The Plan and Accounts tabs are where you see if the record keeper and the census agree. The Plan tab compares the two by money type for the whole plan. The Accounts tab makes the same comparison for each participant. Use the Plan tab to spot what is off, then use the Accounts tab to find who.
[Image to add] đŹ GIF: On the Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan Plan tab, click a red amount in the Reconciliation column. The Accounts tab opens filtered to that money type. Expand one participant to show their money type rows. About 10 seconds.
What these tabs show
A reconciliation compares two sets of numbers for one plan year:
Record keeper figures. What the record keeper's report says came into the plan. These come from your asset schedules.
Payroll and census figures. What the client's census in CX says for the same money. This is your baseline.
When the two agree, the plan reconciles. When they don't, the tabs show you where and by how much.
Key capabilities
See the whole plan at a glance. The Plan tab groups every money type into employee and employer money, with subtotals.
Find the people behind a gap. Click any amount in the Reconciliation column to jump to the participants for that money type.
Check one participant. Search the Accounts tab by name or the last four digits of an SSN, then expand the person to see each money type.
Know when you're done. A green banner tells you when the plan fully reconciles.
How it fits into CX
The tabs fill in after you add an asset schedule and confirm its participant matches. The census side comes from the client's census in CX. When the numbers are right, you confirm and lock the plan year. The locked figures are what the Form 5500 can use.
A quick look
The summary cards
Three cards sit above every tab in the workspace: Total Assets, Total Contributions, and Total Withdrawals / Expenses. They add up every confirmed schedule. Total Contributions always shows the record keeper's Schedule figure, on cash and on accrual, so the card does not change when you switch methods.
Important: If any schedule's participant matches are not confirmed, the cards and both tables show dashes. A note above the Plan table says "Totals are held until each schedule's participant matches are confirmed" with the number still unconfirmed. Click Go to Schedules in that note, or click a card amount, to finish the matches. See Matching Participants to Your Census.
The Plan tab
The Plan tab is titled Plan Reconciliation. It shows one row per money type, such as Pre-Tax Deferrals, Roth 401(k), Match, Safe Harbor Match, Safe Harbor Nonelective, QACA Match, and Employer Nonelective.
Rows are grouped into two sections:
Employee Money Sources, with an EE Total row.
Employer Money Sources, with an ER Total row.
Click a section name to collapse or expand it. Click a column name to sort by that column.
The columns depend on the accounting method you choose for the reconciliation.
Column | Cash | Accrual | What it shows |
Money Type | Yes | Yes | The type of contribution. |
Schedule | Yes | Yes | The amount the record keeper's schedule shows for the plan year. |
Prior Yr Accrual | No | Yes | Money the record keeper counted this year that belongs to last year. It is subtracted. |
Current Yr Accrual | No | Yes | Money earned this year that the record keeper had not received yet. It is added. |
Adjusted | No | Yes | Schedule minus prior year accrual plus current year accrual. CX calculates it. You can't edit it. |
Payroll / Census | Yes | Yes | What the client's census in CX says for this money type. |
Reconciliation | Yes | Yes | The result of the comparison. See "How to read the Reconciliation column" below. |
On cash, CX compares Schedule to Payroll / Census. On accrual, CX compares Adjusted to Payroll / Census. To learn more, see Cash vs Accrual and Accrual Rules.
Tip: Click the small icon next to the Payroll / Census column name to open the plan year's census in a new tab.
Note: The workspace has four tabs: Schedules, Plan, Accounts, and Trust Report. There is no separate Balance Sheet tab. See Trust Report, Balance Sheet, and Exporting a Reconciliation.
đ¸ SCREENSHOT: Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan Plan tab on Accrual, both groups expanded, showing Schedule, Prior Yr Accrual, Current Yr Accrual, Adjusted, Payroll / Census, and Reconciliation columns. Red-circle one amount in the Reconciliation column.
The Accounts tab
The Accounts tab is titled Account Reconciliation. It lists one row per participant. Each row shows the person's name and the last four digits of their SSN, plus their overall result. If the record keeper spells the name differently than the census, the census spelling shows on a second line.
Click a participant's name. The row expands to show one line per money type and a Total line.
Read each line across the columns: Money Type, Schedule, Payroll / Census, and Reconciliation.
To fix this person's census, click Go to census on their Total line. The person's census record opens in a new tab. People who are only in the record keeper file have no census record, so they have no link.
Click the name again to collapse it.
The tab shows 100 participants at a time. To see more, click Load 100 more at the bottom.
[Image to add] đ¸ SCREENSHOT: Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan Accounts tab with one participant expanded to show money type lines and the Total line.
How to read the Reconciliation column
What you see | What it means |
Reconcile (green) | The two sides match exactly. Nothing to do. |
An amount (green) | The two sides are off by this amount, but it is within your firm's lock tolerance, so the money type counts as reconciled. Hover over it to see "Out by {amount}, within your firm's lock tolerance". |
An amount (red) | The two sides do not match. The amount is the size of the gap. It has no plus or minus sign, so compare the record keeper and Payroll / Census columns to see which side is higher. |
Difference (red) | Shown on an EE Total or ER Total row, or a participant's Total line, when the money types inside it are off but the gaps cancel out to $0.00. Expand or check the rows above it. |
Can't compare | One side reported nothing for this money type, so there is nothing to compare. Hover over it to see this explained. |
A dash | Nothing to compare. Neither side reported anything for this money type, or the plan has no census for the year. |
Your firm's lock tolerance is set by a firm admin. See Admin Settings for Reconciliation.
Other things to know:
Missing in red in the Payroll / Census column means the census has nothing for a money type where the record keeper reported money. Check the client's census for that money type.
On the Plan tab, a dash means nothing was reported. $0.00 means a zero was reported. They are not the same.
A small yellow dot next to an amount in the Schedule or accrual columns means the figure was changed by hand. Hover over the amount to see what the record keeper first reported, the reason for the change, who made it, and when.
On the Accounts tab, when one side is blank, the Reconciliation column shows the amount the other side reported.
Note: Census figures are read only on these tabs. To fix a census figure, use Go to census on the participant's Total line, or the icon next to Payroll / Census on the Plan tab, and edit it in the census.
Banners and notes
These messages can appear above the Plan table:
"Plan fully reconciles, no differences found" (green): every money type that can be compared matches exactly.
"Plan reconciles within your firm's lock tolerance" (green): every money type is either an exact match or off by no more than your firm's tolerance.
"Totals are held until each schedule's participant matches are confirmed": at least one schedule still needs its matches confirmed. Click Go to Schedules.
"{n} money type(s) have accrual amounts that cash basis excludes. Switch to accrual to see them": you're on cash, but some money types have accrual amounts. They are not counted on cash.
Accrual notes: on accrual, a note explains any blank Prior Yr Accrual or Current Yr Accrual cells. See Cash vs Accrual and Accrual Rules.
No parsed contribution activity yet: the file has not finished processing. Click Go to Schedules to check on it.
This message can appear above the Accounts table:
Superseded figures: "A schedule-level override replaces the figures for {n} participant(s)." It means someone changed a schedule's total by hand. Those participants' amounts are what the override replaced, so they won't add up to the plan totals.
Compared at total contributions
Sometimes a source reports one contribution total instead of a figure for each money type. When that happens, you'll see a Compared at total contributions label at the top of the Plan table, with a short note. The money type rows show only what the source could classify. The comparison is made once, in the Total Contributions section at the bottom of the table.
Jump from what is off to who
On the Plan tab, find a money type with a red amount in the Reconciliation column.
Click the amount. The Accounts tab opens. A filter chip at the top shows only participants with that money type. The chip shows a short code for the money type, such as "ee:pre".
Expand participants to find the ones that don't match.
To remove the filter, click the x on the chip.
Filter the Accounts tab
Click in Filter participants⌠at the top of the Accounts tab.
Type part of a name (as the record keeper or the census spells it) or the last four digits of an SSN. The list narrows as you type.
Clear the box to see everyone again.
If nothing matches, you'll see "No participants match your filter." Click Clear filter to reset.
Related articles
Matching Participants to Your Census
Cash vs Accrual and Accrual Rules
Overrides and Census Corrections
Confirming and Locking a Reconciliation
Trust Report, Balance Sheet, and Exporting a Reconciliation
Admin Settings for Reconciliation