MySpend.info · Help & Guides

Reconciling Expenses to Bank & Credit Card Transactions

Scope: Why reconciliation matters and how to do it in MySpend. Assumes you have already imported at least one bank or credit card statement. For importing statements, see Importing Bank and Credit Card Transactions.

Quick-start summary

Read time: under 3 minutes

#What you doWhere
1Import at least one bank or CC statementDashboard → Import
2Open the Reconcile modalDashboard → Reconcile Expenses to Transactions
3Review suggested matches; click Link to confirm each oneReconcile modal
4Click Skip to dismiss incorrect suggestionsReconcile modal
5(Pro) Run AI analysis for harder-to-match pairsReconcile modal → Analyze with AI
6Classify remaining unmatched itemsReconcile modal → classification suggestions

Why reconcile?

When you use MySpend, expenses enter the system in two independent ways:

Expense reports
Added manually, by scanning a receipt, or by forwarding a receipt email. Stored in your expense files.
Bank & CC imports
Downloaded from your bank's website and imported as CSV or Excel. Stored in your transaction account files.

Both represent the same real-money event — a purchase — but from different angles. Without reconciliation, each purchase appears twice, making totals, deduction calculations, and audit trails unreliable.

Reconciliation fixes this by creating an explicit link between the two records. Once linked:

Example: You scan a $42.00 receipt from a restaurant. The credit card statement later shows $43.50 for the same merchant (the tip was added after the receipt was printed). Without reconciliation, your expense report shows $42.00 and your CC summary shows $43.50. After linking, both records point to each other and the bank amount ($43.50) is treated as the authoritative figure.

How MySpend matches expenses to transactions

MySpend uses a two-stage matching process.

Stage 1 — Heuristic matching (automatic, always available)

For every possible expense/transaction pair, MySpend computes a match confidence score. Pairs below 65% confidence are dropped. The rest are sorted by score and assigned greedily — each expense and each transaction can appear in at most one match.

Stage 2 — AI analysis (Pro tier only)

Clicking Analyze with AI sends your unmatched items to an AI model that:

AI suggestions take precedence over heuristic suggestions. Items the AI didn't cover are filled in from heuristic results.

Step-by-step walkthrough

Opening the Reconcile modal

From the Dashboard, tap the Reconcile Expenses to Transactions card. This card appears only when you have at least one expense file and at least one bank or credit card account imported. You can also open the same modal from within the Business Summary view via the link icon in the toolbar.

Reviewing suggested matches

The modal shows a list of match suggestions. Each suggestion displays:

For each suggestion, click Link to confirm it or Skip to dismiss it for the current session. Skipped items remain available in future sessions.

Running AI analysis

Tap Analyze with AI (Pro plan) to run the AI analysis. This typically takes 5–15 seconds. After analysis, the suggestion list is rebuilt with AI matches at the top, and vendor names may appear in normalised form (shown in purple below the original name).

A Classification suggestions section appears below the match list for items that couldn't be matched — review these and apply the suggested classifications with one tap.

Classifying unmatched items

Items that have no matching counterpart should be classified directly:

ClassificationWhen to use it
Business ExpenseA business cost with no receipt in your expense reports
Personal ExpenseA personal purchase that doesn't need to be tracked against an expense report
TransferA movement of money between your own accounts (e.g. paying off a credit card)
Owner ReimbursementA payment from the business account back to you for a personal spend you made on the business's behalf

What happens when you link two records

When you click Link, MySpend:

  1. Updates both records with a paired reference pointing to each other. This link is bidirectional and persists in your cloud account.

  2. Makes the bank/statement amount the authoritative total. For same-currency pairs, the expense total is updated to match the bank figure. For foreign-currency pairs, the original foreign-currency amount is kept and the conversion rate is adjusted so the converted total equals the bank charge — correctly handling foreign transaction fees and rate differences.

  3. Retains all original data from both sides — receipt image, notes, and category from the expense; bank description and account name from the transaction.

To undo a link: Open Business Summary, find either linked record, and use the Unlink button. Both records return to unlinked status and will appear again in future reconciliation sessions.

Common questions

Do I need to reconcile everything?

No. Reconciliation is most valuable for business expenses where you need an accurate deduction total and an audit trail. Personal expenses you are not tracking closely can be left unmatched.

My receipt total differs from the bank charge — which is correct?

The bank charge is the amount that actually left your account and is the authoritative figure. Use Link to adopt it. The original receipt amount is preserved in the expense record for reference.

Why isn't a match being suggested even though the amounts are close?

The most common causes are a date gap greater than 8 days (some international charges post late) or a category conflict that reduces the score below the 65% threshold. Run AI analysis — it normalises vendor names and can bridge cases where the merchant name on your receipt doesn't match the payment processor name on the statement.

Can I link items manually without using the Reconcile modal?

Yes. In Business Summary, select one expense and one transaction using the checkbox selection mode, then click Link. The same pairing logic applies.

What if a transaction has no matching expense at all?

This is normal for charges you didn't capture via receipt scan — for example, a recurring subscription. Classify it directly as a Business Expense, Personal Expense, or Transfer.

What this guide does not cover

Not covered here

  • Importing bank and credit card statements — see the Importing Bank and Credit Card Transactions guide.
  • Classifying transactions in detail — see the Business Summary documentation.
  • Reimbursement tracking — if you paid a business expense from a personal account and want to track repayment, see the Personal-to-Business Reimbursements guide.
  • Deleting records — MySpend does not delete either record when you link or unlink them.