How do you automatically match payments to the invoices you issue and receive?
Quick answer (5 steps)
- Import the bank statement or connect your bank account directly.
- The system automatically suggests invoice-to-payment matches, based on amounts, dates and payment references.
- Confirm the correct matches and flag exceptions for manual review.
- Generate the full reconciliation report.
- Accounting entries are created automatically from each confirmed match.
What the law says (in brief)
- Monthly reconciliation is mandatory at every period close (Accounting Law 82/1991).
- Bank statements are primary accounting documents and must be archived for 10 years.
- Exchange-rate differences on foreign-currency payments are recorded separately, under OMFP 1802/2014.
- Unresolved discrepancies can lead to tax corrections and penalties during an ANAF audit.
Practical examples
- Matching a payment order to an IT services invoice — same amount, same day; 100% automatic match.
- Partial payment — a single payment partly covers one invoice or covers several invoices; the system proposes the allocation.
- EUR payment for a RON invoice — an exception appears for the exchange-rate difference; you record it manually as an exchange-rate difference.
- Bank fees — they appear on the statement as separate transactions; you flag them as banking expenses and do not match them to invoices.
Common mistakes
- Wrongly matching two payments with similar amounts by hand, but for different customers.
- Failing to record exchange-rate differences on foreign-currency payments.
- Leaving unmatched payments until the end of the quarter.
- Omitting bank fees from the reconciliation — this creates unexplained differences.
- Importing statements in the wrong format — check the accepted format (MT940, CSV, OFX).
How 4conta helps
- Automatic matching based on amounts, calendar dates and bank references.
- Fuzzy matching for payments whose reference differs slightly from the invoice number.
- Exceptions are flagged automatically and listed separately for review.
- The reconciliation report is generated instantly, ready for your accountant.
- Accounting entries are created straight from the reconciliation — no manual data entry.