For property managers and their accountants
Buildium Bank Reconciliation Software
Buildium matches the easy lines. The ones left over are a rent batch that covers 23 tenants, a returned payment nobody recorded and an owner draw entered twice. Upload the statement and a Buildium export and see exactly what to clear in every bank account.
No bank link needed. PDF statements work. No Buildium login for your reviewer.
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Reconcile a Buildium account
The short answer
Buildium reconciles a bank account under Accounting, Banking, Reconciliations, and a linked bank lets it match exact amounts for you. What it leaves open are batch deposits that cover several tenant receipts, banks it cannot link to, PDF statements and old months. Matching the statement against a Buildium export first tells you which receipts make up each deposit, which fees to record and which checks are still outstanding.
Where a property manager's Buildium reconciliation stops tying out
One building with one operating account reconciles itself. A portfolio with an operating account and a security deposit account per owner does not, and the same four patterns show up every month.
Rent batches
One credit, 23 tenants
Online rent and deposited checks reach the bank as a lump. Buildium holds each tenant receipt separately, so no single receipt equals the bank line and exact matching skips it.
Returned items
NSF rent nobody reversed
A bounced tenant payment, its bank fee and a monthly service charge sit on the statement and nowhere in the books until someone records them.
Owner money
Draws and transfers
Owner distributions, management fee sweeps and transfers between trust and operating accounts get keyed twice or dated in the wrong month, on both accounts at once.
Unlinked banks
The PDF only account
An owner's local bank, a closed account or a new client's last six months. No link, no download, so every line is checked off by eye.
Manual reconciliation, Buildium automatic matching and a statement match compared
| Task | Manual in Buildium | Buildium automatic matching | BankReconciler first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statement source | Paper or PDF statement read by eye | Transactions downloaded from a linked bank | PDF, scanned PDF, CSV, XLSX, OFX, QFX, QBO, MT940, CAMT.053 |
| One deposit, many tenants | Add up receipts until a total fits | Left for you when no single record matches | Finds the exact set of up to six nearby receipts |
| Fees and returned rent | Spotted while reading the statement | Offered as a new transaction to create | Listed as a CSV with date, description and amount |
| Old months and new clients | One statement at a time | Only the period since the bank was linked | Run month by month from saved statements |
| Posts to Buildium | Yes, directly | Yes, directly | No, you clear and record in Buildium from the list |
| Cost | Included, plus staff hours | Included in your Buildium plan | From $49 a month, see pricing |
Buildium wins where it should. The matching is already paid for, it clears items where the records live, and Buildium's bank reconciliation rules handle repeat lines. If your linked accounts finish in a few minutes a month, keep it that way. A separate match pays for itself on the accounts that do not: the security deposit account at an owner's bank that only issues PDFs, the operating account where rent lands in batches, or the year of history you inherit when you take over a portfolio from another manager. For that last case see catch up bank reconciliation.
How to reconcile a Buildium bank account in four steps
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Export the bank account
Run the general ledger or bank transaction report for one bank account and the statement month and export it to Excel. Keep date, reference, payee or tenant and amount, and include items still uncleared from earlier months so old checks can match.
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Get the statement
Download the month as PDF or in any format the bank offers. Scanned PDFs are read too. The full list is on supported formats.
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Six passes run
Exact amount and date, then check number, then amount inside a date window, then grouped matches where several tenant receipts add up to one bank credit to the cent, then duplicates and near matches such as transposed digits. Nothing to configure.
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Finish in Buildium
Record the missing fees and the reversed NSF payment, void the duplicate, then open Accounting, Banking, the account and Reconciliations. Clear the matched items from the list, leave the outstanding ones open, and finish when the difference is zero. Print Buildium's report for the owner file.
Maple Court, operating
Statement vs Buildium
| Date | Buildium records | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/03 | Rent batch, 23 tenant receiptsOne bank credit | 34,615.00 | Grouped |
| 10/06 | Landscaping vendor, check 4418Check number on both sides | -1,240.00 | Matched |
| 10/09 | Returned rent and NSF feeOn the statement, not in Buildium | -1,560.00 | Adjust |
| 10/15 | Owner draw, unit 2B ownerEntered twice | -6,800.00 | Duplicate |
| 10/30 | Plumbing repair, check 4431Not cleared yet | -685.40 | Outstanding |
What you get back for each Buildium bank account
Matched list
Every pair, with the reason
Each bank line shows the Buildium record it paired with and which pass made the match, so clearing turns into working down a list instead of holding two documents side by side.
Grouped deposits
The tenants behind a batch
Combinations of up to six receipts from the 14 nearest by date are tested for an exact sum, the same engine used for matching bank deposits to invoices. Larger batches are flagged with the receipts that fit the date.
Missing entries
Fees and returns to record
Bank only lines such as service charges, NSF returns, interest on deposit accounts and sweep transfers come out as a CSV with date, description and amount.
Duplicates
The draw entered twice
Equal amounts within seven days are flagged, which catches owner distributions and vendor bills that went in once from the bill and once from the check.
Outstanding items
Checks that have not cleared
Records with no bank line are listed as outstanding and carried into next month's run, so they agree with what you leave open in Buildium.
Owner and audit file
A report per account per month
A PDF and XLSX bank reconciliation report with preparer and reviewer sign off, kept next to Buildium's own report for owners, associations and a state trust account audit.
Who uses it alongside Buildium
Landlords and small portfolios
An operating account, a security deposit account and maybe a reserve. Starter covers one company and three accounts for $49 a month, less than the hour a bad month takes.
Third-party property managers
Trust and operating accounts across several owners or associations. Business covers five companies and 15 accounts for $149. Still choosing a platform? Read the best bank reconciliation software for property management.
Bookkeepers and CPA firms
Reconciling a manager's accounts from files without a Buildium seat, or cleaning up a portfolio before a transfer. The Firm plan covers 25 companies and 75 accounts for $399 a month. See bank reconciliation for accountants.
Trust account reconciliation with Buildium
Many state real estate regulators expect a monthly three-way reconciliation of client trust accounts: the bank statement, the trust account in your books and the total of the individual owner and tenant ledgers must all agree. Buildium supplies the ledger totals and its trust reconciliation package. The weak point in most audits is the first leg, because a single unexplained bank difference makes the other two meaningless.
That is the leg BankReconciler proves. Every bank line is paired with a book entry or listed with a reason, and the signed report shows who prepared and reviewed it. Then the three-way check is a comparison of three totals rather than a hunt. Security deposit accounts with interest, which many states require to be tracked per tenant, show the interest lines separately so they can be allocated.
Buildium bank reconciliation questions
How do I reconcile a bank account in Buildium?
Go to Accounting, then Banking, select the bank account and open Reconciliations. Start a reconciliation for the statement date and ending balance, check off each transaction that appears on the statement, record any bank fees or interest that are missing, and finish when the difference is zero. Buildium then produces a bank reconciliation report you can print.
Does Buildium do automatic bank reconciliation?
Yes. When you link the bank account under Reconciliations, Buildium downloads bank transactions and matches them to what is already entered. Exact matches can be cleared for you, you choose when several records fit, and you create a transaction when nothing matches. It only covers banks it can connect to and the period since the link.
Why won't my Buildium bank reconciliation balance?
Most often one bank deposit covers several tenant payments that Buildium holds as separate receipts, a bank fee or returned payment was never recorded, a check was entered twice, or an item was cleared in the wrong month. Matching the statement line by line against a Buildium export shows each one by amount.
Can Buildium reconcile from a PDF bank statement?
Buildium's automatic matching works from a linked bank connection. With a PDF statement you read the statement and check items off by hand. BankReconciler reads the PDF, including scanned ones, matches it to your Buildium export and tells you exactly which items to clear.
Does BankReconciler do a three-way trust reconciliation?
It does the bank leg: the bank statement against the trust account in your books, with every difference explained. The third leg, the total of owner and tenant ledgers, still comes from Buildium's own reports. Having the bank side proven first makes the three-way check fast.
How much does it cost?
Starter is $49 a month or $288 a year for one company, three bank accounts and 1,500 transactions a month. Business is $149 a month for five companies and 15 accounts, and Firm is $399 a month for 25 companies and 75 accounts. You can run one real month before you pay.
Know what to clear before the owner statements go out
Upload last month's statement and the Buildium export for one account. See every match, every missing fee and every duplicate.