Process bank transactions from bank feeds or an imported file

Summary

How to use the Incoming Bank Transactions page to process transactions imported from a bank feed or bank statement in Sage Accounting.

Description

Use the Incoming Bank Transactions page to process transactions from your bank. Select the link with New transactions to access it.

Resolution

How this works

Each transaction shows the date, amount and a reference. For money out of the account, the amount is in red.

Decide how to process each transaction using the Match, Create,or Transfer buttons in the middle of the transaction.

For common transactions, consider setting up bank rules to process them automatically based on your predefined criteria. Read more about bank rules.

Match to existing transactions or pay invoices

Use the Match option to:

Match to a payment or receipt you have already entered in Sage Accounting
Pay outstanding invoices

Match existing transactions

Use this to confirm that the transaction from the bank is the same as the transaction in Sage Accounting. This could be a transaction you already recorded in Sage Accounting, or a bank transfer already imported from another bank.

Select Match in the middle of the transaction to see a list of existing payments and receipts as well as outstanding invoices. Use the Search to narrow down the list.
Select the matching payments or receipts.
We show the selected transactions in the bottom section. When the Left to match is zero, select Match from here.

Pay outstanding invoices

Create a new customer receipt or supplier payment and use it to pay an outstanding invoice.

If we find any outstanding invoices that may match the payment, we show these with a Match button on the right. We use the reference and amount to suggest these matches.

If we don't a find a matching invoice, or you want to pay a different one:

Select Match in the middle of the transaction to see a list of all outstanding invoices. Use the Search to narrow down the list.
Select the invoices you want to pay.
We show the selected invoices in the bottom section. When the Left to match is zero, select Match from here.

Overpayments

After paying selected invoices, you can save left over funds as a payment on account for future invoice allocation:

Select New Transaction.
Chose the Payment on Account tab.
Enter the details and select Add.
When the Left to match is zero, select Match.

Partial payments

If you want part pay an invoice:

Enter the amount of the partial payment in the Payment field.
When the Left to match is zero, select Match.

Add bank fees and interest

Sometimes a bank payment or receipt may include charges. For example, if it's been converted from another currency.

To include the bank fees or interest

Select Make Adjustment.
Enter the details for the bank charges and select Add.
When the Left to match is zero, select Match.

Match refunds to credit notes

This allows you create a new refund and use it to pay off an outstanding credit note. The credit note must already be recorded in Sage Accounting.

For money in, match to a purchase credit note
For money out, match to a sales credit note

Create new transactions

Other payment

This is for general payments or expenses not used to pay a purchase invoice, such as fuel or office supplies.

Use this for supplier contacts when no invoice will be sent, like when paying at the point of purchase.

For money used to pay supplier invoices, use the Payment on Account option or select Match to pay an existing invoice.

Select Create in the middle of the transaction.
Select the supplier from the Who drop-down list, if required.
Select the relevant ledger account from the What drop down list.
Check the VAT rate and amount is correct where applicable.
Select Create.

Other receipt

Use this for received money not allocated to sales invoices, like cash from till receipts or grant income. Also for customer contacts when they've paid, and no sales invoice is needed, like point-of-sale payments.

For money used to pay sales invoices, use the Payment on Account option or select Match to pay an existing invoice.

To create the receipt you just select the correct ledger account and VAT rate, where applicable.

Select Create in the middle of transaction.
Select the customer from the Who drop-down list, if required.
Select the relevant ledger account from the What drop down list.
Check the VAT rate and amount is correct where applicable.
Select Create.

Refund a Sale

Use this to record a cash refund, select the Create a refund link. It's for cash from till receipts or non-regular customer refunds.

Only use this for customer contacts without prior invoices or credit notes, like point-of-sale cash refunds. To refund an existing credit note, select Match.

If you choose the Create a refund link in error, just select Revert back to sale to create a receipt.

Select Create in the middle of the transaction.
Select the Create a refund link.
Select the customer from the Who drop-down list, if required.
Select the relevant ledger account from the What drop down list.
Check the VAT rate and amount is correct where applicable.
Select Create.

Refund a Purchase

Use this to record a cash refund, select the Create a refund link. This could be for general expenses such as buying fuel or office supplies.

Only use this for a supplier when the supplier is not going to send you an invoice or credit note, such as when you have been refunded at the point of purchase. For refunds received from suppliers, select Match to pay a credit note.

If you choose the Create a refund link in error, just select Revert back to purchase to create an payment.

Select Create in the middle of the transaction.
Select the Create a refund link.
Select the supplier from the Who drop-down list, if required.
Select the relevant ledger account from the What drop down list.
Check the VAT rate and amount is correct where applicable.
Select Create.

Add more than one ledger account

If a single payment or receipt needs to be split over several ledger accounts or VAT rates, select Split. You might have a single expense payment that covers petrol and office sundries for example.

Also use the Split option to add transaction analysis types such as a cost centre, department or project. Read about transaction analysis types.

Select Split
Create a new line for each ledger account or VAT rate.
Make sure all of the lines add up and then select Create.

Transfer between bank accounts

Use this when transferring money between bank accounts. This creates a transaction in both bank accounts. If both bank accounts use bank feeds, you'll need to match the imported transaction from the other bank account.

Select Transfer.
Choose the bank account to Transfer to or Transfer from.
Select Transfer.

Delete transactions

If you have transactions you don't want, you can delete them. You may need to do this if you have bank transfers or transactions you've already imported or processed.

Select the transaction (or transactions) you want to delete and then select Delete.

Fix problems with your incoming transactions

Missing transactions

You may have transactions in your online bank that don't yet appear in Sage Accounting because they haven't downloaded yet. For connected banks, we usually download once a day but this varies between banks. We show the date and time of the latest update from the bank at the top of the Incoming Transactions page.

If this is up to date

Check to see if you need to re-authorise your bank feed. For security reasons you must re-authorise with your bank every 90 days. When this happens, we display a message at the top of the page. Choose Enter Credentials to re-authorise the bank feed
Check your bank feed is working properly. We update our website with know problems. Check the bank feed status page (opens in new tab)

Duplicate transactions

This can happen when your bank has made an error in providing transactions to us, or something has gone wrong with the bank feed. We update our website with known problems. This will tell you if there is a reported incident. Check the bank feed status page (opens in new tab)

How you delete duplicate transactions depends on when you notice them. If you have:

Only imported from your bank feed, then discard the duplicated transactions from the bank feed
Created the duplicate transactions in Sage Accounting, then delete any transactions from the bank account (Activity tab). Where possible, we recommend that you delete transactions before reconciling your bank account
Reconciled your bank account, then delete the transactions from your bank activity in the same way. We update the starting balance of your next bank reconciliation to reflect the deleted transaction. Read more about how to delete bank transactions
Included them on a submitted VAT return, then create a reverse transaction to clear the value from the bank account. Read Correct transactions included on a VAT return