Monthly Reconciliation Standard Operating Procedure for Accounting in Retail Compliance

Scope

Included

This SOP applies to Retail teams carrying out Monthly Reconciliation within the Accounting process area and Compliance department. It covers preparation, required inputs, execution, control checks, evidence, exceptions, approval or review where required, communication and closure.

The procedure should be adapted to the organisation's own systems, job titles, approval limits and record locations before operational use. Tasks outside the stated process, specialist decisions or circumstances requiring a different controlled procedure should be referred to the appropriate owner rather than forced through this workflow.

Outside this SOP

This SOP does not replace organisation-specific approval limits, specialist professional judgement, local legal requirements or site-specific controls.

Responsible roles

Primary owner: compliance officer. Supporting role: finance approver. The primary owner coordinates and completes the operational record, the supporting role provides subject-specific input where required, and any designated reviewer or approver confirms that the control result and evidence are sufficient before closure.

Required information and systems

Primary working system or record location: the finance system, approval register, and document storage area. Required working information: account statement, transaction report, previous reconciliation, unmatched items, owner and review date. Evidence retained at completion: reconciliation file, source reports, variance notes, reviewer sign-off, corrective actions and follow-up schedule. Use the current approved forms, system records and controlled documents used by the organisation for this procedure.

Procedure overview

Monthly Reconciliation starts when the relevant request, event or scheduled activity is ready to be processed. The compliance officer first verifies the required inputs and scope, then completes the three core actions defined for this procedure: prepare the reconciliation file and confirm opening balances, date range and source reports. match transactions, investigate differences and document unresolved items with owners and target dates. submit the completed reconciliation for review and retain evidence of sign-off.

Before closure, the record must pass the principal control check: confirm all differences are explained, aged items are owned and reviewer sign-off is recorded. Failed checks or unresolved exceptions remain open with a named owner. The procedure is complete only when the result, evidence, approvals where applicable, communications and follow-up actions accurately describe the final operational position.

How this SOP helps

This document gives the responsible team a consistent way to complete Monthly Reconciliation, verify the result and retain evidence that the required process was followed.

Before using this procedure

Confirm that role names, systems, approval routes, record locations and escalation contacts match the organisation using this SOP. Adapt any local legal, contractual, privacy, safety or regulatory requirement before operational use.