Accurate accounts. Defensible balances.
General Ledger & Reconciliations
for U.S. Businesses
Keep the accounting record behind your financial statements organized, current, and tied to the source documents that support it. USA Business Access coordinates general-ledger maintenance and reconciliation work with qualified independent bookkeeping and accounting professionals.
Designed for businesses that need a cleaner monthly close, stronger account control, or help resolving unreconciled balances.
USABA coordinates the engagement•Independent bookkeeping or accounting professional performs the work•Reconciliation exceptions are documented and escalated
The accounting backbone
Your general ledger should explain every number on the financial statements.
The general ledger is the central record of a business’s accounting activity. Cash, receivables, payables, revenue, expenses, fixed assets, debt, owner equity and other accounts ultimately roll into the ledger before they appear on a balance sheet or profit-and-loss statement.
Reconciliation is the control process that tests those ledger balances against independent records. When the records do not agree, the difference must be identified, documented and corrected rather than simply carried forward.
What gets reconciled
More than just the checking account
A strong close reviews the accounts that can materially distort cash, profit, liabilities or owner equity when they are left unreconciled.
Cash and bank accounts — operating, payroll, savings and money-market accounts.
Credit cards and charge accounts — statement activity, payments, fees, credits and interest.
Loans and financing — principal, interest and ending balances tied to lender records.
Clearing and liability accounts — payroll liabilities, merchant deposits, sales tax and other temporary balances.
Why it matters
Unreconciled books can make profitable businesses look unprofitable — and vice versa.
Duplicate deposits can overstate revenue. Missing credit-card activity can understate expenses and liabilities. Loan payments posted entirely to expense can distort both profit and debt balances. Old clearing-account items can remain hidden for months.
Regular ledger review and reconciliation help management rely on the numbers, give tax professionals a cleaner year-end file, and make it easier to answer questions from lenders, investors, owners and other professionals.
Typical engagement scope
What the reconciliation process can include
Chart-of-accounts review for duplicate, obsolete, misused or unusually structured accounts.
Bank and credit-card reconciliations through the agreed close date.
Balance-sheet support schedules for selected assets, liabilities and equity accounts.
Exception and suspense review for unidentified, duplicated or aging transactions.
Journal-entry coordination for agreed bookkeeping corrections, with CPA or tax-professional escalation when judgment or tax treatment is required.
Close documentation so completed reconciliations and open questions are easier to track from period to period.
U.S. residents doing business overseas
One ledger can still require records from several countries, currencies and institutions.
For U.S. residents operating internationally, the bookkeeping challenge often extends beyond a single U.S. bank account. Foreign bank activity, payment processors, local operating accounts, intercompany transfers and currency conversion can all affect the U.S. accounting record.
USABA can coordinate an organized bookkeeping workflow that collects the relevant records, identifies missing support and escalates cross-border tax or accounting questions to appropriately qualified independent professionals.
Request a ledger review
Tell us where the books stand now.
We will use this information to understand the account count, periods involved and whether the need is recurring reconciliation, cleanup, or both.
Frequently asked questions
General ledger & reconciliation questions
What is a general ledger?
The general ledger is the central accounting record that organizes a business’s financial activity by account, including cash, receivables, payables, revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity.
What does reconciliation mean?
Reconciliation compares the accounting records to an independent source such as a bank, credit-card, loan, payroll or merchant-processing statement and investigates any difference between the two.
Can you fix months that were never reconciled?
Yes. Catch-up and cleanup work can be separately scoped after reviewing the periods involved, transaction volume, account count and condition of the existing books.
Do you make tax or audit adjustments?
Bookkeeping corrections can be coordinated within the agreed scope. Tax positions, audit adjustments, assurance work and other matters requiring professional judgment must be handled by an appropriately qualified independent CPA, EA or other professional.
Do I have to give anyone my personal QuickBooks password?
No. QuickBooks Online access should be provided through accountant or user permissions rather than by sharing personal login credentials.
Make the ledger trustworthy again
Start with the accounts that do not tie.
We can help define the scope, coordinate the right independent professional and organize the reconciliation process from open differences through a documented close.
USA Business Access is a business consulting and professional-coordination service. It is not a CPA firm or law firm and does not provide tax, legal, audit, assurance, or investment advice. Independent professionals are responsible for their own services. QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online are trademarks of Intuit Inc.; USA Business Access is not affiliated with or endorsed by Intuit.