32: Maximizing Usage Of Bank Feeds In QuickBooks Online Whether You Are Starting A Business, You Ar
Automating your transactions is one of the major ways you can save time when you are doing your bookkeeping. By utilizing systems such as QuickBooks Online’s bank feeds, you can definitely save a lot of time rather than manually entering each and every transaction, but the only way you will ensure you have reliable information is to make sure you have it set up correctly. I’ve seen clients who have set up bank feeds and not follow the correct steps who look at their financial statements and wonder why nothing looks right. This is exactly what happens when you hear the phrase garbage in / garbage out. If you don’t take the time to set everything up correctly in the beginning, you won’t be able to rely on your financial statements. You don’t want to find yourself putting in all the work only to have inaccurate information. In today’s episode, I am going to walk you through how you should set up and use the bank feeds in QuickBooks Online to ensure you are using it to its fullest potential. By setting up your bank account connection, managing bank rules, matching transactions and adding transactions correctly in QuickBooks Online, you will surely not only save time, but you will have reliable financial statements allowing you to make smart business decisions. If you already use bank feeds or if you have been thinking about getting them set up, but are unsure how to use this function correctly, listen in to find out what your next steps should be to take full advantage of this feature, whether you are just starting your small business, you’re a solopreneur, entrepreneur, small business owner, virtual online bookkeeper or virtual assistant…
Want To Create A Profitable Bookkeeping Business (Or Improve Your Existing Bookkeeping Business), Check Out My Elevate Your Bookkeeping Business Program:
Grab Your FREE guide: 5 Essential Strategies For Stress-Free Bookkeeping:
Your FREE Online Virtual Bookkeeping Business Starter Guide is waiting for you:
Fill out the Contact Us form if you are a small business owner looking for a qualified bookkeeper:
Sign up for a quick chat to see if starting a Virtual Online Bookkeeping Business is right for you:
Join Our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenbusinessownersultimatediybookkeepingboutique
QuickBooks Online - Save 50% Your First 3 Months:
Show Notes:
Automating your transactions is one of the major ways you can save time when you are doing your bookkeeping. By utilizing systems such as QuickBooks Online’s bank feeds, you can definitely save a lot of time rather than manually entering each and every transaction, but the only way you will ensure you have reliable information is to make sure you have it set up correctly. I’ve seen clients who have set up bank feeds and not follow the correct steps who look at their financial statements and wonder why nothing looks right. This is exactly what happens when you hear the phrase garbage in / garbage out. If you don’t take the time to set everything up correctly in the beginning, you won’t be able to rely on your financial statements. You don’t want to find yourself putting in all the work only to have inaccurate information. In today’s episode, I am going to walk you through how you should set up and use the bank feeds in QuickBooks Online to ensure you are using it to its fullest potential. By setting up your bank account connection, managing bank rules, matching transactions and adding transactions correctly in QuickBooks Online, you will surely not only save time, but you will have reliable financial statements allowing you to make smart business decisions. If you already use bank feeds or if you have been thinking about getting them set up, but are unsure how to use this function correctly, listen in to find out what your next steps should be to take full advantage of this feature, whether you are just starting your small business, you’re a solopreneur, entrepreneur, small business owner, virtual online bookkeeper or virtual assistant…
Welcome Back…When you are using a computerized software system for your bookkeeping, it can really save you time and allow you to enter each transaction in one time and yet generate many different reports with that information. Not only does this help you to save time, but your reports are much more accurate when you know you have entered your information in correctly and have reconciled your accounts. QuickBooks Online is one of the most widely used bookkeeping software systems that small business owners use, and one of the time saving features they have available is the use of bank feeds. Today, I am going to talk about the proper ways you should set up your bank feeds as well as how to take full advantage of this option. If you already have QuickBooks Online and you are using bank feeds, make sure you are following each of the steps I talk about today to maximize the utilization of this feature, and if you are not yet using bank feeds, you may want to look into adding it to your bookkeeping routine after hearing how simple and effective it can be today.
Your first step within QuickBooks Online will be to make sure you have your bank account or accounts connected. It may be beneficial to start with one account and then add additional accounts once you have your first one up and running. When you have your account set up in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online, you can then search for your financial institution. When you do this, you will need to know your login information for your financial institution. Once you have your financial institution connected, you can choose how many days you want to import transactions. This is an important step as you don’t want to import transactions that you may have already entered and reconciled. You will want to select the number of days from when you last reconciled your bank account in QuickBooks. If you are missing transactions, you can still add them in manually, but going forward, you will have all the new transactions imported. If you only want the newest transactions, you will select zero days and only the future transactions will be imported. If you have transactions that are imported which you have already reconciled, you can easily use the exclude transactions option to make sure they are not duplicated in your financials. Once your bank file is connected, it should update your transactions automatically, but you can also use the update button to update any new transactions. Keep in mind that if you change your banking login information, you will need to update this in QuickBooks Online as well to continue to get updated information into your QuickBooks Online file.
Next, you are going to want to start helping QuickBooks Online learn how it should be categorizing each of your transactions. Managing your bank rules can really save you time as well as make sure each of your transactions entered are consistent and accurate. Bank rules will help you automate the categorization of a transaction if there is not a match found. We’ll talk about matching and adding new transactions in a bit. For now, you want to create bank rules for either money in or money out as well as the bank account you want this rule to pertain to. You can then select your rule around any or all conditions using the bank text, description and/or amount and then select the account or accounts this transaction should be categorized. You can also add your rules as your bank feeds come into QuickBooks Online on an as needed basis. This is handy when you want to use the bank text for your rules since you can utilize the information that comes in from the bank feed rather than entering it yourself. QuickBooks Online will also start to see similarities when you are entering your transactions and will ask you if you’d like to set up a bank rule for specific transactions. I do want to mention here that you could set up a bank rule which applies the majority of the time, but there may be times when you need to change the account you are categorizing a transaction for. This can be done easily, but you want to make sure you are paying attention to each and every transaction to make sure that they are going into the correct account. If you don’t do this, your financial reports will not be accurate. Take the time here to ensure each transaction is recorded correctly.
When your bank account is connected to QuickBooks Online and your transactions start downloading, QuickBooks Online will start to scan your bank feeds coming in to find a match that has already been entered in QuickBooks Online or a bank rule that would apply to the transaction to help you record it correctly. If there is no match or bank rule that would apply to the transaction, you will see the option to add the transaction directly from the bank feed. To do this, you will want to click on the transaction to expand it and fill in all the applicable fields. This is also where you can split your transaction into multiple accounts if needed. This comes in handy when you are recording any loan payments to show the principal and interest amounts.
If QuickBooks Online finds a match when scanning your transactions, it will show the option to match the transaction. This option simply means that there has already been a transaction entered into QuickBooks Online that matches the bank feed transaction, and it wants you to link the two together by utilizing the match button. You may find that QuickBooks Online has recognized more than one transaction that matches. If this is the case, just click on the bank feed and see what QuickBooks Online is showing for matches. You would then select the correct transaction to match it to. If you know the transaction has been entered into QuickBooks Online, but the bank feed is not matching it to the original transaction, you may need to do some research to see why it is not matching. This could happen if the dollar amount has been entered incorrectly. If this is the case, you would go to the original transaction and correct the dollar amount, then go back to your bank feeds and refresh the screen. This should then show the bank feed matching with your transaction. This is helpful again to maintain the accuracy of each transaction you have in QuickBooks Online. Another scenario you may find is that the bank feed will match to a transaction, but it is not the correct transaction. If this happens, you can actually select the add option rather than the match option and add that transaction into QuickBooks. This will leave the other transaction to be matched when the bank feed brings it into QuickBooks Online.
I mentioned that you can exclude a bank feed transaction earlier, but I want to mention it again. Now that you understand how you can add or match bank feed transactions, I want you to know that you can also exclude a bank feed transaction if needed. When you do your original import of your bank feeds, this can come in handy if you already have a transaction that has been entered in QuickBooks Online and has been reconciled. There may be other times where you need to exclude a bank feed transaction. I see this used most often when the bank feeds get imported more than one time in your QuickBooks Online file. Make sure if you are going to exclude a bank feed transaction that you have researched why the bank feed is duplicated. If you happen to exclude a bank feed transaction and later realize you actually need this bank feed transaction, you can recategorize it back to the needs review column.
When you select the match or added buttons in the bank feeds section, your transaction will automatically be marked cleared in your register. This will help you to quickly reconcile your account in QuickBooks Online. Yes, you heard me right. Even though you are using the bank feeds to bring transactions into your QuickBooks Online file, you do still need to reconcile each of your accounts. This will help you to find any old transactions that have not cleared or any duplicate or missing transactions as well. It is extremely important to make sure you are reconciling each of your accounts to maintain the accuracy of your financial statements. Don’t think that if you are using the bank feeds you don’t need to reconcile your accounts. You will always need to reconcile your accounts to ensure your financial information is accurate.
Do you have a bookkeeping business or are you thinking about starting a bookkeeping business? If so, I want you to know about my 4-step framework for creating a profitable bookkeeping business. In 3 months or less, you will gain the confidence, skills & knowledge to create a profitable bookkeeping business without feeling alone, overwhelmed or confused about your next steps. You can sign up for the waitlist and be the first to know about this exciting opportunity as well as find out more information about the Elevated Bookkeepers’ Inner Circle. As a bookkeeper, you want to make sure you have reliable resources to help maintain a profitable bookkeeping business and with my Elevated Bookkeepers’ Inner Circle, you will have lots of support from me as well as access to a community of other bookkeepers just like you. To make sure you get all the upcoming notifications, go to www.FinancialAdventure.com/Elevate-Waitlist - I’ll post a link where you are listening to this podcast for you to sign up as well.
Alright, to recap this episode.
And, you know I’m going to ask…what’s at least one thing you will take away from this episode that will help your business succeed and grow your bottom line? If you need some accountability, join our PRIVATE Facebook community and post your action item, we’d love to support you.
Comentários