Guide

How to audit your bank feed — and prove nothing's missing

Bank feeds are great until they aren't. They disconnect when your bank changes its login flow, they back-fill only about 90 days when reconnected, and when they drop transactions they do it silently— the register just looks a little too clean. If you've ever typed “why am I missing 4 months of transactions” into a support forum, this guide is for you.

Why feeds miss transactions (it's structural, not user error)

1. Disconnect-and-gap. The feed breaks — an MFA change, a bank site update — nobody notices for weeks, and the reconnect back-fills only a limited window.
2. Partial pulls. Feeds sometimes import a subset of a busy period; users have reported hundreds of missing rows creating five-figure book-vs-bank gaps.
3. Duplicates on reconnect. The opposite failure — the register quietly double-counts.
4. No coverage at all.Many regional banks and credit unions simply don't have reliable feeds.

None of this is visible from inside the register. The only source of truth is the bank statement itself — the document your bank stands behind.

The manual audit (no tools required)

1. Download the PDF statement for the period.
2. Compare the statement's opening and closing balancesagainst your register's cleared balance for the same dates.
3. If they differ: tick each statement line against the register, oldest first. Mark anything on the statement but not in the books (missing) and anything in the books but not on the statement (duplicate or error).
4. Check the statement's own math — running balance line to line — so you know the gap is in the books, not a misread.

This works. It's also the “line by line with a highlighter” ritual that eats an evening per account, which is why most people only do it when something already looks wrong.

The automated version

This exact cross-check is what MatchLedger does: upload the statement PDF and your ledger export, and it extracts every statement line, matches each against the ledger, and reports matched / missing / duplicate with a balance verification that follows the statement's running-balance chain. The feed stays your day-to-day pipe; the audit proves the pipe didn't leak. Ten minutes instead of an evening — and you get evidence instead of a feeling.

When to run a feed audit

• Month-end close on high-volume accounts
• After any feed disconnect/reconnect
• Before handing books to a CPA, lender, or auditor
• When taking over a new client's books — assume nothing

Common questions