How do I have the bank statement read in every morning?
Add a Bank Integration line on AR Setting for each bank account. Every morning Businessflo reads the new statement files from the bank's folder, matches each line to a cheque already entered, parks an advance collection for money it cannot match, and lists every line on Bank Statement for finance to check. Nothing is posted without finance.
Steps
- Ask the bank for the folder its MT940 statements are written to: the server, port, folder, user name, and a password or a key.
- Tell customers to put their customer number in the payment reference, as a word on its own. That is how a transfer is matched to the customer.
- Give the collection journal a default account on its Accounts tab: the customer advances account the collection credits. Without it nothing is read.
- Open AR Setting, Bank Integration, and add one line per bank account: FTP Path (an ftp, ftps or sftp address with the folder), User Name, Password, Transaction Journal, Payment Method and Payment Account (the bank's GL account). Save.
- Every morning, open Bank Statement (Cash and Bank, General) for the day and act on each line by its result (below).
Files the bank wrote before the line was saved are never read, so old statements are not brought in by accident. Each file is read once.
What each result means
| Result | What happened | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Created | Money came in that is not in the books. A parked advance collection was made for the customer named in the reference | Check the customer and the amount, then Save it to post |
| Cleared | A collection or payment with the same cheque number and amount was found and marked cleared | Nothing |
| Matched | Found, but its payment method clears through a bank step | Clear it on Bank Transactions |
| Waiting | Found, but it is still parked | Post it, then clear it on Bank Transactions |
| Unmatched | No customer number, two customer numbers, two documents with the same cheque, or money out with no payment | Enter it by hand. Bank charges and own transfers go on Bank Transactions |
| Failed | No exchange rate for the date, a statement of another bank account, a line that could not be read, or a settings or login problem | Fix the reason shown, then enter it by hand |
Waiting, Matched and Unmatched lines are looked at again every morning, so a cheque entered or posted later is cleared on the next run.
If something looks wrong
- Nothing came in at all. Look at the reason on Bank Statement: a missing default account on the journal, a wrong folder, or a refused login.
- The collection is an advance, not against the invoice. The bank sends the customer and the amount, never the invoice. Knock the advance off the invoice on Customer Settlement.
- A cheque collection will not save: "Instrument No ... is already collection ..., made from the bank statement". The statement already brought that cheque in. Use the collection it made instead of entering a second one.
- A payment to a vendor is not on the books. The statement never makes a payment. It only clears one already entered with the same cheque number and amount.