How to Reconcile Cathay Bank Statements

What you are checking against

A Cathay Bank statement typically shows the balance after each transaction on deposit accounts, so the closing figure can be traced row by row through the month. Cathay Bank (Los Angeles, California) files its statements in the documents area of online banking, organized by account and closing date.

Two numbers discipline the whole process: the opening balance, which must equal last month's proven closing balance, and the closing balance, which the month's transactions must reproduce to the cent. Everything between them is detail. A workflow that protects those two anchors — verifying the chain link before starting, and the totals before importing — turns reconciliation from an investigation into a routine. How the automated check applies the same discipline is set out on the methodology page.

The Cathay Bank month-end reconciliation workflow

Prove the opening first. Before touching the month, confirm its opening balance equals last month's proven closing balance. If it does not, the problem is behind you, not in this month.
Convert with the check on. Run the month's PDF through the converter and take the reconciliation result seriously: reconciled, flagged or unverified are three different instructions.
Fix flagged rows at the source. Correct flagged rows against the statement PDF itself. Never adjust the books to match an unproven file.
Reconcile the software to the statement. Import the verified file and run the software's own reconciliation against the same closing balance and closing date.
Lock the month. Once both checks agree, the month is solid ground. Record it, and let next month build on it.

These are the general steps most banks follow for statement downloads; exact menu labels vary by bank and change over time.

Reading one Cathay Bank statement closely

One habit separates fast reconciliations from slow ones: read a Cathay Bank statement in the order the bank printed it before sorting it any other way. Running balances only make sense in print order, pending items cluster at period boundaries in print order, and the bank's own section subtotals — free checkpoints — exist only in print order. Convert the PDF from Statements and Documents in Cathay Bank online banking and the mobile app, walk it as printed, and let the accounting software do the reordering afterwards.

When a Cathay Bank statement does not tie out

A page-header or section-total line was read as a transaction — the converter guards against this, and any survivor shows up as a row whose own balance breaks the walk.
The PDF is a scan and OCR misread a digit. The flagged rows name the expected and printed balances; correct those rows against the image.
A correction or reversal line nets against an earlier transaction. It looks like a duplicate when scanning quickly, but both lines are real and both belong in the file.
A cheque image or money order fee was deducted inside the cheque's own line rather than as a separate row — the transaction count is right and the total is short by exactly that fee.

Deposit and card accounts, reconciled together

Most relationships reconcile as a set, not as islands: payments leave the deposit account and land on the card statement, transfers move between accounts, and each leg appears on two statements. Reconcile the deposit account first, then the card, and expect the cross-account transactions to explain each other's odd rows. A difference that survives both reconciliations, in equal and opposite amounts, is almost always a transfer recorded on one side only.

Questions and answers

My Cathay Bank statement does not tie out after conversion. What now?

Work the flagged rows first — the check marks exactly where the arithmetic breaks. The causes section on this page lists the usual suspects in order of likelihood.

The difference is exactly one transaction's amount. Where is it?

Either that transaction is missing from the file or it is in twice. Search the converted file for the amount: zero hits means a dropped row, two hits where the statement shows one means a duplicate.

Can I reconcile a quarter at once instead of monthly?

You can import in batches, but prove the months individually and in order. Three months reconciled as one blob hides which month owns a difference; the chain check needs each month's closing balance separately.

The bank corrected a Cathay Bank transaction mid-period. How do I reconcile?

Banks post corrections as their own dated lines — a reversal and a corrected entry, or a single adjustment line. Enter them exactly as printed, in the period they appear, even if the original transaction sits in an earlier month. The statement is the record; reconciling means matching it, and the pair nets to the truth.

Should I reconcile savings and CDs the same way?

Yes, with lower stakes and the same shape: opening balance, interest and any transfers, closing balance. Savings accounts statement monthly at most banks; CDs often statement quarterly or at term events. Prove each document that exists, and let the chain check span the quiet periods.