MosoFin · vendor statement reconciliation, in plain words

Does your supplier agree with your books?

Each month a supplier can send you a statement: their list of what you owe them. This skill compares that list with your accounts payable (AP), which is what your books say you owe suppliers. It checks one item at a time.

The 20-second version

You give it the supplier's statement. It reads the same supplier's invoices, credits and payments from your books. It matches the two lists item by item and explains every difference. It finds invoices your books never saw and credit notes nobody claimed. It proposes a fix for each. It never posts anything and never contacts the supplier.

Where the numbers come from

Two lists of the same debt, kept by two different people

Your books show what you recorded. The supplier's statement shows what the supplier recorded, from their own system. Auditors treat evidence from an independent outside source as generally more reliable than a company's own records1. So the statement can show a gap your own books cannot show.

The two figures rarely agree on the first look. Some differences are timing. Others are real mistakes. The skill names each line that takes one figure to the other.

YOUR BOOKS · NORTHBROOK TRADING Owed to Harbor at 30 September$21,115.00 − Invoice 0057, 27 Sep, after the statement date− 3,100.00 + Payment of 29 Sep, Harbor has not received it+ 625.00 + INV-0049 on the statement, never in your books+ 2,480.00 − Credit note CN-0011, nobody claimed it− 410.00 Your books, adjusted$20,710.00 Amber lines are timing. The red line is a bill your books lack. The green line is money that Harbor owes back to you. HARBOR'S STATEMENT Closing balance, 25 September $20,710.00 Harbor Office Supply Account NB-2210 Every open item They meet, to the cent
Example figures for a made-up company and supplier. Harbor dated the statement 25 September, and your books close on 30 September. The skill treats the five days between those dates as a known window, so the two amber lines are timing. The arithmetic: 21,115.00 − 3,100.00 + 625.00 + 2,480.00 − 410.00 = 20,710.00.
The mistakes it catches

"We pay the bills we have, so the balance is right"

The quick way to handle a supplier is to pay the invoices in your books and file the statement unread. Nothing looks wrong. The skill reads every line of the statement instead. In this example it finds two things the shortcut misses.

What the skill does

Every statement line, against every item in your books
INV-0049, 18 Sep, on the statement and not in your books$2,480.00
CN-0011, 12 Sep, a credit for returned chairs, never recorded$410.00
Timing lines in the five-day window2
The skill reports the credit note on its own, apart from the problems. It asks for a copy of the missing invoice and proposes an accrual for it.

The common shortcut

Pay what your books show, file the statement
Your books say you owe Harbor$21,115.00
Bills paid when due✓
INV-0049 stays out of your bookshidden
The $410.00 credit stays with Harborunclaimed
Your books leave out a possible $2,480.00 bill. They also miss $410.00 that Harbor owes back to you.
An invoice your books never saw

INV-0049, $2,480.00

Accountants call this an unrecorded liability: a bill you owe that your books do not show. A check of only the items you recorded cannot find an item that nobody recorded2. The supplier's list can find it.

First, the skill checks two simpler causes. Harbor can have a second supplier record in your books. The invoice can also sit in another of your companies. Here neither is true. So the skill asks for a copy of the invoice. At 30 September it proposes an accrual of $2,480.00, which records a bill for goods you received before the invoice arrives3.

A credit note nobody claimed

CN-0011, $410.00

Harbor credited you for returned chairs. Your books never recorded the credit. The invoice it relates to, INV-0031 for $410.00, was paid in full on 5 September. So the $410.00 is cash that Harbor owes you.

In QuickBooks you record a supplier's credit as a vendor credit and use it against a bill you have not paid yet. With no open Harbor bill, the credit stays unused until a bill arrives. A cash refund is a separate entry4.

The serious one

A payment that went somewhere else

Take a different case with the same supplier. On 12 September you paid Harbor $5,600.00, and the money left your bank. Harbor's statement still shows INV-0044 for $5,600.00 as open, with no payment received. On 2 September someone changed Harbor's bank details in your books, after an email.

This is the pattern that business email compromise (BEC), a fraud by email, produces. The skill marks a payment the supplier never received as serious. It contacts nobody. A person at your company checks the details with Harbor. The FBI advises that you check any request to change account details through a second channel, such as a phone number you already had6.

Email fraud, 2024$2.77 billionReported losses to business email compromise in 2024, from 21,442 complaints to the FBI6
Billing schemes22%Share of 1,921 fraud cases that used invoices for fake or inflated goods or services5
Median loss$100,000The median loss in a billing scheme, in the same study5

Billing schemes are a different risk from email fraud. The figures show how often each one occurs. They do not say how often a statement check finds one.

One honest limit

It can read your books. It cannot read the supplier's statement

With MosoFin connected, the skill reads your side in full: every invoice, credit and payment, the payment list and your supplier records. No accounting system holds the supplier's statement, because the supplier sends it to you. So the skill always asks you for it.

Without a statement it can still help. It can rank your suppliers to show which ones to check first, from your books alone. The ranking puts large balances and large spending first. It also lists suppliers with old unpaid items, and suppliers whose regular invoices stopped. A supplier account in credit means you paid more than you owe. That money is usually yours to recover. The skill learns which suppliers were never checked from its saved history, or it asks you on a first run.

How a run starts

It asks six questions before it looks at anything

  1. Use MosoFin for this run, or upload the data yourself?
    MosoFin is the connection to your books and the other platforms you link. With it, the skill reads your side from there. Without it, you upload the files and the checks stay the same. The skill asks only if your account has a MosoFin connection.
  2. Which supplier, or which suppliers?
    A check of every supplier is not possible and not necessary. On the MosoFin path the skill offers its ranking. You choose.
  3. The supplier's statement, as a PDF or CSV.
    The statement is the one side your books never hold. Without it there is nothing to compare. The skill says so and offers the ranking, which needs only your books.
  4. Which of your companies is the statement for, and under which account number?
    A statement for another company or another account makes every invoice look missing. The skill reads both from the statement and checks them with you.
  5. Your period end, the statement's date, and what the statement lists?
    The two dates often differ. A statement can list every open item, only overdue items, or a running balance. An overdue-only statement makes every current invoice look unmatched. The skill never assumes the two dates are the same.
  6. Do you keep a record of disputes, and who handles the exceptions?
    Disputes live in emails and notes, not in your books. Every exception needs a person and a target date, and you set both.

Then it reads your answers back and waits for your yes:

"Reconciling Harbor Office Supply's statement dated 25 September, addressed to Northbrook Trading (account NB-2210), against your AP ledger at 30 September read from your Mosofin connection. The statement lists every open item. The five days between the two dates are a known window. Shall I go ahead?"
What you need

Connect once, or upload two files and a date

Connected with MosoFin

Say yes, then add the statement

  • It reads every invoice, credit and payment for the supplier
  • It reads your payment list and your supplier records
  • It checks that the company it reads is the company on the statement
  • You still give it the supplier's statement, every time
Uploading instead

Bring the statement and an export

  • Supplier's statement (PDF or CSV), required
  • What you owe that supplier, as an AP ageing or supplier ledger export, required
  • Your period end date, typed in the chat, required
  • Your payment list with bank details, recommended
  • Your notes on disputed invoices, recommended
What you get back

Six sheets: the balance, the matches, and what to do next

The summaryThe two balances, the difference, how much it explains and how much it does not. It shows both dates.
Every match, with its strengthEach matched item shows which of four tests matched it. A match on the document number is the strongest. A loose match on the description is the weakest.
Exceptions, with a person and a dateEach one has a cause, a person, a next step, a target date and an age. For a recurring check, open exceptions carry forward to the next month.
Proposed entriesIt drafts corrections for a person to post. It keeps accruals apart from invoice entries.
Which suppliers to checkThe ranking: large balances, suppliers never checked, accounts in credit, and broken invoice patterns.
Where every number came fromWhich side it read and which side you supplied, and what it did not do, such as contact the supplier.

It asks whether you want the sheets as an Excel file before it makes one. If you say no, you get the same sheets as tables in the chat.

What it never does
  • Never reads your books without asking. A connected account is not permission.
  • Never reads anything before you answer the six questions and say yes to the read-back.
  • Never posts an entry or changes your data. Every entry is a proposal for a person to post.
  • Never contacts a supplier. It sends nothing to anyone.
  • Never books a bill from a statement line. Until the invoice arrives, it proposes an accrual.
  • Never forces a doubtful match. When two items fit equally well, it reports the tie and lets a person decide.
  • Never calls an invoice missing too early. It first checks for a second supplier record and a statement for another company.

Each proposed entry carries this label from the skill:

PROPOSED — NOT POSTED
Words you'll hear

Seven terms, in plain English

Accounts payable (AP)
What you owe your suppliers, as your books record it. The skill compares it with what the supplier records.
Supplier statement
The supplier's list of what you owe them, made from their own records. Accountants also call it a vendor statement.
Unrecorded liability
A bill you owe that is not in your books. An invoice on the statement and not in your books is a possible one.
Accrual
An entry for goods or services you received but the supplier has not yet invoiced. It often appears with trade payables3.
Credit note
A document from the supplier that reduces what you owe, for example after a return. QuickBooks calls it a vendor credit4.
Cutoff date
The date a list stops. The supplier's cutoff and yours often differ. The skill treats the days between them as a known window, not as errors.
Match tier
The skill's four match tests, from strongest to weakest: document number, amount and date, order number and amount, then a loose match on the description.
Sources

Where the facts on this page come from

The sources are US audit standards, an international accounting standard, the accounting software's own help, a fraud study and an FBI report. We checked each one on 24 October 2026 official source pages. We reviewed each linked source on 27 October 2026; follow the link for the latest wording. What the skill does comes from the skill's own files.

  1. PCAOB: AS 1105, Audit EvidenceAs a general rule, evidence from an informed source outside the company is more reliable than evidence from the company's own records. Reliability still depends on the source and the circumstances.
  2. PCAOB: AS 2315, Audit SamplingA sample of the recorded items cannot show that an account is too low because items are missing. An auditor can test later cash payments instead, because the missing purchases appear there.
  3. IFRS Foundation: IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent AssetsAccruals are amounts owed for goods or services received but not yet paid, invoiced or formally agreed with the supplier. Trade payables are the invoiced or agreed ones. Accruals often appear within trade and other payables.
  4. Intuit: Enter vendor credits and refunds in QuickBooks OnlineYou enter a supplier's credit as a vendor credit and apply it when you pay bills. It applies only to an open bill, so without one it waits unapplied. A cash refund has its own entry.
  5. ACFE: Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the NationsOf the 1,921 cases in the study, 22% involved billing schemes, with a median loss of $100,000. Theft of company assets occurred in 89% of cases.
  6. FBI IC3: 2024 Internet Crime ReportVictims reported $2,770,151,146 lost to business email compromise in 2024, across 21,442 complaints. The FBI tells businesses to check any change to payment details through a second channel.

No outside authority backs the four match tests, the six types of difference, or the signals that rank which suppliers to check first. The same is true of the three near-substitutes in the skill's background file and the six output sheets. They are the skill's own rules.

About this skill

This page explains vendor-statement-reconciliation, from the MosoFin finance skills library, MosoFin/mosofin-finance-skills on GitHub. Read the skill on GitHub → Want the worked examples? Learn it step by step →