Hot takes: why a monthly reconciliation isn't enough to catch fraud

Waiting for your bank statement to reconcile could mean missing fraud for weeks. Jimmy Roling says the fix is simpler than you'd think. In this Hot Takes episode, Jimmy, Director of Financial Onboarding at Rentvine, shares his take on trust accounting and why a monthly reconciliation alone isn't enough.

Reconcile every month

Every property management company should reconcile its bank accounts every single month. When you get your bank statement, complete what Jimmy calls a hard reconciliation. That means matching the ending bank balance in your property management software to the balance on your bank statement.

Make it a three-way reconciliation

A monthly reconciliation should be a three-way match. Your bank statement should line up with both of these in your software:

• The bank ledger
• The client ledgers

Reconcile daily, too

Ideally, you reconcile your bank accounts daily as well. You don't have to save and complete the reconciliation each day. You're making sure the transactions hitting your bank account are also reflected in your property management software. Jimmy says that's the best way to stay on top of your bank balances and keep your client ledgers in balance. It also makes you much more likely to catch potential fraud quickly, instead of waiting for the statement and reconciling everything in one go.

Tools that help

Jimmy points to a few ways Rentvine can make this easier:

• Match Assist. Part of Bank Reconciliation 2.0, which Jimmy said was slated for release in October. Upload a bank statement, and Rentvine matches the transactions on it to the transactions in your Rentvine account.
• Auto-reconciliation. Connect Rentvine to your bank account and have the reconciliation completed for you on the back end.
• Monthly accounting services. If you're new to reconciliation or short on time but want clean, reconciled books, Rentvine's monthly recurring services can help with your daily and monthly bank reconciliations.

Want to simplify your trust accounting? See how Rentvine simplifies trust accounting, see Rentvine in action, or schedule a demo.