The consistency check
The twelve reconciliations an accounting firm runs before signing: what each one compares, what a gap means, and where to go and fix it.
This module keeps five registers for one single pot of money: the transactions, the journal, the fixed assets, the loans and the funds. Each is right about its own data, and that is exactly why they can diverge in silence.
The consistency check runs the reconciliations an accounting firm runs before signing. It corrects nothing: it observes, quantifies the gap and points at the screen where to fix it.
Open it
- Open Finance, then Reports, Accounting section, Consistency tab.
- Choose the financial year.
- Three counters summarise the state: green, to watch, gaps found.
Failing checks come first. Click Show detail to read the expected, the actual and the entries involved, and Go and fix it to open the right screen directly.
Tip: run this check before closing a month, not after. Once the period is locked and the report has gone to the board, correcting requires a reasoned reopening.
The twelve checks
The journal holds together
| Check | What it compares | What a gap means |
|---|---|---|
| The journal balances | Total debits and total credits, all years together | An entry is broken. Nothing derived from it is reliable. |
| Each entry balances | The debit and the credit of each entry taken alone | The total can add up while two entries offset each other. This check catches what the previous one lets through. |
| Each transaction has its entry | The number of transactions and the number of derived entries | Transactions appear neither in the ledger, nor in the result, nor in net assets. Run Catch up in the journal. |
| Allocations without an account | The categories used and the accounts in the chart | This income or expense goes to the "Other" account. The category report is right, the ledger is coarse. Fix it in the chart of accounts. |
The books answer each other
| Check | What it compares | What a gap means |
|---|---|---|
| The category and the account point to the same place | Each transaction's category and its entry's account | The category report and the general ledger show two truths, and neither can reveal it alone. This happens when a category changed account after the fact. |
| The result explains the change in net assets | The year's result and the movement in net assets | One of the two statements is wrong, unless the gap corresponds to opening balances recorded during the year. |
| Balance by source and financial accounts | The cash balances of the Finance module and the class 5 accounts | Your dashboard and your trial balance announce two different cash positions. |
Assets and debts are on the balance sheet
| Check | What it compares | What a gap means |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed asset register and asset account | The acquisition value in the register and the balance of the fixed asset account | Assets are in the register without having entered the balance sheet. Open their card and say through which door they enter. |
| Charges posted and depreciation account | The cumulative charges and the balance of the depreciation account | A charge was not posted, or a disposal did not clear its depreciation. |
| Outstanding capital and loan account | The loan schedules and the balance of the financial debt account | Until a loan is on the liabilities side, instalments debit an account never credited and the balance sheet shows a receivable instead of a debt. |
Inventory and accounting meet
| Check | What it compares | What a gap means |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment purchases and inventory records | Equipment expenses and the Inventory module's records | Equipment bought is not inventoried, or a record has no matching expense. |
| Expense price and inventory price | The amount paid and the value on the record | The two modules state two prices for the same asset. |
Three verdicts, not two
Green. The two registers agree.
To watch. A gap exists but a legitimate explanation is possible. Look at it, do not panic.
Gap found. The two registers contradict each other. The amount of the gap is shown, and the detail names the entries involved.
Note: an asset or a loan not yet on the balance sheet is not presented as an inconsistency. It is not an error, it is work still to do, and the screen says so in those terms. Making a treasurer who simply has not finished look at fault pushes them to hide rather than to finish.
What the check does not do
It corrects nothing, and that is deliberate. An automatic fix in accounting picks one of the two registers and imposes its figure on the other. It would be right half the time, without ever saying which half.
It does not judge the substance either. A tithe filed as an offering passes every check: the two registers agree, they simply agree on a mistake. The category report and your knowledge of the church are what catch that.
Common mistakes
- Running the check after closing. The useful order is: reconcile the bank, post the depreciation charge, run the check, correct, then close.
- Ignoring a "to watch" for months. It eventually becomes a gap found, with many more entries to untangle.
- Correcting a gap with an adjusting entry. You turn the check green without fixing the cause, and next month the gap comes back with a duplicate on top.