Overview: Reconciling two sources of transactions — two linked ledger accounts, or a ledger against an external file — usually means manually cross-referencing figures until something doesn't match.
The Transaction Comparison tool checks two transaction sources side by side and surfaces any discrepancies automatically. It looks at the transaction lines on each side and identifies:
Transactions that match across both sources
Transactions that don't match or appear as a variance
Suggested adjustments to help reconcile any variance found
Depending on your firm's licensing, you'll get one of two experiences:
Standard comparison — available to every firm, no setup required.
AI-powered comparison — available to firms with an Active Data license. Uses AI matching to handle more complex scenarios, such as many-to-one matches or transactions that don't line up exactly on date or wording.
Both versions are run the same way, from the same entry points.
How to run a Transaction Comparison
Step 1 — Open the tool
You can launch a comparison from two places:
From Add Record: Open the binder, go to Add Record, and select Transaction Analysis under the Tools category.
From the Inter-entity Loan Matrix: If you're reconciling linked accounts in the Loan Matrix, click the cell showing the balance for the inter-entity loan you want to reconcile (either side of the link works). This opens the Link Loan Matrix Cell window. Select Generate Reconciliation to launch the comparison. Comparison A and Comparison B are pre-filled from the accounts already linked in that cell.
Step 2 — Select your sources
If you launched from Add Record, you'll see two panels — Comparison A and Comparison B — each asking you to select the transaction list to compare. For each side, choose either:
Source Account (from other binder) — a Source Account already set up in another binder, or
Active Ledger Account — an account from a connected Active Ledger file
If you launched from Add Record against a specific account in the Trial Balance, Comparison A is pre-filled with that account — you only need to select Comparison B.
If you launched from the Loan Matrix, this step is skipped — both sides are already filled in from the linked accounts.
Step 3 — Run the comparison
Once your sources are set, select Generate Reconciliation. This works the same way regardless of which entry point you used. A banner shows the analysis is in progress — you can close the window at any time; it will keep running in the background. When it's done, the banner turns green to show the reconciliation is complete.
Step 4 — Review the results
Results are inserted as a workpaper into the binder's Excel workbook.
If the workbook is already open, the new sheet is inserted automatically.
If it isn't open, the sheet will be inserted the next time you open the workbook.
The workpaper shows your two transaction sources side by side — Primary Ledger on the left, External Source on the right — with a Comparison Analysis column showing the Variance and a Confidence Score (High, Medium, or Low) for each matched or compared line.
Where transactions can be identified as belonging together (for example, several related transaction lines), they're grouped and shaded with alternating grey shading to show which lines belong to the same group.
At the bottom, a Reconciliation — Primary Ledger vs External Source summary shows the net balance from each side and the resulting variance. The total variance shown in the Comparison Analysis column should add up to this account-level variance.
Displayed Layout lets you switch the view:
All Transactions — shows every line from both sources, matched or not.
Needs Review — filters to only the lines with a variance, so you can focus on what's actually causing the out-of-balance position.
Use Update Display after switching layout. If the underlying source data has changed, use Reimport Analysis to re-run the comparison against the latest figures.
Needs Review display:
Things to keep in mind
Manual refresh applies. The comparison runs against the data as it stood when you last imported or refreshed your source. If the underlying data has changed since, refresh before running a new comparison.
Access depends on your license, not a setting. If your firm doesn't have an Active Data license, you'll automatically get the standard comparison — there's nothing to turn on or configure.