Matching

Matching is how RefinePoint decides that a line on the bank statement and a line in the cash book are the same payment. It is set up in step 4 of the designer as a list of matching passes.

Passes, in order

A pass is one way of pairing records. Passes are tried in order, strictest first, and each pass only looks at the records that earlier passes left unmatched. A typical bank reconciliation:

1. Reference and amount: same cheque or UTR number and same amount. Most records match here, with certainty.
2. Amount and date: no usable reference, but the same amount within a couple of days.
3. One deposit for several receipts: a single bank credit equals several cash book entries added together.
4. Amount within a week: a last, looser try.

Put the most reliable pass first. If a loose pass came first, it could pair records that a strict pass would have paired correctly. Use the arrows to reorder passes.

A pass’s settings

Setting	Meaning
Name	Shown in results, so people know why two records were matched.
Side and With	Which two sides this pass pairs. With three or four sides, add a pass for each pair that should be connected, for example Orders with Gateway, then Gateway with Bank.
How many to how many	One to one: one record on each side. One to several: one record matches a group on the other side whose total agrees (one bank credit for several receipts). Several to one: the reverse. Several to several (totals): groups on both sides whose totals agree.
Most records on the “several” side	For one-to-several matching: how many records may make up the group, from 2 to 12. Each record is matched with the smallest set whose total agrees.

Keys: what must agree

Keys are the fields that must agree for two records to be paired: usually a reference. For each key, choose how values are compared:

Comparison	Treats as equal	Example
Exactly equal	Only identical values	INV-0042 = INV-0042
Equal, ignoring case	Upper and lower case alike	inv-0042 = INV-0042
Equal, ignoring spaces and punctuation	Letters and digits only	INV / 0042 = INV0042
Same document number	The same number however it is written	INV/0042 = inv-42
Same GSTIN	The same tax ID	—
Same date	The same day, whatever the time	—
One contains the other	One value inside the other	UTR123 in NEFT/UTR123/SHARMA
One starts with the other	—	—
Similar text (percent)	Text alike to at least a percentage	Tata Steel Ltd ≈ TATA STEEL
Similar names (Jaro-Winkler)	Names alike, tolerant of spelling	Patel & Sons ≈ Patel and Sons
At most N typing differences	Up to N letters different	Sharma ≈ Shamra with 2
Sounds alike	Names that sound the same	Reddy ≈ Reddi
Numbers within a percent	Numbers close in relative terms	—

A pass with no key pairs records on amount and date only. That is useful for entries without references, but choose its tolerances carefully.

Amount

• Tolerance (amount) and Tolerance (%): how far apart amounts may be and still match, for example ₹1 for rounding, or 2% for gateway fees.
• Signs: Same sign on both (money in on both sides), Opposite signs (a receivable against a payable), or Ignore the sign.
• If amounts differ by more than the tolerance: Do not match, or Match as partly matched — pair them anyway and show the difference, so someone looks at it.

Dates

At most, days apart: how far the dates may be apart. A cheque deposited on the 30th may clear on the 2nd.

Compare

Fields listed under Compare do not stop records from matching, but a difference makes the match partly matched. For example, match on reference and amount, and compare the party name: a different name shows up for review without breaking the match.

Matched, partly matched, unmatched

After a run, every record ends up as one of:

Result	Meaning
Matched	Paired, and everything compared agrees.
Partly matched	Paired, but something differs: the amount (when allowed), the date, or a compared field. Someone should look.
Unmatched	No pass found a partner. It is on one side only.
Duplicate	The same record appears more than once on a side.

Partly matched, unmatched and duplicate records are breaks: see Breaks. Breaks with a known explanation can be cleared automatically with reason codes.

Getting the passes right

Run the reconciliation on a month you have already reconciled by hand and compare. If too many records are unmatched, add a looser pass at the end or widen a tolerance. If records are paired wrongly, make the earlier passes stricter. The canvas Test run lets you try changes without saving.