To reconcile one deposit that covers several rent payments, attach every one of those payments to the single bank line, so their total, not any one of them, is what ties to the bank. That is split matching. Work from the list of what went into the deposit, check that it adds up to the bank's figure, and match the whole set. When it will not add up, look for a missing payment, an extra one, or a fee.
Your bank and your ledger count the same money in different units. You record rent one resident at a time, because that is how you know who has paid. Your bank records it one deposit at a time, because that is how the money arrived: five checks on one slip, a week of card payments in one payout. Neither record is wrong, and neither will change to suit the other. So the month-end question is never whether a deposit matches a payment. It is which payments the deposit is. A deposit of $7,250.00 can be five rents, and no line in your ledger reads $7,250.00.
This is a spoke of Bank Reconciliation for Property Managers: Step by Step, which covers the monthly routine from opening balance to lock and calls this step attaching the bundles. This one covers that step alone: what split matching is, where one bank line covers several payments, what to do when the total is off, the procedure, and how Scaalr split matches a deposit.
What split matching is
Split matching is attaching two or more ledger entries to one bank statement line, so that the total of the entries is what clears against the bank's amount. It is also called one-to-many matching, and the deposit behind it is a batch deposit: a single deposit that holds several payments. The match changes nothing in either record. The bank still shows one line, the ledger still shows each payment against the resident who made it, and the reconciliation records that the two are the same money.
A second method makes the two records agree before the money reaches the bank. An undeposited funds account is a holding account in the ledger: each payment is recorded there as it arrives, and when you make the deposit, one entry moves the combined total into the bank account. The ledger then holds a single line equal to the bank's, with the list of payments inside that entry. Split matching does the same grouping at reconciliation, against payments posted to the bank account one by one. Either way the proof is the same: a named list of payments whose total is the bank's figure.
Where one bank line covers several rent payments
The table below lists the ways several rent payments reach the bank as one line, and the record that says what each line holds.
| What the bank shows | What is inside it | The record that lists it |
|---|---|---|
| One deposit of checks and money orders | Each resident's payment, banked on one slip | The deposit slip, or your own list of the batch |
| One cash deposit | Cash rents counted and banked together | The receipts written for them |
| One lockbox or bulk deposit | Every payment the service processed that day | The lockbox report |
| One card payout | Several days of card payments, less the processor's fees | The processor's payout report |
| One transfer from a resident | Two months of rent, or rent for two units | The resident's ledger |
| One payment from an agency or an employer | Rent for several residents | The remittance list sent with it |
In every row the bank is right about the total and silent about the parts. The record in the third column is the only place the parts are written down, so keep it until the reconciliation is locked.
When the deposit and the payments do not add up
A deposit and its payments fail to add up for a short list of reasons, and each has its own fix. Take a deposit of $7,250.00 made up of five rents: $1,450.00, $1,450.00, $1,500.00, $1,400.00, and $1,450.00. When the bank shows $7,250.00 and the list totals $7,250.00, the set matches and the line is done.
When the bank shows less than the list, a payment on the list did not go in with the others. It is in a later deposit, where it will match that line instead, or it was recorded and never banked, which makes it a payment to find today. When the bank shows more than the list, the deposit holds a payment nobody recorded. Record it against the resident who made it, then add it to the set.
A difference that is not the size of any payment usually belongs to the processor. A card payout usually arrives net: say the payments total $4,500.00, the processor keeps $130.00 in fees, and $4,370.00 reaches the bank. That $130.00 is an entry the ledger is owed, an expense paid from the bank account, and once it is posted the set adds up again. How rent comes to be paid by card in the first place is in Can Tenants Pay Rent by Credit Card? Yes, No Portal Needed.
How to split match a deposit, step by step
Split matching a deposit follows the same eight steps in any system that lets one bank line take several entries. Run them for each bundled line on the statement.
- Record each payment against its own charge the day it arrives. One payment, one resident, one entry. The ledger has to know who paid before the bank can agree on how much.
- Keep a list for every deposit. Write down which payments went in together and what they total, or keep the record that already does: the slip, the lockbox report, the payout report.
- Find the bank line. In the reconciliation for that account and statement, locate the deposit by its date and its amount.
- Add up the list against the line. The list should equal the bank's amount to the cent. If it does not, work out which kind of difference it is before you match anything.
- Match the first payment to the line. One payment will not equal the deposit, so note on the match what the deposit holds: how many payments, and from which batch.
- Attach every other payment on the list to the same line. Work down the list, ticking each entry off as it attaches.
- Add what came out before the money landed. A processor's fee is its own ledger entry on the same bank account, and it joins the set as money out.
- Total the entries on the line. They should equal the bank's amount exactly. Then file the list with the month's reconciliation and move to the next line.
When every line on the statement is matched and the reconciliation balances, lock it, and the month is ready to close, which Month-End Close Checklist for Property Managers takes from there.
How Scaalr split matches a deposit
In Scaalr a draft reconciliation shows two lists side by side: the statement lines, and the unreconciled ledger entries, which are the posted entries on that cash account, dated on or before the statement date, that no reconciliation has cleared. The ledger side is already itemized: each rent payment you record posts its own entry, a routine that Automated Rent Collection: From Charge to Cleared Payment follows from charge to payment. Five payments wait in the list as five entries, each with its date, its description, its amount, and a link to its journal entry. The statement lines arrive by import or by hand, as How to Import a Bank Statement CSV From Any Bank sets out.
To split match, drag the first payment onto the deposit line. One payment does not equal the deposit, so Scaalr shows both amounts and asks for a variance reason before it will match; write what the deposit holds, such as five rent payments from one slip. The line is then flagged Matched, with a link to that payment's journal entry and a variance marker that carries your note. Drag each remaining payment onto the same line, and Scaalr asks whether to add it as a split match. Each one is listed under the line with its journal entry number and its amount. Any entry in the unreconciled list can join the set, a fee among them, so a net payout ties to its payments less the fee.
Scaalr proves the set against the statement as a whole. A running panel shows the statement change beside the cleared ledger total, which counts every entry attached to a matched line, and reads Balanced or Out of balance with the difference. A deposit matched one payment short leaves the reconciliation out of balance by exactly that payment, and it cannot be marked reconciled until the two figures agree. Until then, a split match can be removed by itself, and unmatching the line returns every entry on it to the unreconciled list. Marking the reconciliation complete locks the set. Split matching is part of bank reconciliation on every plan, including Starter.
Key questions
Can one bank deposit be matched to more than one payment?
Yes. One statement line can take as many ledger entries as the deposit held, and it clears on their total. That is the purpose of split matching: the bank's single line and the ledger's separate payments both stay as they are, and the reconciliation records which payments made up the deposit.
Why doesn't my bank deposit match my rent payments?
Because the bank records deposits and your ledger records payments. Checks banked on one slip, or card payments settled in one payout, reach the statement as a single line for the combined amount, while your ledger holds one entry per resident. Nothing is wrong with either record. Reconcile the line against the whole set of payments, and the two agree.
Do I need an undeposited funds account?
No, when your reconciliation can attach several ledger entries to one bank line, which is how Scaalr handles a batch deposit. An undeposited funds account groups payments into one deposit entry before they reach the bank account, so the ledger line equals the bank's. Split matching does that grouping at reconciliation instead. Use one method consistently for each account.
How do I reconcile a card payout that is net of fees?
Post the fee as its own entry, then match the payout to the payments and the fee together. The payments went into the ledger at their full amounts, and the processor's payout report shows what it kept. Record that amount as an expense paid from the bank account and attach it to the payout line, so the set totals the net deposit.
What if one tenant pays two months of rent in one payment?
Record it as two payments, one against each month's charge, and attach both to the single bank line. The resident's ledger then shows each month settled by its own payment, and the bank line shows the one transfer that covered them. The same applies to one payer covering several units: one payment per charge, one line at the bank.
What if a deposit is less than the payments I recorded?
Find the payment that did not go in. Compare the deposit list to the recorded payments until the difference equals a single payment, or a pair. That payment is in a later deposit, where it will match instead, or it was recorded and never banked. Match the rest to the line, and leave that one unreconciled until its money arrives.
Which Scaalr plan includes split matching?
All of them, including Starter. Split matching is part of bank reconciliation, which is on every plan with the ledger and the report suite; Starter is free for the first 5 units, then $0.99 a unit a month. Growth, at $99 a month for the first 50 units and then $1.49 per additional unit, adds invoicing with online card payment.