Bank reconciliation allows companies or individuals to compare their account records to the bank's records of their account balance in order to uncover any possible discrepancies. Discrepancies could include: cheques recorded as a lesser amount than what was presented to the bank; money received but not lodged; or payments taken from the bank account without the business's knowledge. A bank reconciliation done regularly can reduce the number of errors in an accounts system and make it easier to find missing purchases and sales invoices