not match
Work through these before you accept an adjustment: a missing transaction the bank shows but Zerosum does not (add or approve it and mark it cleared); a duplicate (match it to its counterpart, or reject or delete it); a wrong cleared status (posted transactions should be cleared, pending ones uncleared); a wrong amount; or transactions outside the date range you expected.
What an adjustment does
A reconciliation adjustment is a real transaction for the difference: positive if the bank has more than Zerosum expected, negative if it has less. On budget and credit-card accounts it is categorized as Ready to Budget; on tracking accounts it is left uncategorized. You can edit or delete it later, but repeated adjustments usually mean a transaction or its cleared status needs attention.
How often should I reconcile?
Whatever fits your routine. Daily is fine, comparing cleared to cleared and ignoring anything still pending. Weekly catches issues while they are fresh, and monthly alongside your statement is the least we would suggest.