A difference is a comparability question first
Billing Summary and Daily Transactions can answer different questions when their period, clinic scope, date basis, or activity set differs. Before calling a difference a bookkeeping error, prove that you exported comparable inputs.
Start with Jane’s Billing Summary guide and its broader billing reports guide. Re-export rather than editing report totals by hand.
Check these settings in order
- Confirm every report covers the same first and last calendar day.
- Confirm the same clinic/location scope.
- Confirm Sales used Invoice Date, not a payment-oriented date basis.
- Check whether tips are included in the control being compared.
- Review genuine refund, credit, or gift-card activity.
- Check whether a report was exported before all month-end entries were complete.
- Replace the mismatched file and rerun the controls from the beginning.
“Not applicable” does not mean “passed”
A simple-period control may be not applicable when supported comparison assumptions do not hold—for example, when refund activity is present. Other applicable source controls can still prove source reconciliation, but the unsupported activity can block journal preparation. The workbook states the specific reason instead of showing a green success.
Do not plug the difference
If comparable inputs still differ by one cent, stop. A suspense or rounding line would make the journal balance without proving the source. The safe next step is to investigate the Jane activity or have the accountant handle the unsupported month directly.