Resolve client responses on unreconciled items

Who does this: Bookkeeper · Senior Accountant · Platform Admin When: A client has started responding to the unreconciled-items portal you dispatched and you want to work through their answers Result: Each response is either applied (the corresponding journal entry is created and auto-matched), rejected (a follow-up question goes back to the client), or escalated for senior review. When every response is resolved, the run transitions AWAITING_CLIENT → COMPLETE and the reconciliation report is generated.

The client portal turns each unreconciled bank line into one of two response shapes: either "here's the supporting document" (an uploaded receipt/invoice that should produce a journal entry) or "there's no supporting" (a declaration with a free-text note — typical for bank fees, transfers between own accounts, manually-recorded petty-cash withdrawals). Your job is to take each response, decide what it means for the books, and either apply it (creates the journal entry, locks the bank match) or push back if the response is incomplete or unclear.

Before you start

• [ ] You've dispatched the run — see Dispatch unreconciled items to the client. The run is in AWAITING_CLIENT.
• [ ] At least one item has flipped PENDING → CLIENT_RESPONDED. The platform sends a digest email to your firm when responses come in, so you don't have to keep refreshing.

TIP

You don't have to wait for every item to be responded — work through them as they come in. The run only moves to COMPLETE when every unreconciled item is RESOLVED, but you can resolve them one at a time over hours or days while the client finishes the rest.

Steps

1. Open Bank reconciliations in the staff dashboard sidebar and click into the run.
2. Open the Unreconciled tab. Items the client has responded to show a CLIENT_RESPONDED status badge with a sub-badge of either UPLOADED_SUPPORTING (a file is attached) or NO_SUPPORTING (declaration with note).
3. For each CLIENT_RESPONDED row, click Approve in the actions column. The Approve dialog opens with the client's response details summarised:
   • The bank line (date, amount, description).
   • The client's response type and free-text note.
   • The supporting file (clickable to view), if any.
4. Decide:

Path A — Apply (uploaded supporting)

The client uploaded a real document. The platform has run OCR on it and produced a draft journal entry behind the scenes — you're confirming the pair.

1. Optionally enter a Journal entry ID if there's an existing entry that should be linked instead of using the new one OCR produced. Leave blank for the typical case.
2. Click Approve. The unreconciled item's status flips to RESOLVED; the journal entry (newly created or linked) is auto-matched against the bank line; the bank line drops off the unreconciled list and into Matches.

Path B — Apply (no supporting)

The client declared there's no supporting document — bank fee, internal transfer, etc. There's no journal entry to attach because there was no business event that produces one beyond what the client described.

1. Read the client's note carefully. If their explanation is reasonable (e.g. "transfer to our USD operating account"), click Approve with the journal entry ID blank. The item is RESOLVED without a linked journal entry — the bank line is acknowledged but not paired.
2. If the explanation is wrong or incomplete, don't approve — see the Reject path below.

Path C — Reject (push back)

The client's response doesn't get the item to a resolved state — the supporting doc is the wrong document, the note doesn't make sense, or you need more information.

The Approve dialog doesn't have a built-in reject. To push back:

1. Close the dialog.
2. Re-dispatch the magic link with a follow-up message — see Dispatch unreconciled items to the client. Re-dispatch resets the link and the client can respond again on the same item.

Path D — Escalate

The response is unclear, the amounts don't reconcile even with what the client provided, or you suspect something genuinely wrong (potential fraud, unauthorised charge).

1. Don't approve. Flag the item with your Senior Accountant via the Escalate action on the row, which records a senior-review event on the audit log.
2. The senior reviews and either applies, pushes back, or asks the client a more pointed question.

After every item is resolved

When the Unreconciled tab is empty (or every row shows RESOLVED), the run can be finalised:

1. Click Complete + generate report in the top-right action row. Confirm the dialog.
2. State transition: AWAITING_CLIENT → COMPLETE.
3. The reconciliation report is queued for generation. Once ready (typically within a minute), the Report tab shows a downloadable CSV summarising matched, confirmed, client-resolved, and unresolved items.

The platform also fires a reconciliation-complete notification — see the Notifications catalog for what that email contains.

How to know it worked

1. As you approve responses, the Resolved counter on the summary tile increments and the Unreconciled counter decrements.
2. The activity log shows bookkeeping.unreconciled_item.resolved for each Approve, with your name and the chosen action (link to journal entry, or no link).
3. When the run hits COMPLETE, the Report tab populates with a download link.
4. The Outbox (sidebar → Outbox) shows a reconciliation-complete email row to the firm's reviewer email — see Verify an email was sent.

What the client sees

For Path A or Path B (Apply), the client sees the item disappear from their portal — the platform marks it as resolved on their side too, with a confirmation that the firm has accepted the response.

For Path C (Reject / re-dispatch), the client receives a fresh magic link with the same items still pending plus your follow-up message. The portal preserves their previous responses; they can amend rather than start over.

For Path D (Escalate), the client sees no change immediately — the senior accountant resolves before any further client communication.

Common situations

If you see…	It means…	What to do
Approve is greyed out	The item is still PENDING (client hasn't responded) or already RESOLVED	If PENDING, wait or re-dispatch; if RESOLVED, no action needed
Client uploaded a file but no journal entry was drafted	OCR failed on the file or chart-of-accounts is missing	Open the document on the Documents tab; check OCR status; see OCR failing runbook
Client's note explains the transaction but you'd still need a journal entry	Re-dispatch with a follow-up: "Please upload the supporting document for this transaction"	See Dispatch unreconciled items to the client
Client says they uploaded but you don't see the file	Magic link expired mid-session before the upload posted	Re-dispatch; the new link is fresh
Two items got the same supporting document	One file legitimately covers two bank lines (e.g. one invoice paid in two instalments)	Approve each item separately, leaving the journal entry ID blank on the second so the platform doesn't double-link
Complete + generate report is greyed out	One or more items are still PENDING or CLIENT_RESPONDED (not RESOLVED)	Resolve every item first; if some are stuck on PENDING because the client has gone silent, escalate via your normal client-comms channel

Related runbooks

• Dispatch unreconciled items to the client — the prerequisite step
• Run a bank reconciliation — overall flow
• Verify an email was sent — confirm the complete email reached the reviewer
• Notifications catalog — reconciliation-client-response digest and reconciliation-complete template
• Reconciliation run status machine — AWAITING_CLIENT → COMPLETE transition
• Bookkeeping SOP §5.3-5.4 — the source-of-truth flow for client responses and final report