Importing bank statements for reconciliation

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Importing transactions from a bank statement

If your financial institution allows you to download bank statements via the internet, you can quickly reconcile client bank accounts using the Bank Statement Import tab of the Reconcile Bank Accounts screen. You can download statements for reconciliation in any of the following formats.

  • QIF: Quicken Interchange Format
  • QFX: Quicken Web Connect
  • OFX: Open Financial Exchange
  • BAI2: Bank Administrative Institute Version 2 (also known as Cash Management Balance Reporting Specifications Version 2)

The QIF and QFX formats are most commonly used by Quicken and QuickBooks, while the OFX format is used by Microsoft Money.

Note: The procedures in this article are for importing bank statements for bank reconciliation purposes. To import client transactions into Accounting CS, use the spreadsheet import procedure for transactions.

Follow these steps to reconcile the client's bank account against the statement.

  1. Download the bank statement file and save it to a location on your computer or network.
  2. Choose Actions > Reconcile Bank Accounts.
  3. Select the account to reconcile, either by choosing it in the Reconciliation list or by selecting it in the Account section of the General Information tab.

    Note: Only those bank accounts for which a GL account was selected in the Main tab of the Setup > Bank Accounts screen will be listed in the Reconciliations list and be available for bank account reconciliations.

  4. Click the Bank Statement Import tab.
  5. In the Statement file field, enter or browse to the path and file name of the statement you downloaded. The application automatically matches transactions in the import file to the transactions recorded in the application based on type, reference, and amount. If each transaction from the bank statement cannot be matched to a transaction recorded in the application, you will need to manually match transactions.

    You can click the Manage Files button to open the Manage Files dialog, where you can remove previously imported bank statement files and associated unmatched statement transactions from the current bank account reconciliation.

  6. Continue with the reconciliation using the applicable tabs in the Actions > Reconcile Bank Accounts screen.

Importing multiple statements

You can import multiple statements for each reconciliation. The following rules apply when importing multiple statements.

  • If a statement has already been imported for the current reconciliation and you import another statement, the application refreshes the Unmatched bank account transactions grid and the Unmatched statement transactions grid.
  • The application appends new unmatched statement transactions to the list of outstanding unmatched statement transactions from the other statement imports.
  • You can import the same statement more than once during a reconciliation if necessary.

Manually matching transactions

When you import a bank statement for reconciliation in the Bank Statement Import tab of the Actions > Reconcile Bank Accounts screen, the application automatically matches transactions in the import file to the transactions recorded in the application based on type, reference, and amount. Note that the application matches each Accounting CS transaction to a single transaction imported from the bank statement. You cannot match multiple imported transactions to a single Accounting CS transaction or vice versa.

If the application cannot match each transaction from the statement to a transaction recorded for this account in the application, it lists the unmatched transactions in the Unmatched bank account transactions grid (for transactions recorded in the application that could not be matched to a transaction in the bank statement) and the Unmatched statement transactions grid (for transactions from the bank statement that could not be matched to a transaction recorded in the application). The unmatched transactions are grouped by type - credit or debit.

Note: You cannot match a debit transaction to a credit transaction or vice versa.

Use the following procedure to manually match transactions.

  1. Expand the list of credits and debits in the Unmatched bank account transactions grid and in the Unmatched statement transactions grid.
  2. Scroll through the list of transactions in both grids until you find transactions that can be matched.
  3. In the Unmatched statement transactions grid, mark the checkbox for the transaction to be matched.
  4. In the Unmatched bank account transactions grid, mark the transaction to match with the statement transaction.
  5. Click the Match button. The transactions will be removed from the Bank Statement Import tab and marked as cleared in the Deposits & Additions tab or the Checks & Payments tab.
  6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 until you cannot match any more transactions.

Clearing transactions that could not be matched

If the application was unable to automatically match all transactions downloaded in the bank statement import file, and you were unable to manually match the remaining transactions in the Unmatched bank account transactions grid, follow the steps in the procedure for clearing transactions during bank account reconciliation.

Making adjustments

You can save an unmatched statement transaction as an adjustment that is written back to the general ledger using the steps below.

  1. In the Unmatched statement transactions grid, mark the checkbox in the Adjustment column for the transaction to save as an adjustment.

    Note: When you mark the Adjustment checkbox, this transaction is no longer available for matching. If you clear the Adjustment checkbox, the transaction will be available for matching again.

  2. If you mark the Adjustment checkbox for a debit transaction, you can select the appropriate vendor and/or 1099 items.
  3. Enter or select the appropriate GL account number to use for the adjustment transaction. To distribute the transaction to multiple GL accounts, click the Ellipsis Ellipsis button button in the right-most column to open the Enter Adjustment Distributions dialog.

When you click the Post Adjustments, Finish Later, or Finalize button, the transaction will be moved to the applicable tab and marked as cleared.

To view or delete the adjustment, choose Edit > Non-recurring Adjustments.

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Download a sample bank statement file to import into your own installation to help guide a customer.