The bank account in the ledger shows CRC1,280,000 while your review expects CRC1,190,000. That CRC90,000 difference invites a quick adjustment to finish closing. There is a practical reason to pause: the cause might be a duplicate deposit, omitted fee, or comparison using another date. An unsupported entry changes the number without explaining the cause. First trace the difference to a transaction and its source.
Define exactly what differs
Record account, company, currency, cutoff, and the two amounts compared. If one is the bank's balance and the other the accounting balance, say so; legitimate reconciling items may exist. When comparing two Tario reports, inspect filters and scope. Today's balance should not be compared unexplained with last month's close. This note turns an impression into a discrepancy another colleague can investigate.
Check whether you selected an individual account or a group with subaccounts. An archived account may retain relevant historical activity even though it is absent from new-operation selectors. Tario's ledger tree supports viewing archived accounts. Check account code as well as name: similar labels can refer to different accounts and invalidate the comparison from the start.
Rebuild the balance first
For a debit-normal account, start with opening balance, add debits, and subtract credits for the period. For a credit-normal account, check the corresponding sign convention. Do not apply a formula without inspecting how the account is presented. Explain the closing balance through its movements. If arithmetic works but the result differs from expectation, investigate selection and contents. If arithmetic fails, retain exported detail and review the calculation with the accounting owner.
Tario's ledger displays account activity with date, description, debit, credit, and balance. You can narrow dates, open a line's transaction, and export filtered activity. Use those outputs to review the same population rather than mixing exports with different cutoffs. Preserve the detail under investigation before changing anything so the subsequent result can be compared against original evidence.
Find when the difference begins
For a monthly difference, compare balances halfway through the period. If they agree, inspect the second half; otherwise inspect the first. Repeat until only a few days remain. This avoids reading hundreds of lines without a lead. First confirm that both sources support comparable cutoffs and that current balances are not being mistaken for a historical reconstruction.
In the CRC90,000 example, balances agree on the fifteenth but differ by the twentieth. That range contains two CRC90,000 deposits with the same reference, one from a bank import and one entered manually. This is a hypothesis, not proof. Open both and compare date, source, evidence, and links. Two legitimate payments can share an amount; only their supporting records establish duplication.
Inspect the source, not only the line
A ledger line explains one account's effect; the complete transaction shows its counterpart and reason. Documents, payments, and inventory can generate Tario postings. Open the transaction and then its originating document or movement. A transport expense may be a correctly captured purchase assigned to the wrong account. Understanding that path is necessary before correcting classification rather than merely removing a visible debit.
- Compare amount, currency, date, and reference with the original document or movement.
- Inspect both sides' accounts and the person or workflow that created the transaction.
- Look for links to payments, imports, or associated documents before adding another movement.
- Check existing reversals or corrections and their effects on balance.
Catalog assignments can explain another discrepancy. Similar products may use different revenue accounts, making account detail look incomplete while invoices remain complete. Inspect product configuration and actual posted lines. Changing configuration for future sales neither explains nor automatically relocates history. Identify affected documents and agree on treatment with the accounting owner before changing existing operations.
Eliminate scope differences
A comparison may mix companies, currencies, or document environments. Check active context and the documents included by each view. Explain a post-cutoff payment rather than changing its date just to force agreement. If an older movement is absent from a recent operational list, locate its history. Absence from a filter does not establish absence from the books or justify an adjustment.
For inventory, distinguish money from units and cost from selling price. A goods invoice may affect revenue as well as cost and stock. Comparing its commercial total directly with an inventory account answers different questions. Review the document, stock movement, and relevant valuation. Where foreign currency is involved, inspect conversion before attributing every difference to physical inventory.
Correct through the appropriate workflow
Once the cause is established, choose an authorized procedure. Incorrect bank matching needs reconciliation review; a document error needs its documentary workflow; a manual entry needs accounting review. Do not add another income transaction merely to compensate for a misclassified expense. Respect permissions, periods, and document restrictions. Preserve the reason and affected record identifiers for any reversal or correction.
Finish by repeating the original comparison with identical filters. Record previous balance, cause, action, and reviewed result. Explain remaining bank reconciling items instead of concealing them. A useful note lets another accountant understand why the ledger changed and check the counterpart. The close is better supported when the complete path remains available: difference, transaction, source, correction, and verification.