Checking bank charges and unexpected deductions each month

Once a month, list every debit on the business bank statement that isn't a payment to a supplier, staff or the owner, and isn't a customer refund: bank charges, rentals, standing instructions, mandates and codes you don't recognise. Compare each with a standing list of the debits you expect. Anything new, different or unknown is marked "ask", with who to ask written beside it.

"They're small amounts. The bank knows what it's doing." Some of them aren't the bank's at all: a standing instruction for a service you stopped, a rental for a machine you returned, a subscription taken twice. Each is small, and each can repeat every month until someone asks.

Why small debits go unasked

The statement carries small debits with short codes: rentals, SMS charges, transfer charges, mandates for things that may have ended. The bank reconciliation matches them to the books; it doesn't ask whether each one should be there at all. An amount that small may not stop the month's work, so it can be matched, recorded and left without a question.

Reviewing every debit each month, checking auto-debits and standing instructions, and looking for duplicates and increases are already published (jaysudha, bizle), as are a list of active mandates and standing instructions with a "where to check" view for each kind of debit (terra-insight's page on unrecognised debits), and a register of recurring charges with who set each up and a decision (quickwell, costloop). This page's own part is narrow: a standing expected-debits list carried from month to month, covering bank charges, equipment rentals and mandates together, with a "who to ask" column and two checks against your own registers.

The monthly list

Once the month's statement is in, before or alongside the reconciliation, the accounts person lists every debit that isn't a supplier, staff, owner or customer payment. For each one, write the description as it appears on the statement, the date, the amount, what it is (if known), whether it is expected (yes, or ask), who to ask, the date you asked, the answer, and whether it is closed.

The matching itself stays in the bank reconciliation workflow.

The expected-debits list, kept from month to month

Keep a second, standing list of every debit you expect to see: the description pattern on the statement, what it is, who set it up and when, the usual amount, its frequency, and when it ends, if you know. Each month, anything on the statement that isn't on this list, or is different in amount or count, is marked "ask".

When an answer comes back, the item moves onto the expected list, or is marked "stopped". Anything still unanswered carries forward to next month's list.

Who to ask: the bank, the supplier or service, or yourselves

Not every debit is the bank's: some debits that look like bank charges belong to a supplier, a service or the business itself. So the "who to ask" column has three answers:

• the bank, for its own charges and for codes you can't place;
• the supplier or service, for standing instructions and mandates they collect; ending a mandate is between you, them and your bank;
• yourselves first, for anything someone in the business may have set up.

Which charges apply to your account is set by your bank's own schedule and your agreements with it; how they are recorded is for your accountant.

Two checks against your own registers

A mandate or standing instruction for a service contract: look it up in the annual renewals list. Has the contract ended or been cancelled?

A rental for a card terminal, soundbox or other equipment: look it up in the deposits register. Has the equipment been returned?

Worked example: a Gaya gym's October statement

Illustrative example: a fictional gym and fitness studio in Gaya, Bihar, with the owner and 5 staff (3 trainers, 1 front desk, 1 cleaner) on one floor of weights and cardio machines. Members pay monthly by UPI or card. The studio has one current account, one card terminal (a second was returned in September), a UPI soundbox and a few standing instructions. Amounts invented for illustration, not any bank's charges; verify independently.

October 2026's debits that are not supplier, staff, owner or member payments:

B was found through the deposits register: the terminal went back on Fri 18 Sep, and its return receipt is filed. F was found through the renewals list: the treadmill service contract ended on Mon 31 Aug and was not renewed. B, F and G2 have been asked; their answers are still open. H was traced by the owner to a subscription the business had set up itself, and moves onto the expected list.

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Where this sits next to the reconciliation and card statements

The bank reconciliation asks whether the books match the bank; this check asks whether each debit should exist at all. Card fees and card statement lines stay in checking a business credit card statement line by line. The same "is this expected?" question for electricity and other utility bills is in the guide to unusual utility bills. A wider look at every cost line is in the line-by-line cost review.

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Monthly list: the debit

Monthly list: the follow-up

Expected-debits list

Going through your bank statement each month?

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