Reconciling credit card activity can eat up a lot of accounting time — especially when receipts are missing, transactions are delayed, or charges need to be split across multiple projects.
In the latest installment of our Powering Project Success with Deltek Vantagepoint series, our consultant Theresa Bowe walked through credit card reconciliation tips and tricks in Vantagepoint — from initial setup through statement close — and consultant Cindy Cates answered questions from attendees at the end.
Want the highlights? Here’s an overview of everything we covered.
Setting up credit cards in Vantagepoint
Everything starts in Settings > Cash Management > Credit Cards. Corporate cards link to a master account — such as American Express or a specific bank — and there's no limit to how many credit card programs your firm can configure. Individual cards go in as secondary credit cards, each linked directly to the expense user assigned to that card. One employee can carry more than one card, too — they'll see a dropdown in the credit card pane to choose which card's charges to pull from.
Importing transactions
The Import tab is where the time savings really start. It tells Vantagepoint how to read the transaction file from your bank — so when charges come in, most of the information is already populated. Less manual entry, fewer errors, cleaner data. Each card company formats its download file differently, so compare what's available from your bank when you set this up.
Ready to reconcile? Go to Cash Management > Credit Card Reconciliation and bring in charges — weekly or monthly, whichever fits your workflow. One statement period can hold multiple imports; just make sure all charges are in before you close it out. Every transaction in the import file also carries a unique identifier, so Vantagepoint recognizes charges it's already seen — duplicates don't import.
Under Settings > Expenses, you can also turn on reminders that alert employees when charges are ready to be added to a report. No more chasing people down at close.
Expense reports: web and mobile
Once charges are imported, employees can start building their expense reports right away — and this is where the workflow really comes together.
In the web interface, employees assigned to a credit card see a credit card charges pane directly on their expense report. It shows exactly how many transactions are waiting. They open the pane, select their charges, add them to the report, then fill in category, project, phase, task, and attach receipts — either from a network drive or by dragging and dropping.
Need to split a charge across two projects? After adding it to the report, an employee edits the dollar amount on that line. The remainder goes back to the credit card pane as a separate available charge — ready to be added as a second row on a different project. Clean split, no workarounds. It's also worth noting that imported charges can't be deleted from the system — an employee can remove a charge from their report, but it returns to the credit card pane. That keeps your reconciliation intact.
The mobile app handles the same workflow on the go. After logging in, employees see an alert for pending charges. They can start a new report or add to one already in progress, and the report syncs seamlessly between web and mobile. For firms with staff in the field, this is a meaningful difference at month-end.
Reconciling at month-end
When expense reports are posted, the reconciliation steps are straightforward. Under Cash Management > Credit Card Reconciliation:
- Enter the statement ending balance on the Summary tab
- Review total imported charges, what has cleared, and what remains uncleared
- On the Charges tab, click Clear All to mark all posted charges
- Return to the Summary tab — confirm the difference is zero
- Close the statement under Other Actions > Close Statement
Zero difference, closed statement. Clean, controlled, and fully documented.
The bottom line
Credit card reconciliation doesn't have to be a painful part of month-end close. Vantagepoint's built-in tools — import automation, the expense report integration, mobile access, and a straightforward reconciliation workflow — give your firm real control over company card activity without the manual effort. If you want to hear this process with more detail, check out the mini-demo recording.
We've helped firms of all sizes get more out of Vantagepoint's accounting features. If you want to dig into how this could work for your firm, reach out.
Contact us at info@fullsailpartners.com — or follow Full Sail Partnerson LinkedIn to catch upcoming mini demos and events.
