1. Reconcile every period without exception
The most important best practice is the most obvious one: do it every period, on time, every time. Skipping a month because things are "probably fine" is how small errors become large problems.
Set a hard deadline for period close — typically 5–10 business days after month end — and hold the team to it.
2. Lock periods when complete
A reconciled period that can still be edited isn't really reconciled. Once a period is closed and variance is $0.00, lock it. No further changes should be allowed.
This creates an immutable audit trail and prevents the "but someone changed something last month" problem.
3. Separate duties where possible
The person reconciling bank accounts shouldn't be the same person who approves transactions. This is a basic internal control that catches both fraud and honest errors.
If you're a small team, at least have a second person review completed reconciliations before they're locked.
4. Investigate every discrepancy — don't just force it to balance
It's tempting to book a "miscellaneous adjustment" to make the numbers work when you can't find a match. Don't. Every unmatched item has an explanation, and finding it matters.
Common culprits: timing differences, duplicate entries, bank fees, returned checks, or straight-up errors.
5. Use auto-matching rules for repeating transactions
Payroll, rent, loan payments, regular vendor ACH — these transactions look the same every period. Build matching rules that handle them automatically. This is where automation delivers the most consistent time savings.
6. Keep a consistent chart of accounts
Reconciliation is harder when GL account codes change, merge, or split. Work with your accounting system admin to maintain a stable chart of accounts and document any changes clearly.
7. Document your exceptions
For any transaction you manually match or override, note why. "Matched manually — client wire arrived 2 days before GL entry due to processing delay" is a useful audit note. A blank manual match is a liability.
8. Review the reconciliation report before closing
Before locking a period, review the full reconciliation summary: beginning balance, payments, deposits, ending balance, variance. Confirm it ties to your bank statement. This 60-second review catches transposition errors and prevents re-opening closed periods.
The bottom line
Good reconciliation hygiene isn't complicated — it's consistent. These eight practices, applied every period, will keep your books clean, your auditors happy, and your team from dreading month-end close.
And if you're still doing it manually, the biggest best practice of all is to automate it.