Bank Reconciliation SOP for a Small Bookkeeping Firm

Concept piece for a fictional bookkeeping firm. A bank reconciliation SOP for the staff of a small bookkeeping firm, written from the firm's internal notes. It shows how we turn a monthly task into a clear purpose, scope, roles, numbered steps and a definition of done.

Reconcile each operating bank account to the general ledger by the 5th business day of the following month, so the monthly package reflects cleared activity and known outstanding items.

Excerpt shown below; the full SOP is in the images.

Download the bank statement PDF and CSV for the closed calendar month from the bank portal. Save both to the client’s Month-End folder using the naming pattern YYYY-MM_BankName_Statement.

In the books, match cleared transactions to the statement. Leave uncleared items in the register; do not force a match.