Cloud Banking: Working with Downloaded Transactions

Cloud Banking: Working with Downloaded Transactions

Working with Downloaded Transactions

For those accounts that have been connected to their banks via Cloud Banking, transactions will automatically flow in on a daily basis. Working with the downloaded transactions can be a real time saver. These transactions are held in the Unapproved Transactions list in Cloud Banking until such time they are reviewed and accepted. Once accepted, documents are automatically created (i.e. payments) and the transaction is moved to the Approved Transaction List and the system creates appropriate General Journal entries.

Over time, the system will attempt to categorize the transactions by assigning a vendor and an account. This process will become more efficient as the system learns. This saves time as all is needed is to approve the transaction. See the section below on Categorization for more information.

Basics of the Workspace

Transactions imported or automatically entered via Cloud Banking appear in one of three tabs: Unapproved Transactions (1, below), Approved  Transactions (2) or Excluded Transactions (3). The Unapproved Transaction list is your ‘to-do’ list and represents new transactions not yet recorded in the system. Approved transactions have been coded with a Company, G/L account and optionally a project or a class.

The transactions may be sorted by placing the cursor in a column and clicking the A-Z or the Z-A list (4). The magnifying glass icon will search by a specific field and search term (5). Clicking the Export button will export the list to an excel file (6). The Unapproved Transactions list has a checkbox next to each transaction to give the ability to do batch actions:  Approve or Exclude (7). There is also a Re-Categorize that will cause the system to attempt to re-categorize the transactions after rules have been created or other changes have been made (8). See the section below on Categorization for more information. 

The Excluded Transactions list are transactions that are either already entered in another way or shouldn’t be recorded. These transactions may be deleted completely from AccountingSuite.

Note: Split transactions may not be excluded.
Cloud BankingThe cloud banking workspace


Setting Defaults for Transactions

Defaults may be set for the expense account, class and project fields on incoming Cloud Banking transactions for those that aren’t caught by existing categorization rules (see Automatic Categorization below). When these defaults are set, all new imported transactions (either automatic or uploaded) will have these fields filled with the specified values.

To set the values for these default fields, open the bank detail (Accounting → Chart of Accounts) by double-clicking a bank or credit card account and clicking the Import Settings tab. Uncheck the Do Not Use checkbox and specify the desired default value for the field.



Working with Downloaded Transactions: Accepting Transactions

Once a transaction is downloaded from the bank, it is required that it be accepted before any accounting transactions occur in AccountingSuite. Here are the steps to accept transactions:

Accepting Transactions

  1. Navigate to Bank Cloud Banking
  2. From the drop-down, highlight the Bank Account that you’d like to view.
  3. For each transaction, verify or change the Account assigned by AccountingSuite. Accounts may be created on the fly if they do not exist.
  4. Choose a Customer / Vendor from the drop-down list. (optional)  Customers / Vendors may be created on the fly if they do not exist.*
  5. Choose a Project from the drop-down list. (optional)  Projects may be created on the fly if they do not exist.
  6. If there is a transaction already existing in the system for this one, choose Match from the New, Match or Transfer drop-down. If it’s a transfer, choose transfer. If no other transaction currently exists in the system, click New.
  7. Check the checkbox in the Accept column. If you have rules management turned on, a dialog will appear asking if you’d like to create a new rule for this transaction (see automatic categorization below)
  8. Repeat steps 3-6 for all of the transactions in the list.
  9. Click Accept Selected Transactions from the Batch Actions checkbox.

Alternatively, you may click the Accept, Match or Transfer link in the last column for each transaction instead of steps 7,8, and 9.

After completing the steps above, transactions will be moved and can be viewed in the Accepted Transaction tab. The process of accepting transactions creates the appropriate transaction in the General Ledger.

*  see the section below on Merchant Name/Company mapping.

Mapping Merchant Name

If available, the Merchant Name is included in the information received from your bank.    This can be used in categorization rules to assist you with coding transactions.    AccountingSuite maintains a mapping table that associates the Merchant Name sent by the bank with the corresponding company in AccountingSuite.   When choosing a Company in an unapproved transaction, you will be asked via a prompt if you wish to automatically save the mapping for future use.   Yes will add the mapping, no will not.     If you approve 3 transactions that all contain the same Merchant Name/Company combination, the mapping will be added for you automatically as well.

You can add, edit or delete mappings from the table if needed:


Working with Downloaded Transactions: Unaccepting Transactions

If you need to un-accept a transaction for any reason, you may do so in Cloud Banking.
  1. Navigate to Bank  Cloud Banking
  2. Click the Accepted Transactions tab.
  3. Locate and highlight the transaction(s) to un-accept.
  4. Click Un-accept Transactions located in the Batch Actions button. The transaction is moved to the New Transactions tab.

Excluding Transaction

Transactions may be excluded by checking one or more transaction and selecting Exclude Transactions from the Batch Actions menu. The transactions will be moved to the Excluded Transactions tab where they may be (1) Moved back to unapproved tab, (2) Sorted, (3) Exported, (4) Filtered, or (5) Permanently deleted.

ExcludedExcluded Transactions Tab


Automatic Categorization

Over time, AccountingSuite can learn which vendors you have assigned to transactions and automatically assign the vendor and the associated account to the transaction as it flows in from the bank. Although acceptance of the transaction is still required, this automatic categorization of the transaction can save a lot of time.

You may wish to manage the categorization rules to assist the system in learning more accurately. Turning on this feature allows you to refine the criteria the system uses when automatically categorizing the transactions.


Enabling Categorization Rules Management

  1. Navigate to Quick Menu → Settings → Bank Settings and check the checkbox labeled Use Categorization rules for importing Cloud Banking transactions.
  2. Click Save and Close.
  3. Navigate to Bank  Cloud Banking.
  4. Pick a transaction that has not yet been tagged with a Vendor / Account and add the vendor. A pop-up window will appear.
  5. In the pop-up, edit any text in the Pattern field that will match text that will appear in every transaction. You can specify the match to be an exact match or you can tell the system to match text at the beginning of the pattern by choosing starts with, the end by choosing ends with or anywhere using the contains choice.
  6. Choose the Vendor that you wish to have the system use for this pattern.
  7. The Account associated with the vendor will auto-fill. If it does not, one may be chosen one from the list or a new one created.
  8. Choose a default class and/or project, if desired.
  9. Click Save to save a draft or Save and Close to finish.
  10. Click Re-categorize to have the system use this new rule to automatically code other new transactions.
Working with Downloaded Transactions: Categorization Rules

 

Categorization Rules

When the feature to manage categorization rules is enabled, you may view, edit or remove rules that have been created.


Create a Rule

To create a rule simply code and approve a transaction. A pop-up will verify the vendor, account, and match pattern and allow you to assign a class and a project.

To auto-approve transactions that match this rule in the future, click the checkbox labeled “Auto-Approve”.


Viewing Rules

Categorization rules may be viewed, modified or deleted by navigating to Bank → Categorization Rules.


Editing Rules

To edit a rule, Double click to open the rule, make any necessary edits and save.


Deleting Rules

To delete a rule, right-click in the list view and choose Delete.


Conflicting Categorization Rules

There are times when categorization rules conflict. This happens when saving a rule when one very similar exists. When this condition happens, a pop-up window will appear and ask which rule should prevail. It allows editing of the rule and view of similar rules.


Working with Downloaded Transactions: Conflicting Categorization Rules.


Auto Approving Transactions

You may set a transaction to auto-categorize and auto-approve. Create a new rule (see above) and check the Auto-Approve checkbox.


Working with Downloaded Transactions: Transfers

If a transfer has occurred between two accounts both of which are in Cloud Banking, this is handled by using the transfer feature.  In the New, Match, Transfer column choose Transfer from the drop-down list and pick the transfer from an account in the Account column.


About Transaction Matching

The Matching feature matches up transactions coming from your bank to associated documents in AccountingSuite.  Matching a transaction with a Bill Payment ensures that duplicates are not recorded. Matching it will a Bill automatically creates the bill payment for you. This is a powerful feature that can save a lot of data entry time and headaches searching for duplicates. To match a transaction:

  1. Choose the Match option in the New, Match, Transfer column.
  2. A pop-up window appears with a list of possible matches 2.
  3. Check the checkbox next to the document to match.
  4. Click the Match button to have the system match the transaction/document(s).

Working with Downloaded Transactions: Matching


Transaction Matching Guide

Documents in Cloud Banking will match up with the following documents in AccountingSuite. Please note that the dates are used when presenting possible matches in AccountingSuite. To disable the date filter, click the toggle in the upper right-hand side of the match window.

Bank Transactions
AccountingSuite Documents
Deposits*
Deposits

Cash Receipts

Sales Invoices

Cash Sales
Withdrawals*
Bill

Bill Payments

Payments

*for the purposes of this table, deposits represent any money coming into your bank account and withdrawals represent transactions coming out.


Using an Offline Account with Cloud Banking

If your bank is not among the many ones that are supported or if you don’t want to connect it to cloud banking, it may be added as an offline account. Accounts created in the Chart of Accounts that have either a Bank or Credit Card type will appear in the Account drop-down and may have transactions imported into them. Clicking the Re-Categorize button will cause the system to attempt to assign the vendors/accounts automatically and can be used after categorizing and accepting similar transactions. The video below shows transactions being assigned to vendors (with the vendor being created on-the-fly) and approved. In addition, it demonstrates the re-categorize functionality.



spaceplay / pause

 

qunload | stop

 

ffullscreen

↑↓volume

 

mmute

←→seek

 

 . seek to previous

Importing Transactions

You may wish to upload transactions into Cloud Banking for historical or other purposes. The following file types are supported:
  • iif
  • qfx
  • ofx
  • qbo
  • txt
  • csv


To import transactions:

  1. CSV Files only (other file types skip to step 6.) Click the edit button (looks like a double box) next to the Account Name drop-down list.
  2. Specify which column in the csv file contains each piece of data listed in the csv column. If the file has columns labeled A, B, C, … use 1 for A, 2 for B, 3 for C, …
  3. If the first row in the csv file contains column names, check the Has Header Row checkbox.
  4. Choose the csv separator character (usually a comma).
  5. Click Save and Close.
  6. Click Settings and choose an upload Period. Only transactions that fall between the dates chosen here will be imported regardless if they are in the import file or not.
  7. Click the Upload button.
  8. Choose the file and click ok. The transactions are imported into the Cloud Banking unaccepted transactions list.    As a part of the import, the system will check for duplicates. If potential duplicates are found, a message will appear asking how to handle these potential duplicates.

Potential DuplicatesMessage when system finds potential details

Note: Transactions may not be imported for an online account after the bank feed start date listed in the Bank Detail. If necessary administrative users of the account may change this date. This is to prevent duplicate transactions from being entered into the system.