What is suspense account? Meaning and explanation

Suspense accounts are used when a movement must be recorded but the correct contra account is not yet known. Examples include a bank receipt without a recognisable invoice, a payment with an unclear purpose, or money in transit between two bank or cash accounts. Suspense accounts are also common for net salary payments or receipts through a payment provider. The principle is always the same: the account should be at zero at the end of the period.

For a firm, a full suspense account signals that the administration is not finished. Amounts that sit there for months distort the profit and loss account and VAT, and still have to be investigated at year-end, when the client often no longer remembers. A fixed routine to query and clear suspense items every month prevents this.

In Autoboeker, a bank transaction without a match does not get left behind: unmatched transactions are surfaced per administration, and a transaction that cannot be explained automatically becomes a client question. Once the client answers and delivers a receipt, it is analysed with AI, booked and matched. Bank matching is available for Exact Online, Twinfield and SnelStart.