Am I the only one who's been reconciling backwards this whole time?

At work last week I was going over my monthly statement from Bank of America. I always start from the beginning of the month and match each transaction forward. But a coworker saw me doing it and asked why I don't start from the last statement balance and work backwards. He showed me his method and it caught errors in like 10 minutes that took me an hour. I feel like an idiot for doing it the hard way for 3 years. Anyone else have a habit they found out was totally bass-ackwards?

2 comments

2 Comments

felixh454d ago

oh man, that makes so much sense though. i've been doing the forward method for years too and it's such a slog, especially when you have a lot of small transactions like coffee or gas station stops. the backwards method really does catch errors faster because you're just checking the balance adds up to the same number at the end, instead of verifying every single line item. maybe it's just me but i've also found that starting from the end helps you notice where the statement might have a weird charge or duplicate that you would've missed going forward. definitely switching to this next month lol.

brooke_walker3d ago

Wait, I'm sorry - do people actually RECONCILE their coffee and gas station receipts going line by line from the start? That is absolutely INSANE to me. I have always just started with the ending balance and worked backwards because it saves me like an HOUR every month. The way you described it, verifying every single little transaction going forward, that sounds like pure torture. I'm honestly shocked anyone does it any other way.