Account Analysis Statement: Read and Reconcile Bank Fees

An account analysis statement details a business account's banking services, activity volumes, fees, and applicable earnings credits for a reporting period. It explains how the bank calculates an analysis service charge. The transaction statement records the debit when that charge is paid.

To reconcile the two, match the service period, accounts covered, designated charge account, and adjustments. September services can appear on a report issued in October and be paid by an October debit. The debit date alone does not identify the service month.

If you found an unexplained Analysis Service Charge, or Truist's Service Charges – Prior Period debit, start with its breakdown. U.S. Bank describes the charge as a fee based on previous-month business banking activity. In its online banking, select the business checking account, then the charge and the option to see its details. Its support guidance also identifies Analysis Service Charge Detail within the periodic statement; other banks provide a separate account analysis report.

An analysis fee does not, by itself, mean the account qualifies for earnings credits. On eligible analyzed checking accounts, balances can offset certain service fees. Eligibility and the fees covered depend on the account's terms.

The difference between the documents determines which one to review: reading the transaction statement's balances and entries establishes what moved through the account; analyzing bank transactions and cash flow examines those movements over time. Account analysis explains the bank's service bill, including charges behind one consolidated debit.

Read the fields that connect services to settlement

Read the report's identities and dates before adding its amounts. A service line can belong to one account while the final bill covers several accounts and is collected from another.

For a flat-price service, volume multiplied by unit price explains the charge: 400 items at $0.25 produce $100. A combined transaction allowance or tiered schedule needs a different check. Some activity may be included at no charge, with only excess items billed; other lines represent portions of one combined total. Preserve the printed pricing basis rather than treating every volume as independently chargeable.

AFP service codes help identify comparable services across banks. The Association for Financial Professionals defines them as six-character alphanumeric identifiers for balances and charges. Retain the bank code and description alongside the AFP code. A code match is a starting point for comparison: confirm that the descriptions, units, and pricing basis refer to the same service. Leave an absent AFP code blank rather than assigning one from guesswork.

Account-level service detail, product subtotals, and a relationship summary can all describe the same fees. If two account reports total $300 and their relationship summary also shows $300, the relationship incurred $300. Adding all three reports would incorrectly produce $600. Use the individual service lines as detail and the summary as a control total, or use the relationship's own detail if it already contains the complete bill.

Calculate earnings credits and the net service charge

The earnings credit applies to eligible fees, so classify the charges before subtracting it. Truist's account analysis charge classifications distinguish three treatments:

• Billed separately: fees debited directly when the activity occurs.
• Explicit service charges: fees collected through account analysis that cannot be offset by earnings credit.
• Analyzed service charges: fees that eligible accounts may reduce or offset with earnings credit.

Map another bank's labels to its own agreement. Do not assume that every line on an analysis report is offsettable or included in the final settlement.

Earnings credit rate formula

The AFP earnings-credit formula is:

Earnings credit = average collected balance × (1 − reserve requirement ratio) × annual ECR × days in period ÷ 365

Average ledger balance less average float, deposits not yet collected, gives average collected balance. The bank then determines the available or investable balance eligible for earnings credit, applying its positive-balance rules and any stated deductions. The example below uses $100,000 as the final credit-eligible balance, with no further deduction.

The Federal Reserve reduced reserve requirement ratios to zero, effective March 26, 2020. An older statement layout may still carry a reserve line. If it shows zero or is marked unused, that term drops out. If a deduction is printed, reproduce it and ask the bank which account term requires it rather than silently changing the calculation.

For this hypothetical September example, assume a $100,000 credit-eligible average balance, no reserve deduction, a 2.00% annual ECR, and 30 actual days on a 365-day basis. The rate is an illustration, not a quoted bank rate. Under those assumptions:

$100,000 × 0.02 × 30 ÷ 365 = $164.38 earnings credit

Use your bank's rate, balance basis, day-count convention, and rounding when reproducing a real allowance.

A worked account analysis statement example

Suppose the September report covers these services across a billing relationship:

Eligible analyzed fees total $300. After the $164.38 allowance, $135.62 remains. Add the $45 non-offsettable fee to obtain the $180.62 monthly settlement:

$300.00 − $164.38 + $45.00 = $180.62

The separate $15 debit is outside that settlement. Total net fees for September are therefore $195.62, paid through two debits.

A report that calculates net earnings as allowance minus eligible charges would show a $135.62 shortfall, potentially displayed as a negative number. Read that sign together with the settlement field: the amount owed here is positive $180.62, including the explicit fee.

What balance required means

Balance required expresses the average eligible balance needed to offset a fee at the stated rate. Rearranging the same formula, with no reserve deduction:

Required balance = eligible fee × 365 ÷ (annual ECR × days in period)

For the $300 eligible total, $300 × 365 ÷ (0.02 × 30) gives $182,500. Maintaining that eligible average balance under these assumptions would offset the $300, while the $45 explicit fee would remain payable.

An earnings credit is a fee offset, not an ordinary cash interest payment. If the allowance exceeds eligible charges, use the bank's terms to determine how the excess is treated; do not assume it becomes a cash receipt or carries forward.

Match the report to the debit in the following month

Continue the example with two analyzed accounts, A and B, in one billing relationship. The hypothetical September report is issued on October 6, and its $180.62 settlement is debited from account B on October 21. Account A generated some services but has no separate settlement debit.

Those three dates answer different questions:

Bank schedules vary. Truist's guide says its report is available on the first business day after the fifth and the monthly debit occurs on the first business day after the 20th. Its debit label is Service Charges – Prior Period. Check your bank's schedule and the report's service dates rather than assigning a month from the debit label alone.

For each settlement, make the match in this order:

1. Identify the service period. Find the report covering September, even though the debit is in October.
2. Confirm the billing scope. Establish whether $180.62 is an account total or a relationship total covering A and B.
3. Find the paying account. Search account B's transaction statement for the settlement, including any bank-supplied reference. Searching only account A would leave a false unmatched item.
4. Tie the final amount and adjustments. Match the net settlement, not the $300 gross eligible charges. Establish whether any separate adjustment is included in the debit.
5. Keep separately paid fees separate. Match the $15 to its September debit. Adding it to the October settlement would create a $15 discrepancy.

When the amounts differ, check the neighboring service period, another designated charge account, a grouped settlement, and later adjustments. Also check whether both account detail and a relationship summary entered the spreadsheet. Only after those checks should a mismatch become a question about the bank's calculation.

When reconciling the bank statement to the ledger, attach the fee report to the matched debit and preserve its service period. The cash reconciliation explains the October payment; the fee report supports which month's services it paid for.

Accrue bank fees without recording the expense twice

For accrual-basis books, the service period drives expense recognition even when the bank collects later. FASB's conceptual framework explains the underlying principle: accrual accounting records financial effects in the period they occur, even when cash payment follows in another period. OpenStax's adjusting-entry guidance illustrates recognizing an incurred, unpaid expense with a debit to expense and a credit to a payable.

The journal entries below apply that principle to the hypothetical bank bill. They use an accrual that stays in the liability account until payment, with no automatic reversal. On cash-basis books, skip these entries: the $15 September debit and $180.62 October debit are expensed on their payment dates.

Estimate the unbilled settlement at close

Build the estimate from the services actually used: expected billable volumes at negotiated prices, fixed charges, included allowances and tiers, non-offsettable fees, and the expected eligible earnings credit. Exclude fees already debited and recorded separately. A prior month's settlement is a fallback when activity, pricing, balances, and ECR remain comparable; a changed payment volume or credit rate makes it a weaker estimate.

Suppose the activity data available at September 30 suggests about 380 ACH items. At $0.25 each, estimated ACH fees are $95. Add $50 maintenance and $150 treasury service fees for $295 eligible charges, subtract an expected credit of approximately $165, and add the $45 explicit fee. The estimated unbilled settlement is $175. The separately paid $15 fee is already recorded in September's bank fee expense.

The entry recognizes September's estimated unpaid service cost. It does not reduce cash.

Update the estimate when the report arrives

On October 6, the report confirms the actual settlement is $180.62, a $5.62 increase: 20 more ACH items than estimated add $5, and the actual credit is $0.62 below the rounded estimate. Assume September's books are still open. Date the true-up September 30, retain the October report as its support, and record:

The liability now equals $180.62. September expense totals $195.62: the $180.62 accrued settlement plus the $15 fee paid separately.

If September is already closed and the difference reflects new information refining a reasonable estimate, record the same $5.62 expense-and-liability entry in October. ASC 250-10-45-17, reproduced in FASB's accounting-changes memo, places a change in estimate in the period of change, with future-period effects where relevant. An omitted known charge or calculation mistake requires an error-correction assessment instead; apply the business's close and materiality policy to that distinction.

Clear the liability when the bank debits cash

For the October 21 payment from account B:

The payment clears the liability; it does not create another bank fee expense. Match the imported bank debit to this settlement entry. Categorizing it again as expense would leave the accrual outstanding and count the same charge twice.

Delayed utility billing presents a similar period issue; estimating and reversing utility bill accruals covers that workflow. Use your established method consistently, whether you reverse accruals or clear them as shown here.

Preserve prior-period corrections without double counting

A later report can change the figures used in an earlier fee review. Keep the affected service period separate from the statement reporting the correction so the change remains traceable.

As a hypothetical continuation, suppose the report issued in November for October's services corrects September's settlement from $180.62 to $160.62. That is a $20 reduction. The $160.62 is the revised total, not another charge to add to the original $180.62. This illustrates the distinction; a particular bank's report may show an incremental adjustment, a replacement total, or both.

Keep a correction record with these fields:

Retain the original statement and extracted rows. If the bank supplies a revised total, calculate the difference against the previously accepted total; if it supplies a difference, apply that difference once. Mark the correction as incorporated so importing the same later report again does not apply it twice.

The September review would then show a revised $160.62 settlement plus the unchanged $15 separately paid fee, or $175.62 net fees. Cash remains supported by the actual $180.62 October payment until there is evidence of the $20 refund or credit against another settlement. Updating the fee table does not prove cash has moved.

For accrual-basis books, first establish the appropriate recognition period under the business's closed-period and error-correction policy. Suppose current-period recognition is appropriate and the bank confirms that the accepted $20 credit will reduce an unpaid October settlement already accrued. Debit accrued bank fees $20 and credit bank fee expense $20. The eventual bank debit clears the remaining liability.

Accrue October's own service cost before that prior-period credit. Do not also reduce October's service-cost estimate by $20 to match the lower net debit; that would recognize the credit twice. If the bank instead confirms a cash refund, debit a bank-fee receivable and credit bank fee expense for the accepted $20; debit cash and credit that receivable when the refund arrives. Cash-basis books reflect the refund or reduced payment when it occurs. Keep the revised calculation, its cash settlement, and the accounting entry linked, with each one's own date.

Build a bank fee analysis spreadsheet for monthly review

A bank fee analysis spreadsheet needs separate records for services, settlements, and corrections. Repeating a statement's full earnings credit on every service row overstates the offset; mixing account totals with relationship totals duplicates the bill.

Keep detail and settlement tables separate

Use one row per billed service line, per analyzed account, per service period. A useful service table has 13 columns:

Bank, Analyzed Account, Billing Relationship or Account, Service Period, Statement Date, Bank Code, AFP Code, Description, Volume, Unit Price, Charge, Charge Class, Currency.

Retain zero-priced allowance or benefit lines when they explain the pricing. Preserve tier lines individually. Exclude product subtotals and relationship summary totals from the rows you sum. If only relationship-level detail is available, label that scope and keep it separate from account detail.

The settlement table has one row per billed account or relationship per period. Use these 13 columns:

Bank, Billing Relationship or Account, Service Period, Statement Date, Charge Account, Eligible Fees, Non-offsettable Fees, Eligible Balance, ECR, Earnings Credit Allowance, Prior-Period Adjustments, Net Settlement, Currency.

Fill Billing Relationship or Account with the relationship identifier in both tables, or with the account identifier when it is billed individually. Preserve source filenames and page references in both tables, and keep corrections in the separate record described above. Prior-Period Adjustments is the signed amount applied in this settlement, with negative values reducing the debit; its supporting record retains the original affected period.

In Excel, join the tables using Bank, Billing Relationship or Account, Service Period, and Currency. Compare eligible detail charges with the eligible-fee summary. Under the example's fee-offset rules, the settlement check is:

Eligible Fees − the smaller of Eligible Fees or Earnings Credit Allowance + Non-offsettable Fees + Prior-Period Adjustments = Net Settlement

Use the bank's actual credit treatment where account terms differ. Compare the final settlement with the debit. For the original September example, the controls are $300 eligible fees, $45 non-offsettable fees, $164.38 credit, no adjustment, and $180.62 settlement. The $15 separately paid fee belongs in the fee review but outside that settlement match.

Extract recurring PDFs into the same columns

When several accounts and months arrive as PDFs, Invoice Data Extraction can extract financial document data into spreadsheets. Upload the statement PDFs as a batch and use Structured Prompt to name the columns for the service-line job. Specify one row per service line per analyzed account, leaving out product subtotals and relationship summary totals. Run a separate extraction for the settlement-summary job, specifying one row per billed account or relationship per period and which detail pages to leave out. Give Service Period the same format instruction in both jobs so the tables join. Each proposed table above fits within Structured Prompt's limit of 20 user columns.

Structured Prompt fixes the headers and their order. In Excel, numbers come through as numbers and dates as dates, so formulas and pivot tables work straight away. Keep the Source File and Review Needed columns included: Source File carries the file and page each row came from. A value or a row the panel of AI agents cannot agree on is flagged as Review Needed, with what to check.

Use the extracted tables as inputs to your spreadsheet's matching, calculations, and fee checks. Confirm the detail-to-summary totals and inspect flagged values against their source pages before using the figures in the books. Save the two prompts to your Prompt Library and apply the right one with a click when the next month's statements arrive.

For recurring delivery, ask the bank whether it offers X12 EDI 822 account analysis or ISO 20022 camt.086, the Bank Services Billing statement. These are electronic alternatives to PDF where provided; confirm availability for the accounts and periods you need.

Separate price changes from activity changes

Compare the same service, account scope, and billing unit across months. For the example's ACH line:

• Moving from 400 to 500 items at $0.25 raises the charge from $100 to $125. The $25 increase is volume-driven.
• Keeping 400 items but raising the unit price from $0.25 to $0.30 raises the charge to $120. The $20 increase is price-driven.

Where both change, separate the effects: the volume effect is the change in units multiplied by the old price; the price effect is the new volume multiplied by the change in price. For tiers or combined allowances, recalculate the schedule rather than using a single blended rate.

Also compare eligible balances, ECR, and the resulting allowance. A larger net debit can follow a lower earnings credit even when service prices are unchanged. Check negotiated pricing, free allowances, and enrolled services before treating a difference as an error. The same need to separate fee components applies when reviewing credit card processing fees from merchant statements, although the services and settlement rules differ.

For a disputed line, give the bank the account or relationship, service period, service code and description, billed volume, billed unit price, agreed unit price, and source page. Track the bank's response and any correction through to its settlement, so an acknowledged pricing error does not remain an unmatched credit.