Bank reconciliation without bank feeds in NG and KE
How a Nigerian or Kenyan business keeps its bank reconciled in Achekam by importing statements, since there are no feeds for local banks yet.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria, Kenya
A bank feed sends each day's transactions into your accounting system without anyone touching a file. It is convenient, and many Nigerian and Kenyan owners assume every modern system has one for their bank. In Achekam, for now, it does not.
That does not make reconciliation harder to do well; it makes it a deliberate monthly task instead of a background process. This article explains how a business in Lagos, Abuja, Nairobi or Mombasa keeps its bank accounts reconciled from statement files, and the checks that protect it from importing the wrong figures.
No feed connections for Nigerian or Kenyan banks
There are currently no bank feed connections for Nigerian or Kenyan banks in Achekam. Whether you bank with a large commercial bank or a smaller lender, transactions reach your books by importing the statement your bank gives you.
Plan for that. Decide who downloads statements, how often, and from which accounts, and put it in someone's job description. A business with a busy collections account may import weekly; a quiet savings account can wait for month end. What matters is that every account is covered, every month.
Importing statements in the formats your bank gives
Achekam accepts bank statements as PDF, CSV, Excel, OFX, QIF, MT940 or CAMT.053. Most internet banking platforms in both countries offer at least one of these: a CSV or Excel download is usually the easiest to import cleanly, while a PDF is often what a relationship manager e-mails on request.
Scanned or unusual PDFs are a special case. Where a workspace has an AI model configured, it can read a scanned or unrecognised PDF, but every amount it extracts must appear on the page itself, and the import still has to pass the balance check described below. If your workspace has no model configured, ask your bank for a CSV or Excel version instead.
A few habits help:
- Download each statement for a whole calendar month where you can, so periods do not overlap.
- Keep the original file in your records alongside the import.
- Never edit a CSV before importing it "to tidy it up". If a line looks wrong, it is a question for the bank, not a correction for you.
The balance check on every import
Each import is checked so that the opening balance plus the movements on the statement equals the closing balance. If the figures do not add up, the check tells you so, and the statement should not be used until they do.
This is the check that matters most when files come from downloads and e-mails rather than a feed. It catches a statement with missing pages, a CSV that was cut short, a file for the wrong account, or a period that overlaps the last one. When the check fails, go back to the source: download the statement again, or ask the bank for a full copy, before trying a second time.
Matching lines and explaining the rest
Once a statement is in, Achekam suggests a match for each bank line, and a person accepts each match. Nothing is matched behind your back.
Lines that are not yet in the books at all, such as bank charges, interest, or a standing order nobody recorded, become suggested journals that a person approves before they post. In Nigeria, expect the electronic transfer stamp duty among them: a fixed ₦50 charged to the sender on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 or more, apart from salary payments and transfers between one owner's accounts at the same bank. Treat it as its own line rather than lumping it into bank charges, so you can see what it costs you each month.
A reconciliation completes only when the difference is nil, or when every leftover line has a written explanation. Unexplained differences do not get waved through.
Receipts still recorded against invoices
There is one gap to know about. Matching a customer's receipt on the bank statement to their invoice does not record the payment on the invoice. The receipt must also be recorded in receivables, against the invoice or spread across the customer's invoices.
If you skip that second step, the bank reconciles but the customer still looks unpaid, and credit control may chase them for money they have already sent. Make "recorded in receivables" part of the routine for every customer receipt you match. For Kenyan businesses taking mobile money, M-Pesa has its own matching rules, covered in reconciling M-Pesa payments.
Closing the month once the bank agrees
When every account is reconciled, close the month. In Achekam a month can be soft-closed, hard-closed and locked. A closed month refuses postings from every source, and reopening a hard close needs a second approver. Before closing, the screen checks that the ledger balances and that no posting suggestions, unposted bills or unmatched bank lines are left waiting.
One display limit applies to both countries: the ledger screens currently label every amount as rand, even in a naira or shilling workspace. Your reconciled balances are correct; only the currency label is wrong.
AccountingTools walks through the bank reconciliation process of comparing your cash records with the bank statement and adjusting the books, which is a useful refresher for anyone new to the task.
A month-end checklist
- Download a full-month statement for every account.
- Import each one and confirm it passes the balance check.
- Accept or reject each suggested match.
- Approve journals for charges, interest and stamp duty.
- Record matched customer receipts in receivables.
- Explain every leftover line in writing.
- Close the month.
South Africa's position is different again, as explained in bank feeds and statement imports in South Africa, and Nigeria's transfer charge is explained in stamp duty on electronic transfers. Pick a fixed day each month for the statement downloads and keep to it.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
