FAQ

Capabilities & functionality

Q: What does the Reconciliation Manager do?

A: The Reconciliation Manager is a Digital Worker that matches, substantiates and certifies balance sheet accounts, producing audit evidence as it works. At launch, it covers general ledger control and clearing accounts, matched by rule, and bank accounts, matched against statements arriving by email. Clean matches clear automatically; anything that doesn’t is scored and sent to a person with the reasoning shown.

Q: Does the Reconciliation Manager reconcile supplier statements or intercompany transactions?

A: Not yet. Supplier Statement Reconciliation, Intercompany Reconciliation and Operational Account Reconciliation are on the roadmap as fast-follow skills. The current release covers General Ledger Account Reconciliation and Bank Statement Reconciliation.

Q: What accounts is the Reconciliation Manager built for?

A: It is built for the balance sheet accounts that are hardest to prove: accruals, provisions, suspense and clearing accounts, and contract balances, which have no subledger behind them. Accounts payable and receivable already tie out through their own subledger and are not the primary target.

Q: How does the Reconciliation Manager handle a bank statement?

A: A finance user can email the statement to the worker’s mailbox with a one-line instruction, one account, one period, no form or configuration required. The Reconciliation Manager loads the statement into IFS Cloud, parses the bank’s specific format, and runs automatic matching against the cash transactions on that account.

Q: What happens to transactions that don’t match automatically?

A: They are scored rather than guessed at, and the reason for the score travels with the item, whether that’s a timing difference, a fee, or something needing closer review. Every scored item is routed to a person along with the reasoning behind it.

Control & Collaboration

Q: Does the Reconciliation Manager post anything to IFS Cloud on its own?

A: No. Match records are held in the platform, and nothing is written back to IFS Cloud until a person approves it. The Reconciliation Manager proposes; the finance user decides.

Q: What does a finance user see when reviewing a proposed match?

A: The evidence behind the match, not just a score to accept. For a general ledger group, that means the transfer identifier, amount, voucher number, voucher date, currency and transaction code. For a bank statement line, it means the reason the worker scored the match the way it did.

Q: How is segregation of duties enforced?

A: Certification records sign-off with the preparer and the approver kept apart, so the same person cannot both prepare a reconciliation and approve it.

Q: What happens once a match is approved?

A: The Reconciliation Manager writes the match record and moves on to substantiating the balance, proving it against its supporting evidence rather than only confirming the total ties.

Integration & Technology

Q: What systems does the Reconciliation Manager integrate with?

A: It integrates with IFS Cloud as the ledger of record, reading ledger transactions and open balances and writing back only on approval. It receives bank statements through email, and uses Microsoft Teams for review and exception handling. Match proposals, scores, and the audit evidence trail are held in the platform.

Q: How does the Reconciliation Manager receive bank statements?

A: They’re sent by email to the worker’s mailbox, as an attachment with a plain-language instruction. No separate upload step or configuration is required.

Q: Does the Reconciliation Manager create the reconciliation record automatically?

A: Once a statement is fully matched, yes, a reconciliation is created with its own identifier, and a direct link is handed back to the finance user rather than leaving them to locate the record themselves.

Security & Reliability

Q: How does matching stay consistent and explainable?

A: Matching is deterministic. Rules decide what matches, so the same inputs always give the same result, and every match can be explained the same way each time rather than depending on who reviewed it.

Q: Can the Reconciliation Manager write an incorrect match to IFS Cloud?

A: Nothing reaches IFS Cloud without a person’s approval first. The worker prepares the match and the evidence behind it; a person reviews and approves before anything is written.

Q: How is the audit trail maintained?

A: Evidence is captured at the point the work happens, not assembled afterward. Every match, score, and approval carries its reasoning, so the audit pack already exists by the time it’s needed rather than being rebuilt from files and email threads under deadline.

Customization & Performance

Q: Does a finance user need to configure matching rules before using the Reconciliation Manager?

A: No. For a bank statement, a plain-language instruction naming the account and period is enough to begin. There is no form to fill in and no rules to configure up front.

Q: How fast is bank statement reconciliation?

A: In a fully matched scenario, the Reconciliation Manager reports back in under a minute: the statement loaded without errors, every bank transaction matched, and the reconciliation created with a direct link.

Q: What are the two skills available today?

A: General Ledger Account Reconciliation, which matches ledger transactions on control and clearing accounts by rule and evidences every group, and Bank Statement Reconciliation, which parses incoming bank statements and matches them against cash book transactions. Both are supported by a shared substantiation and evidence capability that proves each balance against its supporting record.