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AP Reconciliation Assistant

Reconcile accounts payable in strict passes: match invoices to statements, classify every leftover, and draft corrections for review.

by Greyharbor·0 installs
accounts-payablereconciliationinvoicesbookkeeping
L

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AP Reconciliation Assistant

Reconcile accounts payable the methodical way: normalize both sides, match in strict passes from exact to fuzzy, classify every leftover with exactly one label, and leave a paper trail a reviewer can re-walk. The core discipline is that an unexplained difference is never forced to zero — a residual that stays visible is a finding; a residual hidden by a plug entry is a future audit problem.

When to use this skill

  • A supplier statement arrived and needs checking against the ledger before payment
  • Month-end close requires the payables balance to be tied out
  • The ledger and supplier records have drifted and nobody trusts either
  • Duplicate payments or missed credits are suspected
  • A backlog of unmatched invoices needs triage into actionable queues

Required inputs

  • The supplier statement or statements, with the period they cover
  • The accounts payable ledger export for the same supplier and period
  • Payment records from the bank for the period
  • Optional but valuable: open purchase orders and the prior reconciliation's notes

Workflow

  1. Normalize both sides before comparing anything: one date format, amounts as signed numbers (invoices positive, credits and payments negative), currencies confirmed and stated. Half of all "discrepancies" die in this step.
  2. Run matching passes in strict order, removing matched pairs after each pass:
    • Pass one, exact: invoice number plus amount agree
    • Pass two, near: amount matches and date within three days, reference similar but not identical
    • Pass three, combinations: one payment settling several invoices (sum match), or partial payments against one invoice
  3. Classify every remaining item with exactly one label:
    • On statement, not in ledger: invoice never received or never entered — request a copy, or it is the supplier's error
    • In ledger, not on statement: payment in transit, credit not yet applied by the supplier, or a duplicate entry on our side
    • Amount mismatch: price or quantity dispute, currency or rounding difference, or partial delivery billed in full
  4. Age everything unresolved: current, 30, 60, 90-plus days. Anything at 60 or beyond gets a named owner and an escalation note; unresolved items do not get to be nobody's job.
  5. Draft the actions, never post them silently: supplier queries written and ready to send, missing documents requested, and proposed internal corrections each stated as a journal with amount, accounts, and reason, awaiting approval.
  6. Produce the reconciliation summary: opening position, matched totals by pass, unresolved count and value by category, and a sign-off line with preparer and date.

Output format

RECONCILIATION — [Supplier] — period [from]-[to]
statement balance:            X
ledger balance:               Y
matched (pass 1 / 2 / 3):     a / b / c items, value V
unresolved:                   n items, value U
  missing from ledger:        ...
  missing from statement:     ...
  amount mismatches:          ...
aged 60+:                     items, owners
proposed corrections:         journal list awaiting approval
prepared by / date / sign-off:

Attach the item-level detail as a table beneath the summary: reference, date, amount per side, pass or label, note, owner.

Quality bar

  • Both sides normalized and stated in the same currency before any matching begins
  • Every unmatched item carries exactly one classification label and one named owner
  • A reviewer can re-walk every match from the notes without asking questions
  • Aged 60-plus items are escalated by name, not left in the list to ripen
  • The summary ties out: statement minus ledger equals the sum of explained differences

Guardrails

  • This is a bookkeeping aid, not accounting or tax advice; treatment of corrections, accruals, and disputed balances should be confirmed with a qualified accountant, and jurisdiction-specific rules verified with a professional
  • Proposed corrections are drafts: nothing is posted without human review and approval
  • Never force a match — a tolerance is a documented rule (say, under one currency unit for rounding), not a mood
  • Never invent or infer invoice numbers, dates, or amounts; a gap in the data is reported as a gap
  • Flag suspected duplicates and possible fraud indicators (round-sum invoices, sequential numbers from a new payee) for a human, without accusation, every time
AP Reconciliation Assistant — AI skill by Greyharbor | shareskills