Clearing transactions

Guides

Every so often, put your bank statement next to Balanced and tick off what you find. Ten minutes later you know your books are right.

Clearing a transaction means confirming that it has shown up on your bank statement. It keeps Balanced in step with your bank, and it decides when income becomes money you can budget. Cleared and uncleared explains the idea. This page is the routine.

How often is up to you: once a week, once a month when the statement comes, or whenever your salary arrives.

Go through your statement

In the journal overview, tap Uncleared under Transactions. The number next to it counts the uncleared transactions dated today or earlier. The list shows all uncleared transactions, also those still to come, dimmed.
Open your bank statement or banking app next to it. For each line on the statement, find the matching transaction in the list.
Swipe right on it and tap Clear, or swipe all the way. The transaction leaves the list.

You can also clear a transaction in the editor: turn on Cleared and save. Each occurrence of a repeating transaction is cleared on its own.

Cleared one by mistake? Find it in All Transactions or in the account’s list, swipe right again and tap Unclear.

Check the balance

When you’ve gone through the statement, go back to the overview and look at the account under Accounts:

The upper number is the balance as of today, with every transaction you’ve recorded.
The smaller number below it is the cleared balance: only cleared transactions. It appears when some of the account’s transactions up to today aren’t cleared yet.

The cleared balance should match the balance your bank shows. If every transaction is cleared, there’s only one number, and that’s the one to compare.

When it doesn’t match

On the statement, but not in Balanced: you forgot to record it. Add it now and turn on Cleared right away.
In Balanced, but not on the statement: the bank hasn’t booked it yet. Leave it uncleared; it will turn up on the next statement. If it never happened, delete it.
Different amounts: tap the transaction, correct the amount, then clear it.
Different dates: Balanced counts transactions up to today, while your statement may end on an earlier day. Compare on the statement’s end date, or wait until both cover the same days.

If you can’t find the difference, record a correction: Corrections.

Why it’s worth it

You catch mistakes and forgotten transactions while you still remember them.
Income only counts as money you can budget once it’s cleared. Clearing your salary is what makes it available to assign.