Fix a balance gap

A balance gap means an account’s balance in ark.flow doesn’t match the bank’s. It shows up when you import a camt.053 or PDF statement, with the message Balance gap and the amount in CHF.

Common causes

• a transaction is missing from your books, or recorded twice;
• an amount differs from the statement;
• an entry’s accounts are swapped (money going out recorded as money coming in);
• the account’s opening balance doesn’t match the bank’s, for example because your books started before you moved to ark.flow.

Track down the gap line by line

During the import review, open the line-by-line reconciliation and click Show gaps only. Each line shows its status: Bank only, Accounting only, Reconciled or Issue detected.

• Swapped accounts: click Fix to swap debit and credit.
• Amount difference: edit the entry and enter the amount from the statement.
• Accounting only: the entry doesn’t exist at the bank. Open it in Entries and check its date and account before deleting it.
• Bank only: the transaction will be created by the import, or it falls outside the period.

Set the balance from a statement

If the entries are right and only the starting point differs, set the account’s balance from a statement.

1. Open Chart of accounts, then the bank account.
2. Click Set the balance from a statement.
3. Enter the statement’s Date and Actual balance (CHF), with a note if you like.
4. Click Set.

The account’s balances are recalculated before and after that date. An account holds one balance anchor: setting a new one replaces the previous one, and Remove balance anchor goes back to the plain calculation.

During an import, when ark.flow detects an Opening balance shifted, the Recalibrate account and re-run button does the same thing at the statement date.