PingtailChasing bank statements every month: a routine that works
Bank statements hold up more closes than any other document. When to ask, how to ask for the right account and period, and what to do when one is missing.
Every bookkeeper knows the shape of a slow close. The software is ready, the categories are set, the payroll report came in on time, and the work stops at one line: the business checking statement for last month. It is not that the client refuses. They meant to download it on Tuesday, then the bank asked them to log in again, then it was Friday.
Bank statements hold up more monthly closes than any other document because every other piece of work depends on them. You cannot reconcile without one, and you cannot hand over a clean report without reconciling. This page is about the routine around the statement: when to ask, what to ask for, how to keep track of a dozen clients with three accounts each, and what to do on the day it is still missing. If you want the checks for a statement once it arrives, the bank statement checklist covers that.
Why bank statements arrive late
When you look at the clients who are late every month, the reasons repeat. Very few of them are about willingness.
- The request is a chore with no deadline. "Please send your statements when you can" competes with customers, staff and suppliers. It loses.
- The download is harder than it sounds. The client has to log in to online banking, find the statements section (not the activity page), pick the month, pick the account, download a PDF and attach it. On a phone that is several screens, and a password reset is one more.
- The client is not sure what you need. Two accounts, one card and a savings pot. Which ones? The client sends the one they use most and assumes that is enough.
- The request came too early. You asked on the 1st, the bank publishes on the 4th. The client looked, saw nothing new, and forgot.
- Nobody asked again. The first request went out on time. The follow-up depended on someone remembering in the middle of month-end, and that week nobody did.
Each of these has a fix in the routine, and you control the routine.
Start with an account register
You cannot chase what you have not listed. Before the routine, build one short register per client: every bank account, card and loan you need a statement for, with the details the client needs to find it. Keep it with the client file and update it whenever an account opens or closes.
| Client | Account | Ends in | Statement cycle | Who downloads it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbour Cafe | Business checking | 4417 | Calendar month, published around the 3rd | Mira Chen (owner) |
| Harbour Cafe | Business credit card | 0092 | Closes on the 18th | Mira Chen |
| Harbour Cafe | Savings | 7731 | Quarterly | Mira Chen |
| Acme Cafe | Business checking | 2280 | Calendar month | Tom Reed (office manager) |
Three columns in that table do most of the work. "Ends in" lets the request name the exact account, so the savings statement never stands in for checking. "Statement cycle" tells you when to ask: a card that closes on the 18th is not a calendar-month document, and asking for "September" invites confusion. "Who downloads it" tells you whom to write to, which is often not the person who signed the engagement letter.
When to ask: after the statement exists
A request for a document that does not exist yet is the most common reason a client sends the wrong month. If the August statement is published on the 3rd of September, a request on the 1st will get July or nothing.
A simple rule: send the request two business days after the latest statement date in that client's register. For a client with a calendar-month checking account and a card that closes on the 18th, that means one request in the first week of the month that names both, and for the card, the statement period that ended on the 18th of the previous month.
Set the due date, and make it real. "By the 8th" works better than "as soon as possible" because the client can plan around it, and because it gives you a date to follow up from. Pick a day that leaves you enough time to finish the close on schedule if the statement arrives on the due date itself.
The monthly routine, day by day
Here is a routine for a firm that closes the month around the 15th. Move the days to fit your own calendar; keep the gaps between them.
| Day | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Day 3 to 5 | One request per client, listing every account from the register by name and last four digits, with the exact statement period and a due date. | Sent on a schedule, not by memory |
| On arrival | Check the file the same day: the right account, the full period, every page, readable. Send back anything wrong while the client still remembers sending it. | Whoever owns the client |
| Due date plus 1 | First follow-up, naming only the accounts still missing. | Scheduled |
| Due date plus 4 | Second follow-up, shorter, with the consequence: what is waiting on it. | Scheduled |
| Due date plus 8 | A phone call. Not another email. | The client owner |
| Close day | Close with what you have and a clear note, or move the client to the late list. Decide by rule, not by mood. | The reviewer |
Two parts of that routine matter more than the rest. The first is checking on arrival. A statement that is wrong and sits unopened for ten days costs you a full second cycle; the article on missing pages and half-sent documents goes into this. The second is that each follow-up lists only what is still missing. A reminder that repeats the whole original list makes the client wonder whether their upload worked.
The request and the follow-ups, word for word
Name the account and the period in the first line. Everything else is secondary.
Subject: September bank statements for Harbour Cafe, by October 8
Hi Mira,
For the September books we need these three statements:
1. Business checking ending 4417: 1 to 30 September.
2. Business credit card ending 0092: the statement that closed on 18 September.
3. Savings ending 7731: the quarterly statement for July to September.
Please download the PDF statements from online banking, not the activity screen, and send every page. If you can, send them by Wednesday, October 8.
Thank you,
[your name]
The first follow-up repeats only what is open.
Subject: Still needed: card statement ending 0092
Hi Mira,
Thanks for the checking and savings statements, both are fine. The one still missing is the credit card ending 0092, the statement that closed on 18 September. It is usually under "Statements and documents" in online banking.
[your name]
The second follow-up says what the statement is holding up, in one sentence, without blame.
Subject: Card statement needed to finish September
Hi Mira,
The September books are done apart from the card ending 0092. Once it is in, we can send your report the same week. If downloading it is a problem, reply and we can talk you through it on a quick call.
[your name]
For more templates, including the last note before a call, see email templates for missing client documents.
When a statement is still missing
Some months a statement simply does not come. Decide in advance what happens then, write it into your engagement or your internal procedure, and apply it the same way for every client.
- Call, and stay on the call while they download it. Many late statements are a login problem. Five minutes on the phone, with the client looking at their banking screen, often ends with the PDF in your inbox before you hang up.
- Ask for read-only access, if the client agrees. Some banks let a business add an accountant or a view-only user. Where the client is comfortable with it and your engagement covers it, it removes the monthly download. Never ask for the client's own login details.
- Close with a note, if your process allows it. Some firms reconcile from a transaction export and mark the month as provisional until the statement arrives. Others hold the month. Either is defensible; switching between them from client to client is not.
- Move the client to a late list. A client who is late three months in a row needs a conversation, not a fourth reminder. Sometimes the fix is a different contact, the office manager instead of the owner.
New, closed and shared accounts
The register stays useful only if it changes when the client's banking does.
- A new account appears in a transfer on the checking statement: add it to the register and ask for its first statement in the next request.
- An account is closed: ask for the final statement showing a zero balance, then remove it from next month's request.
- An account is shared with a personal account holder: ask the client which pages are business, and agree in writing what you will receive.
- Payment processors and online marketplaces: treat their payout reports like bank statements, with their own line in the register.
- Once a year, ask the client to confirm the register is complete.
The month-end close checklist shows where the statement step sits in the rest of the close.
Questions
Is a transaction export good enough instead of a bank statement?
For day-to-day categorizing it can help, but it usually has no opening and closing balance and no account holder name, so it is not a substitute for reconciling. Ask for the PDF statement, and use an export only as a provisional step if your process allows it.
How early in the month should I request bank statements?
Ask two business days after the latest statement date for that client, so the statement exists when they look. For most calendar-month accounts that is the first week of the following month.
What if the client has accounts at several banks?
Keep them in one register and one request. List each account by bank, type and last four digits, so the client can tick them off and you can follow up on exactly the ones still missing.
Should I ask the client for their online banking password?
No. Ask for the statements, or ask whether their bank offers an accountant or view-only user. Holding a client's own login details creates risk for both of you and may break the bank's terms.
Doing this with Pingtail
Pingtail sends a recurring monthly request per client with each account as its own item, so the client sees the exact statement and period you need. Every upload is checked the moment it lands: a statement for the wrong month, a "Page 2 of 6" file with pages missing or a locked PDF is flagged while the client is still on the page. Reminders go out on their own and list only the statements still missing, and after the last one you get a "time for a call" email. See how it fits your month on the monthly close page. You can try it on yourself first: send a test request to your own email and upload the wrong file on purpose.