how do I reconcile 2 tables with similar headings?

[thunder 2006]

I have 2 tables with the same column headings and want to reconcile using one
column header as the unique value.

Example, if there is only one 2 rows in the tables (1 header and the other
data) I want to use the unique column (ie., name) to see how many columns are
different on the tables. Example, I may have Joe Smith as the unique
identifier but the column displaying age may be different in each table.

I need to highlight this difference and the generate a count.

 

[Fred]

I gather from your description that there is a row to row correspondence
between the two table. I.E. that there is one "Joe Smith" row in each
table, and they refer to Joe Smith.

Make or select a unique indentifier field in each table. Join them. Make
a query that has both tables.

From there on out it gets easy, but there are too many possibilities to take
it further here. You can set conditions in the query to show only when a
corresponding field is the same or different, and then make reports off of
those queries.