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To reconcile in FreshBooks, go to Accounting, add the bank account with a start date and the statement’s opening balance, bring in the bank lines by connection or CSV, then match or mark each one until none are left. Compare the balance with the statement. The faster route is ZeraBooks AI bookkeeping, which reconciles each month on upload and proves it against the statement’s printed balances.
7-day trial · card required, nothing charged for 7 days · then $79/month billed annually or $149 monthly
BEFORE YOU START
FreshBooks’ help sets a few rules up front. Checked October 22, 2026:
Bank reconciliation is on trials and on the Plus, Premium and Select plans only.
Bank accounts and credit cards. Crypto, investment, loan and line of credit accounts aren’t supported; FreshBooks suggests your accountant records those as journal entries.
You can only reconcile in a single currency. Lines in another currency won’t show up for that account.
FreshBooks recommends starting on the first day of a recent statement and using its opening balance. A bank connection brings in up to 90 days of activity, so older months need a CSV.
We set you up and catch up your past months for free. Then ZeraBooks keeps your books done.
SET UP THE ACCOUNT
Pick one of two routes from Accounting › Add Bank Account. The manual route is the one to use when you work from statements.
Go to the Accounting section and select Add Bank Account.
Connect to Bank links your bank. Create an Account asks for the Bank Name, Account Name and Account Type (Bank Account or Credit Card). Those three can’t be changed later, and a manual account can’t be deleted, so type them carefully.
Use the first day of the statement you’re starting from. The date can’t be earlier than the first bank line you bring in.
For a bank account, the opening or balance-forward figure printed on that statement. For a card, the Previous Statement Balance. FreshBooks posts it against Opening Balance Adjustments in equity.
Manual accounts ask for a Currency, then Save. With a connection, select Let’s Go.
BRING IN THE STATEMENT
In Accounting, select Upload CSV next to the account, then Add Bank Transaction and Import from File under Unreconciled Bank Transactions. Map the columns, choose the Amount Format and Date Format, and select Import Transactions. The file has to follow these rules:
| Rule | What FreshBooks’ help says |
|---|---|
| Required columns | Date, plus Amount, or Amount Spent and Amount Earned |
| Optional columns | Description; Category (Operating Expense parent categories only) |
| 1 Column amounts | Positive is money in, negative is money out |
| 2 Column amounts | Positive numbers only in each column |
| Dates | One format throughout, with dashes or slashes, in date order |
| Size | 500 transactions maximum, 5 MB, 1000 rows; split bigger files |
| Common errors | Missing or misspelled headers, letters or symbols in amounts, empty cells, more than one sheet tab |
An import can take up to 15 minutes, and FreshBooks says to stay signed in while it runs. Lines dated before your start date can’t be matched until you move the start date back.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Willow & Pine Design is a fictional studio. It created a manual account starting 07/01/2026 with the July statement’s opening balance of 9,412.80, then uploaded July as a CSV. Here is each line and what to click:
| Date | Bank line | Amount | In FreshBooks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07/02/2026 | Larkspur Cafe payment | 2,400.00 | Match to the invoice payment |
| 07/07/2026 | Adobe subscription | -89.99 | Match the expense, or Create a New Entry › Expense |
| 07/10/2026 | Office rent | -1,650.00 | Match the rent expense |
| 07/15/2026 | Northgate Dental payment | 3,150.00 | Match to the invoice payment |
| 07/21/2026 | Transfer to owner | -1,500.00 | Mark As › Owner’s Equity |
| 07/24/2026 | Staples refund | 46.73 | Mark As › Expense Refund, office supplies |
| 07/31/2026 | Service charge | -15.00 | Create a New Entry › Expense, bank fees |
| Opening 9,412.80 + July lines | 11,754.54 | Statement closing balance |
The proof: money in 2,400.00 + 3,150.00 + 46.73 = 5,596.73, money out 89.99 + 1,650.00 + 1,500.00 + 15.00 = 3,254.99, and 9,412.80 + 5,596.73 − 3,254.99 = 11,754.54. When # left to match reaches zero, the Bank Account Balance and the FreshBooks Balance should both read 11,754.54, the closing balance printed on the July statement. The help articles we read don’t describe a field for the statement’s ending balance, so make that comparison yourself.
WHEN THE BALANCES DIFFER
FreshBooks’ help points to a few causes. Check them in this order:
Unmatched money-in lines don’t reach your reports until you match or mark them. Open the account and clear # left to match.
Manual journal entries change the FreshBooks Balance but never appear in the FreshBooks Entries list, so they can’t be matched. Move the entry or ask your accountant to reverse it.
If the start figure was off, every month after is off by the same amount. Use More Actions › Reset Opening Balance.
Open the Matched tab, tick the line and select Unmatch Transactions, then match it again.
If you typed or converted the CSV, check that its lines add up to the statement’s closing balance before blaming FreshBooks. A missing line shows up as a difference equal to its amount. The general method is in how to do a bank reconciliation.
THE REPORT
Go to Reports, then Bank Reconciliation Summary under Accounting Reports.
Unmatched FreshBooks Entries first (payments, other income and expenses with no bank line), then Unmatched Bank Transactions for each account.
Under Settings, Filters sets the Date Range (Today, End of Last Month or Custom) and the Bank Account.
More Actions › Export for Excel downloads a CSV, Print or Save PDF makes a PDF, and Send To emails it.
Run it for End of Last Month after each close. An empty report next to the statement’s closing balance is the record that July tied. Your accountant may want it with the month-end close checklist.
WITH ZERABOOKS
ZeraBooks doesn’t connect to or sync with FreshBooks.
A PDF STATEMENT, AS CSV
ZeraBooks Convert reads a statement PDF, checks it against the printed opening and closing balances, and downloads the Standard format: Date, Description and Amount, with money out as a minus. That matches FreshBooks’ 1 Column layout. Convert writes dates as MM/DD/YYYY, so pick that Date Format when you import, and split files over 500 lines.
Choose a download format
OR LEAVE THE MATCHING TO AI
In the ZeraBooks ledger you upload the statement and it checks three things: the statement adds up, it follows last month’s, and the ledger agrees with the closing balance. Months that tie get a check; months that don’t show the difference. Moving from FreshBooks starts from your closing reports; see the general ledger software page.
Export closing reports
The FreshBooks help articles on reconciliation describe CSV imports and bank connections, not PDF uploads. Convert the PDF to a CSV with Date and Amount columns first.
FreshBooks says trials and the Plus, Premium and Select plans. Other plans need an upgrade.
A bank connection pulls up to 90 days, and the start date can’t be earlier than your first imported line. For older months, create a manual account and upload each statement as a CSV. Xero fills missing history the same way, with imported statements; see the Xero bank reconciliation guide.
No. FreshBooks says a manual account can’t be deleted once it is created, and its bank name, account name and type can’t be changed.
Add it with Account Type Credit Card and use the Previous Statement Balance as the opening balance. FreshBooks shows card balances as negative because a card is a liability.
No. ZeraBooks makes CSV files and keeps its own ledger. The subscription is $79 a month billed annually after a 7-day trial and includes Convert; see ZeraBooks pricing.
FREE SETUP + CATCH-UP
Upload last month’s statement to ZeraBooks and see whether it ties. 7-day trial, then $79 a month billed annually. Or hand reconciliations to our bookkeeping services team.