To provide a seamless real-time experience, Puzzle automatically generates placeholder transactions for presumed missing data.
This allows the correct balance to be automatically reflected on the balance sheet but it can cause missing transactions to go unnoticed as they won't show up as a balance discrepancy since the placeholder transaction will make up the the difference.
To ensure accounts are accurately reconciled, it is necessary to review the transactions listed in the reconciliation tab.
Puzzle generates placeholder transactions in the following circumstances.
1) Autobalance (”Set Balance”)entries for investment and treasury accounts.
For instructions on reconciling investment accounts, see:
For investment and treasury accounts, banks often provide daily balances but not transaction details. Puzzle will book placeholder entries (labeled “Set Balance”) to unrealized gain/loss to keep the Puzzle balances in sync with the real world account balances. When you enter in the transaction details, either manually or via csv, the temporary transactions will automatically disappear. (Caveat: The dates of the uploaded transactions have to align with the balances; otherwise, there will be extraneous Set Balance events even after upload.)
2) Credit Card Offset Transactions
Some credit cards do not provide transactions when a payment is made. For credit card providers we have identified as doing this consistently Puzzle will automatically create a transaction in your credit card to match to the cash payment.
If you credit card does not provide a transaction when it is paid, you can create an offsetting transaction from the cash payment. (automatic, or manual if automatic doesn’t catch it)
3) Opening balance calculation posted to ledger
If you began your Puzzle account after financial history already existed in your company, you need to either import all the historic transactions or set an opening balance. As a temporary measure in order to make your books balance Puzzle will book a placeholder transaction to retained earnings for any amount in an account. You can adjust your opening balances by going to bank reconciliations page.