If you're running your finance close on NetSuite, you already know the drill. At the end of every month, someone on your team opens a spreadsheet, exports the cash account from the GL, downloads a bank statement, and spends the next few hours, sometimes the next few days, manually ticking off rows. Anything that doesn't match gets stuck in a column labelled "to investigate." Outstanding cheques get noted somewhere. Deposits in transit get noted somewhere else. The approval happens by email. Then next month you do it all again.
It works. It's also one of the most manual, error prone things a finance team does every single month. Finance controllers spend an average of 3 to 5 days per period on bank reconciliation, and most of that is work that should be automatic.
We've spent the last several months talking to finance controllers and CFOs who use MatchPoint for their balance sheet close, and the same request kept coming up: can you do for bank reconciliation what you've done for balance sheet sign-off?
Today, the answer is yes.
Bank Reconciliation is now part of MatchPoint
MatchPoint has always been about making the monthly close faster and more controlled, with a full audit trail behind it. Balance sheet account reconciliation, certification, approval workflows, auto certification for zero balance accounts. All of that is already in the platform, used by finance teams running on NetSuite today.
Bank reconciliation is the natural next step. It's the same problem, matching what your system says to what actually happened, just with a bank statement on one side instead of a subledger. It deserves the same treatment: proper automation, real structure around the workflow, and a complete audit trail throughout.
The problems we set out to solve
Before writing a line of code, we spent time understanding exactly why bank rec is so painful. The same issues came up in every conversation.
Manual spreadsheet matching. Finance teams spend hours each month copying NetSuite GL lines into spreadsheets and manually ticking off bank statement rows. It's slow, it's repetitive, and when two people are working the same file it quickly becomes a mess.
Timing differences get lost. Outstanding cheques and deposits in transit get tracked in ad hoc notes, and when staff turn over, that knowledge disappears. Next period, someone has to work out from scratch why there's an unexplained variance.
No approval trail. Approvals happen by email, so there's no record of who reviewed what or whether unmatched items were properly explained. That becomes a real problem when auditors come calling.
Bank rec is disconnected from the close. It lives in a spreadsheet silo. Management can't see overall progress, and the FC ends up chasing several different systems just to understand where things stand on day three of close.
What's included
Automatic transaction matching
When you open a bank reconciliation in MatchPoint, the matching engine runs straight away. It compares your bank statement lines against your NetSuite GL transactions, matching on amount, date, transaction reference and document type, and handles the straightforward cases automatically. The engine supports 1:1, 1:many and many:1 match types and runs each rule pass in under a second.
For most accounts, that means 90% or more of lines are matched before you've touched anything. What's left on screen are the exceptions: items that need a human eye, whether that's a one to many match (one BACS payment covering three invoices), a date tolerance issue, or something genuinely new that needs investigating.
A workspace built for the exceptions
The reconciliation workspace puts your bank statement and your NetSuite GL side by side. Unmatched items sit at the top of each pane. You select one or more items on the bank side, one or more on the GL side, and the system tells you instantly whether the amounts balance. When they do, one click creates the match and moves both lines out of the unmatched view.
Suggested matches, items where the engine is fairly confident but wants your confirmation, are highlighted in amber so you can accept them in a single click rather than hunting through the list manually. A full match history tab gives you a timestamped record of every action taken in the reconciliation.
Timing differences, handled properly
Outstanding cheques. Deposits in transit. Payments posted but not yet cleared. These are the items that cause the most pain in a manual process. They're not errors, but they create a difference that needs explaining, and that explanation needs to survive into next month.
In MatchPoint, timing differences are treated as proper objects in their own right. You mark an item as a timing difference, give it a type and a reason (outstanding cheque, deposit in transit, awaiting GL posting) and it carries forward automatically into the next period. It appears as an unmatched item waiting to clear, with its history intact. No copying between spreadsheets, no lost notes.
Not one timing difference has been lost or missed since implementation for the customers we've been working with through our early access programme.
Built-in approval workflow and audit trail
Once a preparer is satisfied with the reconciliation, they submit it for approval. The approver sees a full summary: matched items by category, timing differences with explanations, any remaining unmatched items with preparer notes. They can approve it or send it back with a comment, and everything is recorded.
Every match, every decision and every status change is timestamped and stored permanently. The audit trail is complete and immutable. Your auditors can see exactly what was matched, by whom, when, and why items were left open. Supporting documents like bank letters, remittance advices and GL reports can be attached directly to the reconciliation.
Separation of duties is enforced at the system level. Preparers cannot approve their own work.
SOX ready out of the box
The approval workflow isn't bolted on. It's built into the reconciliation process itself, structured specifically to support internal controls requirements:
- Preparer works the reconciliation: matches transactions, documents timing differences, attaches supporting evidence.
- Submit for approval: the reconciliation is locked for review and the approver receives a notification with a full summary.
- Approver reviews and signs off: reviews matched items, timing differences and unmatched explanations, then approves or returns with a comment.
- Audit trail frozen: every action timestamped and stored permanently, exportable for auditors.
For teams subject to SOX or with strong internal audit requirements, having this baked into the tool rather than enforced by convention and email chains makes a real difference.
Native to NetSuite
MatchPoint connects directly to your NetSuite environment via the REST API. GL transactions are pulled in automatically so there's nothing to export or re-key, and your data is always current.
Bank statements come in via file upload (CSV, BAI2, MT940) or, where your bank supports it, via a direct open banking feed. Bank accounts are mapped to NetSuite subsidiaries and GL accounts automatically.
Multi-entity and multi-currency are fully supported. If you're reconciling GBP operating accounts alongside EUR and USD accounts, they run in parallel within the same close period.
Part of the complete close
Bank reconciliation doesn't sit in a separate tool. It sits in MatchPoint, alongside your balance sheet sign-off, GRNI reconciliation and executive close dashboard.
That's important because the close is a connected process. Your finance controller doesn't want to check three different systems to understand where things stand at day three of close. With bank rec in MatchPoint, the status of every bank account reconciliation is visible in the same place as every other account. One view of the whole close, rather than a patchwork of spreadsheets and email chains.
What our customers are seeing
Here's what we're seeing from the teams who've gone live:
- 75% reduction in time spent on bank reconciliation per period, versus the manual spreadsheet process
- 90%+ auto match rate from the first month. Rules based, no training period required
- Zero timing differences lost since moving off spreadsheets
- 100% audit ready reconciliation, every period, for every account
And from one of our early access customers:
"We went from a two-day spreadsheet exercise to pressing a button and reviewing exceptions. The auditors love the trail. They can see exactly what was matched and by whom."
Who this is for
Bank reconciliation in MatchPoint is available now for NetSuite customers. It works particularly well for teams that:
- Are currently doing bank rec manually in Excel and want to eliminate that work
- Have multiple bank accounts across different currencies or subsidiaries
- Need a clear audit trail for SOX or internal controls purposes
- Are already using MatchPoint for balance sheet sign-off and want everything in one place
See it in action
The best way to understand what this looks like for your close process is to see it working with your own data. We're booking demos now. A typical session takes about 45 minutes and we'll walk through your accounts, your matching rules and what the approval workflow would look like for your team.
Most teams are up and running in under a week.
If you're a current MatchPoint customer, reach out to your account manager directly. We're onboarding existing customers first.
Book a demo at clarative.co.uk
Fowlers Consulting Services Ltd are an AI-first NetSuite consultancy based in the UK. MatchPoint is our close management platform for NetSuite finance teams. Get in touch to see it working with your data.
Related reading: MatchPoint: Bringing Proper Workflow to Balance Sheet Sign-off