Aged reconciliation breaks before year-end
Suspense that survives three month-ends usually has a story — timing, misposting, or a broker who never sent the advice. How we age and chase breaks.
Month-end pressure rewards closing the reconciliation, not explaining the break. By year-end, some open items have quietly collected birthdays. Controllers still label them “timing.” Treasurers start to worry. Auditors will sample.
Our bank reconciliation oversight engagements begin with aging: how many days has each material break been open, on which account, and who last touched it? Patterns emerge quickly. FX differences that nobody wants to allocate. Bank charges posted by the bank but not in the ledger. Broker settlements where the advice never arrived and both sides assume the other will chase.
What helps before December
- Freeze a list of breaks older than thirty days and assign a named owner — not “the team”
- Separate true timing (known in-transit items with expected clear dates) from unexplained differences
- Escalate anything tied to nostro accounts used for client or supplier flows; those rarely age gracefully
We do not pretend oversight replaces a full statutory audit. It does give the CFO a shorter, sharper list before external auditors arrive with their own samples.
If aged breaks sit alongside shaky payment authorities or unclear cash packs, consider whether a Treasury Control Review is the better container for the work.