Credit card reconciliation template
Put the balance owing on the card statement next to the balance owing in your books, then work through corrections, timing items and disputed charges one at a time. A running column shows how much of the gap is still unexplained after each line.
- By Book Keeping Pros
- Sources checked 15 Oct 2026
The balance on a business credit card is money owed to the card provider, and business.gov.au's balance sheet guidance lists credit cards payable among the current liabilities. Your books carry a liability account for the card, and this template tests its balance against the provider's statement at the statement date.
Every line carries three figures: an amount on the statement side, an amount on the books side, and the gap still unexplained once the line is taken into account. The first line holds the two balances owing. Corrections to your books follow, such as fees, interest and purchases on the statement that you haven't recorded, or a purchase entered twice. After them come the items your books have right but the statement doesn't show yet, like a repayment made just before the statement date, and any charge under query with the provider. When the listed items account for the whole gap, the last line shows zero; any other figure means something is still to be traced.
business.gov.au notes that card payments keep a record of each transaction automatically, so the statement supplies the date and the amount of every charge. The ATO says a record generally also needs a description and the purpose of the transaction, which is why each charge still needs its receipt and a word from the cardholder about what it was for. The template is a CSV file, which opens in a spreadsheet program.
Download the template
The template as a CSV file, which opens in any spreadsheet program.
Download the CSV fileWhat's in the template
| Item | Kind | Statement (AUD) | Books (AUD) | Gap left (AUD) | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance owing at the statement date, 28 Apr 2026 | Balance | 4,236.40 | 2,884.50 | 1,351.90 | Statement closing balance and card account balance at the same date |
| Purchase from Supplier J on 9 Apr 2026, entered twice in the books | Fixed in books | (212.00) | 1,563.90 | Second entry reversed on 2 May 2026, dated 28 Apr 2026 | |
| Card fee charged by the provider, missing from the books | Fixed in books | 45.00 | 1,518.90 | Recorded as a bank fee on 2 May 2026, dated 28 Apr 2026 | |
| Interest charged by the provider, missing from the books | Fixed in books | 18.60 | 1,500.30 | Recorded as interest paid on 2 May 2026, dated 28 Apr 2026 | |
| Purchase from Supplier L on 21 Apr 2026 by Cardholder A, on the statement with no entry in the books | Fixed in books | 96.30 | 1,404.00 | Receipt found; entry made on 2 May 2026, dated 21 Apr 2026 | |
| Purchase from Supplier K on 28 Apr 2026 by Cardholder B, processed by the provider after the statement date | Timing | 185.00 | 1,589.00 | Check it appears on the May statement | |
| Repayment from the business bank account on 27 Apr 2026, not yet on the statement | Timing | (1,500.00) | 89.00 | Check it appears on the May statement | |
| Charge from Merchant H on 17 Apr 2026 that no cardholder recognises | Under query | (89.00) | 0.00 | Raised with the card provider on 30 Apr 2026 and open until resolved | |
| Adjusted balance owing | Balance | 2,832.40 | 2,832.40 | 0.00 | The lines above add up to the whole gap; carry the timing and query lines into next month's check |
Illustrative example only: these rows show the method and are not sourced data.
What goes in each column
- Item: What the line is, with its date and, for a purchase, the supplier and the cardholder.
- Kind: Balance, Fixed in books, Timing or Under query, which shows whether the fix belongs in your books, will arrive on a later statement or sits with the provider.
- Statement (AUD): The balance owing on the statement on the first line, an adjustment to it on timing and query lines, and the adjusted figure on the last line, with reductions in brackets.
- Books (AUD): The balance owing in the card's liability account on the first line, each correction made in your books, and the corrected balance on the last line, with reductions in brackets.
- Gap left (AUD): The statement figure less the books figure that is still unexplained after the line.
- Follow-up: What has been done about the line, or what to check at the next reconciliation.
How to use it
- Work to the statement date. On the first line, enter the closing balance owing from the statement and the card account's balance in your books at that same date, and work out the gap.
- Tick each purchase, refund, fee and repayment on the statement against your books and its receipt, and bring in any timing items or open queries carried over from the last check.
- For each statement line missing from your books, and each mistake in your books, make the entry or correction, dated on or before the statement date, and list it as Fixed in books. If a charge turns out to be personal, it isn't a business expense: ask your accountant which account to record it in.
- List entries in your books that the provider hadn't processed by the statement date as Timing, and any charge nobody can explain as Under query once you have raised it with the provider.
- Work the gap column down line by line. The CSV holds example figures rather than formulas, so do each sum yourself. If the last line isn't zero, something is still untraced, such as a missed item or a sum gone wrong. Find it rather than making an entry for the leftover amount.
- At the next statement, check that each timing item has come through and chase any query that is still open.
Related terms
Sources
- Set up a balance sheet
business.gov.au, Australian Government. Current at 15 October 2026, released 18 January 2024. Checked 15 October 2026.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU.
- Choose payment methods
business.gov.au, Australian Government. Current at 16 October 2026, released 18 December 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU.
- Overview of record-keeping rules for business
Australian Taxation Office. Current at 18 June 2026 (QC60718), released 18 June 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.
© Australian Taxation Office for the Commonwealth of Australia Licence: ATO website copyright notice (copy, adapt and distribute, without implying ATO endorsement).
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