Why your A/P aging doesn't match the vendor statement (8 common reasons)

Your vendor says you owe 3,065.35. QuickBooks Online says 2,454.60. Neither is necessarily wrong: the difference is almost always made of the eight things below. Knowing which one you're looking at tells you what to do next - enter a bill, chase a payment, or do nothing at all.

The figures in this article come from a made-up example vendor, Northwind Brake Supply.

1. Bills you haven't entered yet

The vendor invoiced on the 29th, but your aging report was run on the 26th, or the bill is still sitting in someone's inbox. This is timing, not an error.

• How to spot it: the invoice is dated after the last bill in your A/P aging report.
• What to do: enter it as usual. Running the aging as of the statement date removes most of these.

2. Bills you never received

The invoice is on the statement, dated well within the period your report covers, and it's nowhere in QuickBooks - not in your open bills and not in your full history either.

• How to spot it: search for the invoice number in the Transaction List by Vendor (all dates). Nothing found.
• What to do: ask the vendor for a copy before you enter it, and check that it's really yours (see reason 8).

3. Payments the vendor hasn't applied

You paid the invoice, but the vendor still shows it as open: the payment is in transit, was applied to a different invoice, or is sitting as unapplied cash on their side.

• How to spot it: the invoice is in your Transaction List by Vendor but not in your A/P Aging Detail - it's closed in your books.
• What to do: send the vendor your remittance details: date, amount, check or ACH number, and the invoices it paid. See Invoice paid but still on the vendor statement?

4. Credits on one side only

The vendor issued a credit memo you never recorded, or you took a credit the vendor doesn't show yet.

• How to spot it: a negative line on one side with no partner on the other.
• What to do: record the vendor credit in QuickBooks Online, or send the vendor the details of the credit you took.

5. Price, freight and tax differences

Same invoice number, different amount. A price change, freight added after the order, sales tax, a discount taken, or a short payment.

• How to spot it: the invoice is on both sides but the amounts differ - in the example, 1,045.00 on the statement and 1,054.00 in the books.
• What to do: compare the vendor's invoice with your bill and agree the difference with the vendor.

6. The same invoice written differently, or mistyped

INV-0051200490 on the statement, 51200490 in your books. Leading zeros, a dash, a prefix, one digit swapped. These aren't real differences, but in a spreadsheet each one shows up twice: once as "missing from your books" and once as "not on the statement".

• How to spot it: two unmatched lines, one on each side, with the same amount and similar numbers.
• What to do: treat them as one invoice. If the number in your books is wrong, correct it so next month's statement matches.

7. Duplicates

A bill entered twice in QuickBooks (same number, same amount), or the vendor billing the same purchase order twice.

• How to spot it: the same invoice number twice in your aging, or two invoices with the same PO and amount on the statement.
• What to do: delete or void the duplicate bill before the next payment run, and ask the vendor about double billing.

8. Lines that belong to another company

One vendor account, several of your companies or locations - and a statement that mixes them all.

• How to spot it: the PO numbers start with another company's initials and never match anything in this company's books.
• What to do: reconcile those lines against the other company's A/P Aging Detail.

Bonus: open balance versus original amount

A partly paid invoice shows its remaining open amount on the statement, while your aging's Amount column shows the original. Compare against the Open balance column instead.

Putting it together

Once every unmatched line is in one of these groups, the statement balance plus or minus each group should land exactly on your books balance, with 0.00 unexplained. If it doesn't, a line is still unmatched.

Wefinly sorts every line into these groups for you - including invoice numbers written differently, typos, payments under other numbers, already-paid invoices (with the Transaction List by Vendor), duplicates, and several companies on one statement. It's free while in beta, and your files never leave your browser.