Available for Accounting Basic and Accounting Premium, although some features are only available for Accounting premium. They are called out within the article.
You can import your bank transactions into Patriot's Accounting software and quickly turn them into journal entries. This records activity from your bank account or credit card in your accounting software.
The video shows how to import transactions and assign them to vendors and customers.
How to import bank transactions
There are two ways to import your bank transactions:
Connect your bank accounts so Patriot automatically checks for new transactions. For details, see How to Connect Your Bank Accounts for Accounting.
Manually import a CSV file from your bank. For details, see Manually Importing Your Bank Transactions.
Important notes about importing transactions
After your bank accounts are connected, you'll start getting notifications about pending transactions from your bank or credit card account. You then reconcile these transactions by accepting or dismissing them so they post to your account.
When you connect an account for the first time, transactions import back to the date you select, up to two years ago.
Most banks send information once a day, so a transaction may not appear until the next day. Some banks send information up to four times a day.
Only transactions actually posted to your bank appear as pending transactions in the accounting software. Some smaller, regional banks may show a duplicate pending transaction alongside the posted one, and the word "pending" may appear in the description. If you see this, you can dismiss the duplicate. This should be rare.
Look for matching amounts near the same time, but matching amounts don't always mean a transaction is a duplicate.
Payroll integration can cause duplicate transactions. The same payroll could post twice if you have the accounting integration set up (Settings > Payroll Settings > Payroll Integration Options) and you also accept the payroll transactions imported from banking activity. We usually recommend dismissing the imported bank transactions in this case, because the accounting integration breaks payroll into the correct accounts.
Contractor payments can also post twice if you enter the payment directly in the accounting software and also accept the imported bank payment. In this case, delete the imported bank payment and keep the one entered in the software. Otherwise, deleting the software payment could change the 1099 information.
Payments applied to invoices, bank transfers, and liability payments follow the same idea.
How to open your imported transactions
You can open your imported transactions one of two ways:
1. Click the View Transactions link in the notification alert at the top of your Accounting Home page, or
2. Go to Accounting > Financial Tasks > Manage Imported Transactions in the left navigation menu.
How to review and categorize bank transactions
Once you've imported transactions, you can categorize or dismiss them on the Manage Imported Transactions page. Automatic expense account suggestions come from Patriot's Smart Suggestion feature.
Tip: If you have many transactions and the page is slow to load, use the Filter Transactions by Month feature to view fewer transactions at a time.
Here's what you'll find on the Manage Imported Transactions page:
Checkbox (far left): Accept a transaction by clicking the checkbox.
Details: The date the transaction posted to your bank and which account it posted to (for example, "checking" or "savings").
Description: The description from your bank or credit card. Click the description to expand it so you can assign the transaction to a vendor (for withdrawals) or a customer (for deposits), select a department, choose transaction options, edit rules, split the transaction, dismiss it, mark unpaid bills or invoices as paid, or attach files (Accounting Premium customers only). Click + Add New to add a new vendor or customer.
Icons: The icons to the left of the "Post to Account" column show how the software automatically categorized each transaction. Hover over an icon to see the categorization.
Post to Account: Select the account from your Chart of Accounts. This is the other side of your journal entry. For repeating transactions, the software pre-selects the account you chose last time, and you can change it if needed. To create a new account on the fly, click +Add New by the "Post to Account" column. You can also set up rules to select the correct account (see "Setting Up Rules for Imported Transactions").
Amount: The amount of the bank transaction.
Gear icon: Click the gear icon for quick access to transaction options (assign to vendor/department for a withdrawal, assign to customer/department for a deposit, add an attachment for Accounting Premium, edit a rule, split, or dismiss) without expanding the transaction.
How to attach files to transactions
To attach files and documents (Accounting Premium customers only), click the Add an Attachment link. To upgrade to Accounting Premium, go to Settings > Company Settings > Add or Cancel Software.
How to accept or dismiss transactions
To accept transactions, click the checkbox on the far left of each transaction. To dismiss transactions you don't want to include, click the Dismiss Transactions link. Dismiss any transaction you've already posted in the software so it isn't recorded twice.
Duplicate warning: If a new imported transaction matches one already posted in your account, you'll see a possible duplicate warning, even if the description is different. This warning appears when both transactions have the same external account (for example, Savings, Checking, or Credit Card), the same dollar amount, and the new transaction is within seven days of the posted one. If it's truly a duplicate, dismiss it. If not, assign it to an account and accept it as usual.
Save your progress: You can save your progress and return later to finish posting.
Post transactions: When you click Post Transactions, you'll see a Transactions Summary page with the date, description, debits, and credits. You can void a journal entry right away from this page if needed.
How to view posted transactions
Go to Reports > Accounting > Financial Reports > General Ledger. Your imported bank transactions appear there as journal entries.
How to void posted transactions
If you later want to void a journal entry you accepted:
Go to Reports > Accounting > Financial Reports > General Ledger.
Click the gear icon.
Select Edit or Void delete.