The New Reconcile feature is light and more in line with other QuickBooks Online features in terms of design and appearance. I'm not sure what the old one looked like, because I don't think I had ever reconciled a QBO account.
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The initial screen doesn't seem any different in what you must capture to begin the reconcile, the account, and the beginning and ending statement balance along with the statement (ending) date, as well as any service charges and/or interest earned (at least all this same information is required in a QB Desktop reconcile.) Then, just click the green Start Reconciling button.
By the way, in the event your statement beginning balance doesn’t agree with QuickBooks, you'll receiving an "alert" (yellow outlined) message like the one shown in the next illustration. This alert tells you to “Hold on! Your account isn’t ready to reconcile yet.”
You can click the “Let’s fix this discrepancy” link within the message to begin the process of troubleshooting the problem. Personally, I like the logic that's built into QuickBooks Online. This is one example of where that logic can really come in handy.
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Once you pass the initial screen and begin the actual transaction reconcile, rather than a side-by-side display of the debits and credits, the new display contains all of your transactions (on the All tab). By default the transactions appear in a date-by-date order.
Murph Note: "It makes sense to me that they would put all the transactions on an All tab."
Alternatively, you can select either the "Deposits" tab or the "Payments" tab to limit your view to either debits or credits.
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If the account you're reconciling is associated with Bank Feeds (electronic banking), there will be an additional column displayed to show you the date the transaction actually "cleared," i.e., was processed by, your bank.
You can further refine the transactions you want to reconcile by using filters. When you click the little funnel icon on the left above the date column of the list, a drop down appears giving you a range of filter options.
By default, the "statement ending date" is applied as a filter so that you're not seeing transactions dated in your register after that date. You can apply other date options as filters along with transaction type or payee.
A "Find" feature is also included within the Filters window. This allows you to look for specific transactions by such things as a specific amount (or less than or more than a specific amount), a reference number or even a memo.
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As you proceed through the reconciliation process, the difference continually is updated.
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Once you have finalized your reconciliation, and the “Difference” is Zero, QuickBooks will display a Success message (shown below).
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At that time, you can view the Reconciliation Report (shown below)
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You can always access your Reconciliation Reports from the Reconcile feature. By default, this window displays only reports within the last 365 days. So, if you need to see older reports, simply change the Report period drop-down to "All."
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By the way, this also is where you can find the option to "Undo" a specific reconciliation or reprint it (shown below)
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If you choose to Undo a previous reconciliation, QuickBooks will ask you to confirm, not once, but twice, as seen in the side-by-side illustrations below. Be aware, Intuit is making the undo feature available only to accountants using QuickBooks Online Accountant.
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As I mentioned earlier, if you need to troubleshoot a beginning balance before undertaking the current reconciliation, QuickBooks will warn you with a message (seen at the top of the next page).
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Clicking on the “Let’s fix this discrepancy” link takes you to the Reconciliation Discrepancy Report (shown below). QuickBooks logic has identified each transaction that's potentially impacting the balance and displays a message saying what happened to produce the irregularity.
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You can access the transaction simply by clicking on it within the Discrepancy Report. You may then make any needed changes or adjustments to resolve the irregularity.
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I will leave it up to you to determine if this new reconciliation feature is better than the prior edition or not (or even the QuickBooks Labs version). While some people will like the new design, others will say, "I wish I could have the old side-by-side view."
What I wish is that you could put your ending balance and the statement end date in the first window, and then "machine logic" would take over and determine the right combination of debits and credits that achieves a zero difference. Where is IBM's "Watson" when you need it?
Murph's Note: What do you want to bet that MY futuristic form of reconciliation is "right around 'the cloud?"
Thanks to Intuit's Brooke Henderer for her presentation of the new reconcile experience.