Balance Corrections: Keeping Your Budget Accurate

Over time, your budget balance and actual bank balance may drift apart. Balance corrections bring them back in sync.

Why Balances Drift

Several factors cause your budget balance to differ from your bank:

• - Forgotten transactions — cash purchases, small charges
• - Pending transactions — authorized but not yet posted
• - Bank fees — monthly fees, ATM charges
• - Interest — savings account interest
• - Timing differences — transactions on different dates than expected

When to Reconcile

• - Weekly for active accounts — quick 2-minute check
• - After bank sync — compare synced balance to budget balance
• - End of month — ensure everything is accounted for
• - When something feels off — trust your instinct

How Balance Corrections Work

1. Check your actual bank balance (online banking or app)
2. Open the Balance Correction tool for that account
3. Enter the actual balance
4. BilzCal calculates the difference and creates an adjustment entry
5. Add a note explaining the discrepancy if you know the cause

Best Practices

• - Correct small amounts without investigation — under $10, just adjust
• - Investigate large discrepancies — over $50, find the missing transaction
• - Don't over-correct — if a pending charge explains the difference, wait for it to post
• - Use bank sync to minimize manual reconciliation — it does most of the work automatically